Ebutte Ero: A Lagos Market that draws patrons from Ghana and beyond
By Segun Ajiboye & Yemi Shaba
Pix: Timothy Oyeola
Along with its rich culture and lifestyle, Lagos is also popular for its countless numbers of markets scattered across the length and breadth of the aquatic state. But the Ebutte Ero Market (aka Gorodome), located in the heart of the city, few meters away from the famous Broad and Marina Streets, stands out from other notable markets in several ways.
First is the daily volume of trade at the market, which experts say may most likely run into hundreds of millions of naira. But perhaps the most unique feature of this seemingly little known market is the its patrons who come from all parts of the country and other countries like Benin Republic, Ghana, Cote’Devoir and Bourkinafaso among others.
Located in the heart of the nation’s economic capital on the Lagos Island, Ebutte Ero Market shares boundaries with major streets like the Marina, Idumota, Alakoro, while it is a few distance away from the famous Broad Street.
Mother of six, Bintu Abewon is a Nigerian trader resident in Bourkina Faso. She trades in all sorts of goods ranging from cosmetics, kitchenware and other household items. Once in a month in the company with other women make a tedious trans-border trip to the Ebutte Ero Market (aka Gorodome) in Lagos, Nigeria to buy cosmetics, kitchenware and other wares in large quantities.
When National Life met Bintu Abewon at the market, she had been on the road for six days. Looking unperturbed about the rigours of her trade, she explained that she was not likely to get back home for another three or four days.
Abewon and her friends are not unaware of the dangers of her monthly trips crossing several countries to get her wares. But she is willing to make the sacrifice, because according to her, the types and quantity of goods she buys and the profit she makes after selling them in Bourkinafaso.
She explained to National Life that she and other traders like her come from across the borders to Ebutte Ero because of the variety of goods available in the market and, more importantly, she makes more profit after selling the goods back in Bourkinafaso. “Yes, you could say it is risky to come all the way from Bourkinafaso to buy goods in Nigeria. But when you consider the variety of goods you get to buy here, and the kind of profit you make, am sure you’ll be willing to take the risk.”
Such was the determination of Bintu Abewon and many other retail traders from across the borders of Nigeria who throng the Ebutte Ero market to purchase goods in large quantities to be resold in their various countries.
National Life gathered at the market that the attraction may not be unconnected with the variety of goods available and the fact that the traders in the market, most of who are big time traders, sell in wholesale prices thereby leaving the smaller traders from across the country and across the borders with huge profits
Interestingly, the market, which is gradually taking up a modern look with the construction of modern lock-up shops, is backed with a rich history spanning several decades. It started out as a traditional market for the sale of foodstuffs and other local materials like gari, yam, charcoal and herbs among others.
More than this, the market’s history, according to the market leader, Alhaja Fausat Olowosibi, a third generation trader in the market, is entwined with the installation of a new king of Lagos. “In the olden days when the market days come every nine days, the installation of a new king for the city of Lagos is timed to fall on a market day.”
On how the market got its name, Olowosibi explained that the market was located near what seemed the largest terminus at the time. According to her, the site was the old terminus for traders coming into the island by water from neighbouring towns like Epe, Badagry and beyond. “In those days, traders coming from everywhere docked at this point before coming into the market. They came from places as far as Cottonou and beyond. It was at this point that they alighted from the canoes that brought them from all those distant places. So it was called Ebutte Ero, literally meaning the passengers’ shore.
But as time went by and the market’s profile grew, it attracted attentions as a major goods distribution point for conglomerates like G. B. O, UTC, UAC, CFAO and others. This probably accounted for the reason the conglomerates had warehouses close to the market.
Most of the conglomerates are longer in business while their old warehouses are almost desolate, the market found a new source of regular supply of goods from Chinese and India traders who have found in the market and its traders a veritable link with the retailers and the end users of their products.
Though Ebutte Ero is today known for arrays of goods like household items and other modern items, it has not totally forgotten its past. A section of the market is still dedicated to the sale of foodstuffs and materials like charcoal.
Alhaja Fausat Ariyo, who is also the Vice Chairman of the market leadership, has refused to bow to the lure of the modern trend. Ariyo, who took over the rein of charcoal business from her grandmother, disclosed that the charcoal business is as lucrative as any other business. “It is funny how people view this type of business. Sure, you are right that it is dirty, but it is as lucrative as any other business you can think of. You earn enough money to make you take care of your needs.”
