By Abiola Ayankunbi
Contributing Editor
In the early hours of Monday, December 7, 2020, Mobil filling station and Mr Biggs Restaurant at Maryland, Lagos state were reduced to rubbles. Most people were dumbfounded as to the reason behind the exercise that was carried out by the agents of the Lagos state government.
The demolished structures
Photos by: Michael Isaac
While the insinuation lasted, Chris-Olumayowa Meseco of 11 PLC (formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria PLC) issued a statement on Tuesday, December 8, 2020 titled: Demolition of Mobil Service Station at Maryland, Ikeja. He stated that “demolition on December 7, 2020 carried out pursuant to the valid exercise of the right of compulsory acquisition for public purpose by the Lagos state government following due process”.
He continued: “this notice is for the proper guidance and information of the public and to eschew all forms of speculations regarding the incident”. It was reliably learned that the space will now become motor parks for the BRT buses.
What happened in the demolished area went beyond dispensing fuel and selling of fast foods. The area that was an unofficial parking space for newspapers’ distribution vans’ drivers was another world of its own. It provided shelter for the sacked/disengaged media drivers until new jobs were secured. The area was always busy and “stranded people” while away their time there till break of dawn.
It should be recalled that the frontage of these demolished structures was at one time or the other useful to print media companies. The main reason being its central nature to the newspapers’ distribution operations.
Different types of people like food vendors, prostitutes, quick fix mechanics are in abundance there. Women of easy virtue offered services inside the cars of the willing customers. Stench of Indian hemp occupied the airspace. Surely, armed robbers had mingled with the crowd at one point or the other from where they planned their ungodly activities. There used to be no dull moment throughout the night.
The filling station operated for 24 hours on a daily basis and hardly did it run out of fuel, not even during the scarcity era. Mr Biggs restaurant closed much more later than any of the branches while it’s stay around the area lasted.
At inception, newspaper distribution vans’ drivers used to meet there for the take off to different locations. They used to depart in convoy especially when armed robbers used to block the high ways leading to far distant locations like Akure, Benin, Asaba, Onitsha, etc. As time went on, they started carrying passengers. Also, many drivers attached to Newspapers, independent transporters became regular faces in Maryland. Third party drivers were available to drive along with drivers who dreaded long distance trips because of visibility. The largesse were thereafter shared. It got to a point where media drivers deliberately waited to get passengers into their vans thereby causing late deliveries in many stations.
Some media firms that do not own newspaper delivery vans go there to freight their newspapers through other media firms’ drivers at a fee. The drivers used to pocket the money without remitting such to the companies. Imagine drivers working with media firms (The Punch, Compass, Hallmark, etc) that are headquartered along Lagos-Ibadan express way and deployed to ply Lagos-Benin route will still visit Maryland for their own share of the largesse.
It got to a point where some media firms deliberately refused to travel, freight the newspapers through their colleagues and pocket the fuel allowance. If the concerned drivers got fuel from the company’s fuel pump, he ended up selling the fuel and waited somewhere before returning to the office later in the day.
On the ground that newspapers delivery vans’ contents are not always checked by the security agencies especially when they are being given complimentary copies of newspapers, some unscrupulous people started introducing carriage of contraband goods from Maryland to the Eastern states.
Some passengers who are aware that security agents rarely check the media vans started to carry drugs, especially, Indian hemp. There was an instance where a media van’s driver was monitored and traced by the NDLEA officials to the newspapers distribution center within NUJ compex in Benin, Edo state; drug was discovered in the van.
Love for money made most of the drivers to embrace this idea. The media drivers later got attracted and involved in the carriage of used clothes (okrika/tokunboh wears), frozen foods, contraband, etc. In return, red oil, garri and plantain are being transported from the Eastern part of the country to Lagos state.
Details of these activities are contained in my latest book: My Sojourn In The Media.
It is a statement of fact that both the filling station and Mr Biggs restaurant might have recouped their return on investments in view of the appreciable patronage level while their stay at the place lasted, however, it’s doubtful whether the media vans’ drivers will leave the vicinity which they have been used to for many decades. Appropriate authorities should be decisive early enough in order to curtail the likely envisaged nuisance.
…Ayankunbi is MD/CEO at AbingMO Marketing Management Consultancy.
0802 305 1315
abiolaayankunbi@yahoo.com
