A Night Market I Know.

A  Night market

As the sun sets in Lagos state, introducing the night which creeps in quietly and slowly making people to round off the activities they were engaged in during the day in order to retire to their various homes, the reverse is the case at the Alasela Kee-Klamp market, Onipan Shomolu local government area of the state as buying and selling has just begun with the use of lamps and rechargeable lanterns to lit the area.

Alasela kee-klamp night market is well arranged even though its situated on the road, the traders display their goods in a single file facing each other and some position their goods at the middle with the different light sources thereby aiding visibility in the dark cold night.

Buying and selling of food items, fruits, cloths, bags, shoes, belts and other items resumes daily by 7:00 pm and ends by midnight, a visitor to this scene would wonder if these traders and their customers don’t sleep at all.

The market is not age discriminating as people of different ages display their goods in the small spaces they have, some built temporary stall where they keep their goods for sale and remove after selling each day. Women of mid-ages are mostly the sellers of food items and fruits while on the other hand, the younger ones who are likely to be in their late 20s and early 30s are sell clothe and other accessories.

Also customers of different tribes, ages, and colour stroll in comfortably to purchase diverse things, some of them are well dressed which means they are returnees from their workplaces or outing, while others are casually dressed which tells that these are set of persons that lives close to the marketplace and have probably been waiting for the only night market in the area to resume so that they could get whatever they want.

Mrs. Ayoola, the women leader (Iya loja) of the market, said that the main reason for operating the night market is to bring and provide the primary needs of the people in the community and neighbouring communities too close to them at a relatively cheap and affordable amount, explaining that items in the night market are cheaper than the ones in the regular day market.

customers buying things

Agreeing to this, Mr. Amoo, a banker with one of this new generation banks, who said that thins in the Alasepe market is usually very affordable because items are sold at prices lesser than the exact amount, as traders would want to sell all they have especially the consumable items before items before its dawn.

Mr. Amoo said the only issues he has with buying at this time “is that one might get something that is not too good in quality, while in haste to go back home or because it’s dark.” He however said that the night market has been helpful to him because whenever he leaves his workplace late, getting food to beat is never a problem as he would see something to buy at Alasela market not mindin the time of his arrival.

The availability of this market in Onipan Community has help to reduce some vices as the market has help to get people to engage trading one way or the other, thereby reducing the rate of unemployment in the community.

Meanwhile, some residents always complain bitterly about the night market, saying they do not support trading at night because it constitute nuisance in the environment. Mr. Olubukoola Aderemi who lives close to the market said that “the noise emanating from Alasela nightmarket usually disturb our sleep” he said they find it hard to sleep early in the area because of the traders who raise their voices.

However, while some persons are not in full support of night market, others don’t have issues with it because it provides ease to basic human needs and also provide for an avenue to make money in the area.

Though Alasela kee-klamps market operates only in the night when people are suppose to have rounded off their daily activities and have some rest, it has been able to bring people out of their comfort zones everyday to buy and sell at Onipan Shomolu local government area of Lagos state.