Thursday, October 17, 2024 - Some business owners
plying their trade in the Ikeja area of Lagos State have lamented alleged
harassment and extortion by enforcement officers from the Ikeja Local
Government Secretariat.
The traders who spoke to Punch on Wednesday accused the officers, who
were said to be from the environmental unit of the secretariat, of going about
locking up their shops for allegedly contravening the position of the local
government’s Sanitation Bye-Law.
Parts of the alleged offences contained in a notice sighted by our
correspondent include constructing on road setbacks as well as on public
drainages and canals.
While denying committing the offence, the traders described the exercise
as an “annual ritual” by the enforcement officers.
They alleged that the officers after they locked the shops, asked them
to report at their offices and requested them to pay some amounts of money
before permitting them to unlock their shops.
One of the traders who gave his name simply as Mr Tunji narrated his
encounter with them during one of their exercises.
He said, “We have been going through a series of harassments by
enforcement officers. They come around locking shops while claiming that we
have violated one environmental rule or the other. They came recently and
pasted their notice on my wife’s shop and when I asked what was the reason for
their action, the next thing said was that I should come to their office. I
don’t see where we have gone wrong in the environmental law.
“I had to
run after them and pleaded with them to open the shops while I explained that
we were not on the road neither did we build on the drainage as they claimed.
This is what we face every year.”
Another trader who preferred anonymity due to the sensitive nature of
the issue said he was helping his brother in his shop when the officers
arrived.
“My brother travelled and I was helping him in his shop when the
enforcement officers came and wanted to lock up the place. I asked what
happened but they refused to answer me. While I stood outside trying to speak
with the senior officials to know the reason for their actions, the other
officers were already trying to fasten a padlock on the door. I quickly rushed
towards them to allow me to pick something but they declined. They later
accused me of erecting an overhanging structure beyond the drainage which was
not true. As you can see for yourself what they accused me of did not even get
to the drainage at all. The next thing they said was that I should come to
their office.”
Speaking on the encounter he had during a visit to their office, another
trader, who also identified himself simply as Kingsley claimed to have visited
their office after his shop was locked, saying he was asked to make some
payment.
He, however, noted that he was handed no receipt after the payment, even
after requesting it.
“When I got to the secretariat, I went straight to their office and on
getting there, I was told to make some payment. After I did, no form of
documentation indicating the payment. This made me worried because it was not
the first time. They did the same last year when my shop was locked, even when
they didn’t give clear reasons why it was locked.”
Meanwhile, a houseowner in the community who corroborated these claims,
said, “Although some of the traders contravene these laws, the local government
environmental officers are not fair enough when discharging their duties. I had
to intervene in the case of a trader who had an altercation with them one day.
I told them to prove to me where the shop was built at the drainage which
caused the argument.
The
council chairman, Mojeed Balogun, could not be reached as calls made to his
telephone were not responded to. A text message sent to him had yet to be
responded to as of the time this report was filed.
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