Another interesting feature of Ebutte Ero is the culture of family business. Most of the prominent traders in the market either belong to the second or third generation. The list is endless. The chairman, Alhaja Tobun is a third generation trader in the market, so also is her. Many others are taking also taking over the baton of business from their parents.
Asked if she would encourage any of their children to take after them, both Olowosibi and Ariyo disclosed that their children already have their own shops within the market.
22-year old Chinoso has sold kitchenware and other household items at the market for more than five years now. Though sales have been slow in recent time as a result of the global economic meltdown, Chinoso would confess that business was indeed very good in time past.
Even with low sales, Chinoso still smile home everyday with sales, sometimes running into about N60, 000 or N100, 000. “Sales have gone down now, but on a good day we still make sales like N60, 000 or more. On better days, we make sales close to N100, 000”.
Alhaja Adetoun Tobun deals in enamel and other household items. She started out with foodstuffs about two decades ago before venturing into kitchen utensils and other household items. For her, trading at the popular market has been a worthwhile venture.
“I have been in this market for more than 20 years now. As a matter of fact, I have never done anything else other than trading, and I would say it has been very profitable for most of us.”
In the same vein, mother of two, Kehinde Olateju, helps her mother in her iron pot trade. Olateju told National Life that she is largely patronized by caterers and big time party organizers. When business is good, sales could be as much as N50, 000 or more a day. Kehinde’s plan is to someday own a shop of her own and continue the family trading tradition.
For more than seven years, Wasiu Bello has been the one in-charge of the park for heavy duty trucks plying the Northern and Eastern parts of the country. On this particular day, more than two trucks were been loaded with variety of goods billed for Calabar and Sokoto. Bello disclosed to National Life that, an average of four trucks are loaded with goods for onward journey to different parts of the country everyday.
But in spite of seeming daily huge sales by the traders in Ebutte Ero Market, it was the consensus of everybody in the market that the global economic meltdown has affected their sales. From the Iyaloja, to Chinoso and even Bello, the man in-charge of the lorry park, it was the same story of low sales. Bello explained: “Before this time, more than 10 lorry depart from here everyday loaded with different kinds of goods . But things have changed. They tell us that the world economy is bad, and that it has affected us here as well.”
But the bad economy does not seem to have any adverse effect on the daily business of the ubiquitous Alabaru (load carriers). Everywhere you turn, you find one clutching what looked like overload, while trying to meander their way through the narrow walkways.
The market is not meant for only the big time traders afterall. While the shop owners do ‘their businesses inside their shops, others with smaller businesses like sachet water and other menial businesses hawk their wares round the market.
For a market as big as Ebutte Ero, the issue of discipline cannot be underrated. To ensure that peace is maintained, the market leaders ensures that fines are imposed on whoever causes any breach of the peace or engages in any form of fighting or unruly behaviour.
Like a mother who has been done proud by her children, the Iyaloja said she is happy with the conduct of all the traders in the market. She spoke in glowing terms about the cordial relationship that exists among the traders despite their different tribal background. “We behave like brothers and sisters in the market. No matter where you come from, we live for another by holding regular meetings to discuss our common problems.”
In conformity with state government’s order, traders in the market use the hours of 7am and 10am every Thursday of the week to clean their environment. To ensure strict compliance by all the traders, a committee, headed by the Chief Whip of the market, ********, monitors the cleaning exercise. The waste generated is cleared with the assistance of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority.
However, in spite of the good stories from the Ebutte Ero Market, it is still largely confronted by arrays of problems which mostly affect its daily operation. For a market as large as Ebutte Ero, and the volume of trading, the near-absence of a well-defined car parking lot constitutes a major problem for the market and its patrons.
On busy day, the narrow walkways that connect the various segments and stalls often make movements round the market similar to the Biblical camel passing through the eye of a needle.
Other problems confronting the market are the lack of a good drainage and a regular supply of electricity. Olowosibi and other leaders of the market are making concerted efforts to ensure that some of these problems attract government’s attention. “The major problems we have in the market are the haphazard manner in which people get electricity. We don’t have a single transformer in the entire market. The market also does not have good drainage system.”
But Olowosibi and her team are not leaving everything in the hands of the government. The market leadership, according to her, spends about N1million every month to clear the canal that runs through the market.
But in spite of all this, the Iyaloja still prides her market one of the biggest and most patronized by cross-borders traders in the state. “This is a very big market. As from this, we hold a very important place in the history of Lagos. People come from all over West Africa to trade here. That is one very unique thing about our market.”
Presently, the market has over a thousand lock-up shops while more are being constructed by a team of private developers in conjunction with the Lagos Island Local Government Authority. The market leader says she and other traders in the market are willing to accept new traders into their fold with open arms.
