By Rasaq Adebayo
Lagos State Taskforce has disclosed the plan to work with other concerned Agencies to clamp down on street trading across the State.
This, according to the Agency, is in accordance with the the State Government’s directive to the Agencies to totally ban street trading on the Highways and major street.
In a statement by the Agency’s Director of Press & Public Affairs, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, the chairman of the Agency, CSP Shola Jejeloye, said the government has instructed the Agency and others to enforce total ban on street trading in the State.
Jejeloye, while speaking at the Agency’s Headquarters at Oshodi, said the state government is much concerned about the safety and security of Lagosians while maintaining sanity on the Highways.
“It is no longer news to anyone that the closure of the Eko Bridge was as a result of illegal street trading right under the Bridge that resulted in fire outbreak and subsequent closure of the Bridge due to safety reasons. Now the Bridge has been reopened and we will ensure that these street traders do not inflict any more pains on Lagosians.
“Collaborative efforts and joint operations have been carried out by the Agency and other sister Agencies like Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) in eradicating the menace of street trading that impedes free vehicular and pedestrian movement along major routes like Oshodi, Ketu and Ajangbadi. All hands will be on deck this time to ensure that compliance is recorded state wide.”
Jejeloye disclosed that the strict enforcement exercise which is to commence in earnest is an implementation of a long existing enactment by the Lagos State Government on Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law, 2003, which prescribes a punishment of N90,000 or a six-month jail term for both the buyer and the seller of any goods or services on the streets.
He noted that the activities of street traders on the Highways pose serious environmental and security concerns as a result of the criminality that goes hand in hand with street trading especially at night.
“We have made series of arrests of hawkers in traffic who pose under the guise of selling items in traffic but end up robbing unsuspecting commuters of their valuables in the process. We are out to put a stop to it through this planned exercise,” Jejeloye stated.
He, therefore, appealed to Lagosians to collaborate with the State Government in achieving the vision of Mega City Status as enshrined in the THEMES Agenda of the State.
He also urged commuters and pedestrians to refrain from patronising street traders as a stiff punishment awaits both the buyer and the seller once apprehended.
