The Nation Newspaper

Tag: LAGESC

  • Gridlock: Task Force clamps down on illegal traders

    Operatives of both the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences (Taskforce) Unit and the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) has jointly dislodged all illegal trading activities on road setbacks and walk-ways around Ikeja.

    The Agency has also served 72hrs notice to food vendors who are in the habit of blocking off Awolowo Road opposite Airport Hotel, Ikeja to desist from preventing residents to gain access to their respective home every night as such act contravene the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Law.

    In a statement, Chairman of the Lagos State Task Force, Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Chief Superintendent of Police, disclosed that the activities of illegal traders, hawkers and other environmental nuisances was an eye-sore which impeded free flow of traffic around Kodesho Street, Medical Road and Ikeja under bridge towards Railway line.

    Adding that the exercise was in line with Section (1) of the Lagos State Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law 2003 which prescribes a punishment of N90, 000 or a 6month jail term, for both the buyer and the seller of any goods or services on all roads across the State.

    “Despite continuous advocacy, enlightenment and appeals from the government some illegal traders and hawkers are still in the habit of violating the extant environmental laws of the State by causing disorder and serious environmental infraction on the roads through their activities”

    According to the Agency “all illegal traders and hawkers must vacate the roads in order to drastically reduce inconveniences to motorists, enhance the sustainability of the environment and protect public infrastructures which were often vandalized by hawkers and street traders”

    Egbeyemi said that government would not tolerate the disregard of law from any quarters, particularly traders who were found of converting every available space into market as such untoward acts needlessly inconvenience other law abiding citizens.

    Read also: Taskforce seizes 109 motorcycles, to destroy over 2,500

    During the exercise seven illegal traders were arrested while different types of goods ranging from fairly used clothes (okrika), shoes, belt, fairly used electronics, gas cylinders mobile phone accessories were also confiscated by the enforcement team, the seven are to be charged to court in the orders of the state commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu.

    “This is a pointer to other locations such as Oyingbo, Bariga, Mushin, Yaba, Orile-Iganmu, Apapa, Ikorodu, Mile 12, Ojota, Ojora, Obalende and Lagos Island where activities of illegal traders impede the free flow of traffic that it would not be business as usual till zero tolerance is maintained”

    While warning all market union leaders to desist from collecting illegal fees from these illegal traders and hawkers, the Agency urged owners of all illegally built kiosks and containerised shops on road setbacks and walk-ways to remove them immediately or face the wrath of the Law.

  • LAGESC warns residents against indiscriminate waste disposal

    The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) yesterday urged residents to henceforth desist from dumping waste or be prosecuted.

    In a statement by its Deputy Corps Marshal in charge of Operations and Monitoring, Ademola Kazeem, the agency said it had noted with dismay the resurgence of refuse in public areas over the past couple of weeks.

    Investigation carried out by LAGESC, he said, revealed that some residents have deliberately cultivated the habit of dumping waste on the road, sidewalks, road medians, and open spaces.

    He said some residents were still illegally patronising cart-pushers, who recklessly dump collected waste in unauthorized places.

    “This deliberate act of sabotage which is targeted at undermining the efforts of the State Government on Cleaner Lagos is inimical to public health and safety especially in this period of heavy downpour in mainly flood-prone areas of the State.

     

     

  • LAGESC arrests 40 sanitation offenders

    The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) yesterday warned traders to stop trading on roads under construction, pedestrian bridges and drainages.

    Its Executive Secretary, Mrs. Idowu Mohammed, gave the warning after inspecting Oshodi-Apapa Expressway inward Airport Road.

    Mohammed, who frowned at the obstruction the roadside traders were causing construction workers, motorists and pedestrians, said the agency would not hesitate to destroy their wares and prosecute offenders.

    She said: “I want to use this opportunity to warn traders to stay away from barricaded portions of the road. They are barricaded to ease ongoing construction exercise and also create passage for pedestrians. But with people displaying their wares on those portions, they make things difficult and constitute public nuisance.

    “Even those who have turned pedestrian bridges to market places should stop such actions. We have men monitoring all these places and we would ensure that anyone caught is prosecuted.

    “Between 1pm and 4pm yesterday, we went on enforcement along Mosafejo and it was alarming the things we saw. Aside those who have taken over portions of the road under construction to display their wares, we arrested about 40 other offenders including street hawkers, indiscriminate waste disposers and those trading on pedestrian bridges, among others.”

  • LAGESC rolls out agenda, urges Lagosians to pay utility levies

    The newly formed Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), formerly the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), has said its priority is to ensure that environmental infractions become a thing of the past.

    Its Executive Secretary, Mrs Idowu Mohammed, made this known in an interview.

    She said LAGESC would make sure that the environment is kept clean and in line with the mandate of Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI).

    Mohammed said the corps would  be used to police the highways to ensure that people do not dump refuse indiscriminately on the roads, and to prevent traders  from displaying their wares on the road.

    “The sanitation corps will clear the pathways and bridges and dislodge people selling on the road. They will make sure that the roads are clean and that there is no infraction. They will make sure that the Public Utility Levy (PUL) is paid by residents of Lagos State,” she explained.

    She assured residents that the new corps would carry out its responsibilities in line with international best practices, noting that gone were the days when KAI officials conducted their affairs with uncivily.

    “We are out to serve the residents with all civility and decorum. The government’s aim is to provide and promote a cleaner and healthy environment, devoid of indiscriminate dumping of refuse and drainage blockade,” she said.

    Mohammed said that the government would deploy motorised trucks to sweep highways, a reversal from the previous era where sweeping of roads is done by human beings and thereby exposing them to the danger of being knocked down by vehicles.

    The LAGESC chief said over 27,000 of the 30,000 sweepers that would be recruited would be made to sweep streets in their communities and be paid salaries above the N18,000 minimum wage.

    “Under the Cleaner Lagos Initiative, 30,000 jobs will be created for sweepers. We have an agreement backed up by the government. In the old waste management system, wastes were collected, but the disposal mechanism was the problem,” she said.

    The Managing Director, Solid Waste Management (SWM) Solutions, the consultant to the government, Mrs. Tolagbe Martins, assuring the public of better days ahead in waste management, said the CLI is incomplete without effective enforcement and total compliance, adding that this is where LAGESC will play dominant roles.

    “The aim of CLI is to create an enabling environment for investment. The passage of the law enabling private sector participation in waste management has made it a reality,” she said.

    Martins explained that the “PUL is a property-based charge applicable to all properties within the state. It has replaced all previous waste management levies.”

    She added that under the new dispensation, the Public Utilities Monitoring and Assurance Unit (PUMAU) has been created to coordinate PUL bill generation.

    Martins also disclosed that the  government had concessioned three Landfills under the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) for 25 years, adding that this would take effect from next year.

    But pending the readiness of the three landfills, the government, Martins explained, would make do with what is available now, noting that the Olusosun dumpsite would be closed immediately the landfills were ready.