Along with its rich culture and lifestyle, Lagos is also popular for its countless numbers of markets scattered across the length and breadth of the aquatic state. But the Ebutte Ero Market (aka Gorodome), located in the heart of the city, few meters away from the famous Broad and Marina Streets, stands out from other notable markets in several ways.
First is the daily volume of trade at the market, which experts say may most likely run into hundreds of millions of naira. But perhaps the most unique feature of this seemingly little known market is the its patrons who come from all parts of the country and other countries like Benin Republic, Ghana, Cote’Devoir and Bourkinafaso among others.
Located in the heart of the nation’s economic capital on the Lagos Island, Ebutte Ero Market shares boundaries with major streets like the Marina, Idumota, Alakoro, while it is a few distance away from the famous Broad Street.
Mother of six, Bintu Abewon is a Nigerian trader resident in Bourkina Faso. She trades in all sorts of goods ranging from cosmetics, kitchenware and other household items. Once in a month in the company with other women make a tedious trans-border trip to the Ebutte Ero Market (aka Gorodome) in Lagos, Nigeria to buy cosmetics, kitchenware and other wares in large quantities.
When National Life met Bintu Abewon at the market, she had been on the road for six days. Looking unperturbed about the rigours of her trade, she explained that she was not likely to get back home for another three or four days.
Abewon and her friends are not unaware of the dangers of her monthly trips crossing several countries to get her wares. But she is willing to make the sacrifice, because according to her, the types and quantity of goods she buys and the profit she makes after selling them in Bourkinafaso.
She explained to National Life that she and other traders like her come from across the borders to Ebutte Ero because of the variety of goods available in the market and, more importantly, she makes more profit after selling the goods back in Bourkinafaso. “Yes, you could say it is risky to come all the way from Bourkinafaso to buy goods in Nigeria. But when you consider the variety of goods you get to buy here, and the kind of profit you make, am sure you’ll be willing to take the risk.”
Such was the determination of Bintu Abewon and many other retail traders from across the borders of Nigeria who throng the Ebutte Ero market to purchase goods in large quantities to be resold in their various countries.
National Life gathered at the market that the attraction may not be unconnected with the variety of goods available and the fact that the traders in the market, most of who are big time traders, sell in wholesale prices thereby leaving the smaller traders from across the country and across the borders with huge profits
Interestingly, the market, which is gradually taking up a modern look with the construction of modern lock-up shops, is backed with a rich history spanning several decades. It started out as a traditional market for the sale of foodstuffs and other local materials like gari, yam, charcoal and herbs among others.
More than this, the market’s history, according to the market leader, Alhaja Fausat Olowosibi, a third generation trader in the market, is entwined with the installation of a new king of Lagos. “In the olden days when the market days come every nine days, the installation of a new king for the city of Lagos is timed to fall on a market day.”
On how the market got its name, Olowosibi explained that the market was located near what seemed the largest terminus at the time. According to her, the site was the old terminus for traders coming into the island by water from neighbouring towns like Epe, Badagry and beyond. “In those days, traders coming from everywhere docked at this point before coming into the market. They came from places as far as Cottonou and beyond. It was at this point that they alighted from the canoes that brought them from all those distant places. So it was called Ebutte Ero, literally meaning the passengers’ shore.
But as time went by and the market’s profile grew, it attracted attentions as a major goods distribution point for conglomerates like G. B. O, UTC, UAC, CFAO and others. This probably accounted for the reason the conglomerates had warehouses close to the market.
Most of the conglomerates are longer in business while their old warehouses are almost desolate, the market found a new source of regular supply of goods from Chinese and India traders who have found in the market and its traders a veritable link with the retailers and the end users of their products.
Though Ebutte Ero is today known for arrays of goods like household items and other modern items, it has not totally forgotten its past. A section of the market is still dedicated to the sale of foodstuffs and materials like charcoal.
Alhaja Fausat Ariyo, who is also the Vice Chairman of the market leadership, has refused to bow to the lure of the modern trend. Ariyo, who took over the rein of charcoal business from her grandmother, disclosed that the charcoal business is as lucrative as any other business. “It is funny how people view this type of business. Sure, you are right that it is dirty, but it is as lucrative as any other business you can think of. You earn enough money to make you take care of your needs.”
Another interesting feature of Ebutte Ero is the culture of family business. Most of the prominent traders in the market either belong to the second or third generation. The list is endless. The chairman, Alhaja Tobun is a third generation trader in the market, so also is her. Many others are taking also taking over the baton of business from their parents.
