Lagos Govt. to set up special taskforce against street trading

As part of measures to increase traffic flow around markets, the Lagos State Government through its Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), has concluded plans to set up a special Taskforce to end the menace across the state.

The government noted the taskforce would be mandated to patrol the state, especially around markets, to ensure that traders do not display their wares on roads, walkways, and other prohibited locations in Lagos.

The LAGESC Corps Marshal, Major Olatunbosun Cole (retd), who disclosed this on Thursday during a stakeholder meeting with Lagos Island traders at the agency’s headquarters in Oshodi, stated that the members of the team would be the KAI officers.

Cole noted that the stakeholder’s meeting was convened to seek Lagosians support in the agency’s push to improve the megacity’s environmental status.

“We are going to constitute a taskforce for street trading and their job will be to continuously patrol the state to prevent traders from violating the law,” he said. 

Cole stressed that the ban placed on street trading and hawking has not been lifted by the government, saying aside there is a review of the law prohibiting its practice in Lagos. 

“While we strive for a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable Lagos, it is requisite to highlight that the responsibility is not only in the hands of government agencies but also incumbent on every one of us,” he added.

The Director of Enforcement, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Babatunde Gbenga, who corroborated the LAGESC boss, urged residents to embrace the whistleblower measures set up by the government to aid reportage of environmental infractions in the state.

The Iyaloja of Oluwole market, Josephine Onwudiwe, who applauded the move, advocated a total clampdown on street trading across the state, saying they are the cause of gridlocks around markets in the state.

Onwudiwe stressed that travel time around markets would reduce after the eradication of street trading.

The market leader, who argued that the move would increase revenue for the government, noted that the government would have an accurate number of traders in each market.