LAGESC intensifies clampdown on street trading

The Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) says it is intensifying its clampdown on recalcitrant traders that have refused to abide by its various warnings and advocacy on street trading andhawking. The LAGESC Corps Marshal, Akinpelu Gbemisola, disclosed on Wednesday at the agency’s Command Headquarters at Bolade, Oshodi, that GovernorBabajide Sanwo-Olu has directed that all the […]

The Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) says it is intensifying its clampdown on recalcitrant traders that have refused to abide by its various warnings and advocacy on street trading andhawking.

The LAGESC Corps Marshal, Akinpelu Gbemisola, disclosed on Wednesday at the agency’s Command Headquarters at Bolade, Oshodi, that GovernorBabajide Sanwo-Olu has directed that all the roads in the state be rid of any form of impediment to free flow of traffic.

Gbemisola maintained that walkways were meant for pedestrians to walk and not for trading activities and motorists should always be given the right of way for smooth vehicular movement.

She noted that the rising number of hawkers on major highways posed grave security implications for motorists “as criminals disguise as hawkers dispossess motorists of their valuables.”

She explained that directives had been given to LAGESC officers to move to all the major highways to arrest hawkers for appropriate prosecution, adding, “our roads are not meant for trading and people should go into state-approved markets to engage in legalised trading activities.”

Gbemisola recounted that many lives had been lost due to brake failure when drivers knocked down hawkers.

She also said some roads were always locked down as a result of the activities of traders displaying their goods on walkways and roadsides for sale, thereby impeding free vehicular and human movement.

Commenting on the ongoing clean-up exercise at Ikoyi/Victoria Island, which she said had recorded remarkable success with the joint effortsof some other government agencies, she expressed the readiness of LAGESC operatives in sustaining the clean environment in those areas and warned that anybody found around dumping dirt in those areas or trading illegally would be prosecuted and their seized goods forfeited.

She disclosed that the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tunji Bello, has directed that any LAGESC operative caught compromising on the clean-up exercise should be dealt with accordingly.