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Tag: lagos

  • Defection: Lagos lawmakers disagree

    Two lawmakers in the Lagos State House of Assembly have disagreed on why six lawmakers left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) last Thursday.

    The defectors are Minority Leader Akeem Bello (Amuwo Odofin); Minority Whip Mosunmola Sangodara (Surulere II); Olusola Sokunle (Oshodi/Isolo I); Jude Idimogu (Oshodi/Isolo II); Dayo Famakinwa (Ajeromi Ifelodun II) and Oluwa Fatai (Ajeromi/Ifelodun I).

    Idimogu insisted they left the PDP due to disagreement and factionalisation but Victor Akande (Ojo 1) differed, saying a crisis was not peculiar to the party.

    The two lawmakers, who spoke in separate interviews, admitted the PDP needed to put its house in order.

    Idimogu said the crisis in the PDP was getting out of hand.

    “The vision of achieving things in the PDP is difficult.  Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has impressed me,” he said.

    Akande berated the defectors for abandoning the party that brought them into office, saying it was obvious they would abandon the APC during a crisis.

  • Rivers police chief Odesanya buried in Lagos

    Rivers police chief Odesanya buried in Lagos

    Tears flowed as the remains of the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Francis Odesanya, were buried at Ikoyi Cemetery at the weekend.

    Odesanya died on January 31. He was 56.

    Speaking at a service at St Dominic Catholic Church, Yaba, Lagos,  Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ntom Chukwu, who represented the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, described Odesanya as “a fine and fantastic officer; God-fearing, hardworking and intelligent”.

    He said Odesanya left legacies of dedication, loyalty and commitment.

    Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Commander Akin Fakorede said Odesanya was a gentleman, professional, good leader and a patriotic Nigerian who represented the best the Force had to offer.

    Rivers State police spokesman Omoni Nnandi said the deceased was his mentor, teacher and team leader; a rare police officer, professional and focused.

    A relative, Mrs Abiodun Abimbola, said he would be missed. She described him as “a nice brother, who was always there for the family”.

    Another relative, Tunji Adeyemi, said the late Odesanya was generous and God fearing.

    The priest, Rev Stephen Ogbe, said the deceased made a positive impact in the life of others.

    He said Odesanya loved prayers and had faith, confidence and trust in God.

    “He touched lives in the church and in the country; he had good attitude and character.”

    Ogbe urged the congregation to live right, saying no one knows when he or she would die.

  • Harmattan: Lagos records 40 fire incidents – Commissioner

    Harmattan: Lagos records 40 fire incidents – Commissioner

    About 40 fire incidents were recorded in different parts of Lagos State over the weekend, the Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr Seye Oladejo, has said.

    Oladejo disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday at scene of fire outbreak at a plastic factory in Oshodi.

    NAN reports that no life was lost in the fire which started at the raw materials store of the factory.

    The commissioner attributed the escalation in fire incidence to the return of harmattan weather to the state.

    “We noticed the escalation of fire incidents since Friday when we had a sudden change in weather as harmattan suddenly came back.

    “Since then, we have recorded about 40 fire incidents in different parts of the state.

    “Fire incidents are mainly caused either by accident or sheer carelessness on the part of our people,’’ the commissioner said.

    He appealed to Lagos residents to be more careful, especially as regards the storing of petroleum products in homes.

    “As a government, we will continue to respond but we will be happy if the incidents are reduced to the barest minimum; our duty is to secure lives and property of our citizenry,” he said.

    Oladejo said government would continue to improve its emergency response services by acquiring more sophisticated equipment for effective disaster management in the state. (NAN)

  • One dead as vehicle plunges into Lagos river

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Sunday confirmed one woman dead as a vehicle plunged into Mekwe river near Bonny camp, Lagos, on Saturday night.

    Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, the spokesman of the agency, told newsmen in Lagos that the KIA Ultima SE model was with registration number MUS 38 BL and was carrying two persons when the incident occurred.

    According to Farinloye, the vehicle was recovered by the agency with the dead woman while her driver escaped unhurt on his own.

    He said the river spot at which the incident occurred was the most turbulent in the whole of West Africa.

    “A car with 2 passengers plunged into Melee river near Bonny camp in Lagos Island on Saturday evening.

    “The vehicle was later recovered with dead woman by the agency while her driver escaped unhurt on his own.

    “The river spot where the incident occurred is the most turbulent spot in the whole of West Africa,” he said.

    He appealed to motorists to drive safely on the highways. (NAN)

  • Kidnapping: Police to establish tracking machines in Lagos, Rivers

    Kidnapping: Police to establish tracking machines in Lagos, Rivers

    The Inspector- General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, says the force will establish special tracking unit in Lagos and Port-Harcourt to check kidnapping and other crimes.

    Idris made this known when he was interacting with civil society groups and crime reporters in Lagos on Friday.

    He noted that kidnapping was becoming more serious than other crimes in the country.

    The IG said that the tracking machine established in Abuja had helped to resolve about 90 per cent cases of kidnapping with victims rescued and suspects arrested.

    ”Already, tracking machines have been deployed to states and will start functioning in few weeks’ time, so as to reduce pressure on those in Abuja.

    ”This will enhance the police anti-kidnapping drive.

    ”The machine in Port Harcourt, Rivers will cater for the South-South and South East zones, while the one deployed to Lagos would focus on the west,” he said.

    The police chief also said that there were plans to reinvigorate the force forensic laboratories, noting however, that funds constraints were hindering its implementation.

