Tuesday, July 23, 2024 -The Lagos State Taskforce on Environment and Special Offences, Enforcement Unit, has arrested 40 persons for allegedly trading on the street at night and causing heavy traffic in Ikeja.
The agency’s spokesperson, Mr Gbadeyan
Abdulraheem, confirmed the arrests to the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday.
Abdulraheem said that the suspects had been
operating illegal, night makeshift shops and restaurants at Alade Avenue,
Orishe and Johnson streets, all off Obafemi Awolowo Way in Ikeja.
“They have converted streets to mini-
markets and restaurants, thereby causing serious human/vehicular traffic
obstructions and serious environmental pollution along those routes and
adjoining streets,” he said.
The spokesperson said that the two-day night
raid led by the agency’s chairman, CSP Adetayo Akerele, was carried out when
the traders erected makeshift shops and placed barricades on parts of the road,
causing traffic impediments.
Abdulraheem noted that the suspects also
flouted the state’s laid down environmental laws through indiscriminate
disposal of waste and solid materials into the gutters in the area.
He said: “The raid will be a continuous
exercise as a step made in the interest of the citizenry who have longed for
solutions to the menace of street trading.
“Some of these locations serve as safe haven
for suspected criminals and they enjoy the proceeds of their criminal
activities there.
“The flooding experienced in some parts of
the state is also as a result of improper disposal of waste that end up
clogging the drainage channels.
“They also sell drugs indiscriminately
there, which is counter-productive to the society,” he further said.
The spokesperson appealed to other
recalcitrant street traders and vendors to relocate their stores to designated
outlets designed for trading and vacate the streets and inner roads.
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