Lagos gives traders quit notice

Oziegbe Okoeki

LAGOS State Government on Monday issued a quit notice to the traders with containerised stores and other forms of stalls at Oke Arin Market at Ebute-Ero under parts of the Eko Bridge recently gutted by fire, to relocate with immediate effect.

The government in a statement signed by the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello, asked the traders under the bridge including those not affected by the fire incident of Sunday to move from the present location.

He said also affected are people with structures under the Eko Bridge who engage in one form of selling or the other.

The statement added that the government cannot fold its arms and watch the lives of the majority of the residents exposed to dangers, stressing that the continuation of trading by the traders is putting the integrity of the Eko Bridge at risk.

Bello said that all the traders and those who have erected shanties under the Eko Bridge must find alternative places to trade, as the government will soon fence the area.

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He said the continuation of trading under the Eko Bridge will affect the bridge and the possibility of endangering the lives of several thousands who make use of the bridge daily.

The commissioner said the government has directed security agencies to monitor the immediate relocation of the traders from the present location under the bridge and also ensure that no one is allowed to continue with trading under any guise under the Eko Bridge.

He advised the local government authorities to desist from granting permit to anyone to trade or erect any form of structures under the Eko Bridge or its environs because such unbridled activity is always counter-productive.

Bello recalled that activities of people who trade under some structures, especially bridges in the state in the past, have resulted in damages to such structures, warning that such excesses would no longer be tolerated.