Asked if she would encourage any of their children to take after them, both Olowosibi and Ariyo disclosed that their children already have their own shops within the market.
22-year old Chinoso has sold kitchenware and other household items at the market for more than five years now. Though sales have been slow in recent time as a result of the global economic meltdown, Chinoso would confess that business was indeed very good in time past.
Even with low sales, Chinoso still smile home everyday with sales, sometimes running into about N60, 000 or N100, 000. “Sales have gone down now, but on a good day we still make sales like N60, 000 or more. On better days, we make sales close to N100, 000”.
Alhaja Adetoun Tobun deals in enamel and other household items. She started out with foodstuffs about two decades ago before venturing into kitchen utensils and other household items. For her, trading at the popular market has been a worthwhile venture.
“I have been in this market for more than 20 years now. As a matter of fact, I have never done anything else other than trading, and I would say it has been very profitable for most of us.”
In the same vein, mother of two, Kehinde Olateju, helps her mother in her iron pot trade. Olateju told National Life that she is largely patronized by caterers and big time party organizers. When business is good, sales could be as much as N50, 000 or more a day. Kehinde’s plan is to someday own a shop of her own and continue the family trading tradition.
For more than seven years, Wasiu Bello has been the one in-charge of the park for heavy duty trucks plying the Northern and Eastern parts of the country. On this particular day, more than two trucks were been loaded with variety of goods billed for Calabar and Sokoto. Bello disclosed to National Life that, an average of four trucks are loaded with goods for onward journey to different parts of the country everyday.
But in spite of seeming daily huge sales by the traders in Ebutte Ero Market, it was the consensus of everybody in the market that the global economic meltdown has affected their sales. From the Iyaloja, to Chinoso and even Bello, the man in-charge of the lorry park, it was the same story of low sales. Bello explained: “Before this time, more than 10 lorry depart from here everyday loaded with different kinds of goods . But things have changed. They tell us that the world economy is bad, and that it has affected us here as well.”
But the bad economy does not seem to have any adverse effect on the daily business of the ubiquitous Alabaru (load carriers). Everywhere you turn, you find one clutching what looked like overload, while trying to meander their way through the narrow walkways.
The market is not meant for only the big time traders afterall. While the shop owners do ‘their businesses inside their shops, others with smaller businesses like sachet water and other menial businesses hawk their wares round the market.
For a market as big as Ebutte Ero, the issue of discipline cannot be underrated. To ensure that peace is maintained, the market leaders ensures that fines are imposed on whoever causes any breach of the peace or engages in any form of fighting or unruly behaviour.
Like a mother who has been done proud by her children, the Iyaloja said she is happy with the conduct of all the traders in the market. She spoke in glowing terms about the cordial relationship that exists among the traders despite their different tribal background. “We behave like brothers and sisters in the market. No matter where you come from, we live for another by holding regular meetings to discuss our common problems.”
In conformity with state government’s order, traders in the market use the hours of 7am and 10am every Thursday of the week to clean their environment. To ensure strict compliance by all the traders, a committee, headed by the Chief Whip of the market, ********, monitors the cleaning exercise. The waste generated is cleared with the assistance of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority.
However, in spite of the good stories from the Ebutte Ero Market, it is still largely confronted by arrays of problems which mostly affect its daily operation. For a market as large as Ebutte Ero, and the volume of trading, the near-absence of a well-defined car parking lot constitutes a major problem for the market and its patrons.
On busy day, the narrow walkways that connect the various segments and stalls often make movements round the market similar to the Biblical camel passing through the eye of a needle.
Other problems confronting the market are the lack of a good drainage and a regular supply of electricity. Olowosibi and other leaders of the market are making concerted efforts to ensure that some of these problems attract government’s attention. “The major problems we have in the market are the haphazard manner in which people get electricity. We don’t have a single transformer in the entire market. The market also does not have good drainage system.”
But Olowosibi and her team are not leaving everything in the hands of the government. The market leadership, according to her, spends about N1million every month to clear the canal that runs through the market.
But in spite of all this, the Iyaloja still prides her market one of the biggest and most patronized by cross-borders traders in the state. “This is a very big market. As from this, we hold a very important place in the history of Lagos. People come from all over West Africa to trade here. That is one very unique thing about our market.”
Presently, the market has over a thousand lock-up shops while more are being constructed by a team of private developers in conjunction with the Lagos Island Local Government Authority. The market leader says she and other traders in the market are willing to accept new traders into their fold with open arms.
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