    Idris urged Nigerians to assist the police in tackling armed crimes, reiterating that the fight against kidnappers was a community fight.

    According to him, it is not what the police alone can handle. It has become a community fight and can only be solved with the help of the people.

    “When I assumed duty, one of the plans we came up with was to rehabilitate our forensic units. I outlined the challenges of the police and how to handle them.

    ”The thing is that we have been having funding challenges.

    “We are trying to address it in a holistic manner. Very soon, we are going to have National Security Summit. Kidnapping seems to be a community problem.

    “Over 90 percent of victims have been rescued. I agree that it is becoming a major challenge. It cuts across the entire country. It has to be addressed in various forms.

    “It is not just the police or security agencies. Take for instance where the Turkish School students were kidnapped. That school is situated at the foot of a swamp.

    ”Despite that parents pay huge amount of money, the school did not invest much in security.
    “So, we are going to use the summit to address these issues as well as others like the herdsmen and farmers issues.

    ”These issues are further dividing us as a nation and we need to solve them.

    You cannot have the maximum support of security in an area without the support of the public.
    ”Everybody has one thing or the other to make our society safe,” Idris said.

    He expressed the need for the media and civil society to be advocates of improved funding for the police through the Police Trust Fund.

    “The funding of the police is costly. What we are trying to do is to pursue 50 percent of our budgetary requirement from other sources.

    ”We are also looking for other avenues where we can address the problem of the police.

    “At the same time, we are hoping that the National Assembly will pass the bill establishing Police Trust Fund, by so doing, open up other sources for the police to generate money.

    ”It is already happening in Lagos (Security Trust Fund) and has been working wonderfully.

    “We are aware that the Federal Government is financially constrained and so, we do not think it is right to over burden the system by creating other agencies.

    ”These agencies would require funding and create rivalry. But if more money is available for the police and more people recruited, we can achieve so much more,” he noted.

    Idris also stated that there were plans to professionalise the police by establishing specialised schools such as Finance, Marine, among others for training.

    He urged civil society organisations to support the police in training its personnel on professional conducts.

    The IG expressed satisfaction at the scorecard of the rebranded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

    “We are working hard to restore the integrity of the police. Earning the confidence of the people is important to us and we can only achieve that by changing the attitude of some of our policemen.

    ”By the time we achieve that, the people’s trust will be regained and things will be better.

    “This is one of the reasons we make it compulsory for officers from the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and above to declare their assets.

    ”My management team and I declared our assets when we came on board,” he said.

    On the strength of the police, Idris said that the service was understaffed and would need over a million policemen to meet United Nations standard.

    ”Thankfully, the government has given approval for yearly recruitment of 10,000 policemen. For so many years, there was embargo on police recruitment.

    “Besides, the police lost so many personnel in the course of the Boko Haram insurgency. We were the worst hit and still we were not recruiting.

    ”All these affected the strength of the police,” the police chief said.

    He revealed that of the N300 billion budgeted for the police in 2016, only N4 billion was eventually released.

     

     

  • Five Lagos PDP assembly members defect to APC

    Five Lagos PDP assembly members defect to APC

    Five out of the eight Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Lagos State House of Assembly members on Wednesday defected to the ruling All Progressive Congress(APC).

    Details later.

     

  • Lagos NYSC appeals for new permanent orientation camp

    The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Co-ordinator in Lagos State, Prince Mohammed Momoh, has appealed to the state government to expedite action on the construction of a permanent orientation camp on the land allocated to the scheme in Agbowa, Ikorodu.

    Momoh, who thanked the government for donating the land at the closing ceremony of 2,868 Batch B Stream 2 corps members, which  held last Monday at the Iyana Ipaja NYSC Orientation camp, said he hoped the funding for the construction of the new camp would be provided for in the 2018 budget.

    “We specially thank His Excellency for the allocation of land at Agbowa for the construction of a permanent orientation camp, befitting the status of Lagos State.  It is our fervent hope and prayer that the construction of the orientation camp would be included in the next year’s budget,” he said.

    In an interview, Momoh lamented that limited space at the Iyana Ipaja camp restricted the corps members from undergoing the three-week orientation programme in Lagos despite the state having the highest absorptive capacity for primary assignment posting in Nigeria.

    He said after the orientation programme, the state gets as many as the number of corps members originally assigned to it redeployed from other states.

    He, however, said the situation was not ideal as the redeployed corps members were not able to respond appropriately to their environment because they missed out of the orientation programme.

    “Lagos is the only state in the Southwest without a permanent orientation camp.  Yet, Lagos has the highest absorptive capacity in the country for places of primary assignments.  If we can get a camp that can accommodate up to 5,000 corps members, more would be posted to Lagos and not have to be redeployed from other states,” he said.

    Momoh added that getting the camp constructed during his tenure would be a great achievement.

    Addressing the corps members, he advised them to take their posting “in good faith” and desist from unnecessary travels outside the state.

    “Let me strongly advise our dear corps members to obey the rules of NYSC as the scheme will not hesitate to punish erring corps members as spelt out in the NYSC bye-law.  It is pertinent to warn you not to play truancy and desist from engaging in acts capable of denting the image of the scheme. Do not embark on unauthorised journeys outside Lagos State as many have met their untimely death through such journeys,” he warned.

    Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Mr Oluseye Oladejo, also counseled the corps members to give their best wherever they are posted, promising that their efforts would be rewarded.

    “I assure you of the warm reception that awaits you wherever you may be posted for your primary assignment.  You must strive to put in your best and make positive impact in your various places of primary assignment.  Excellent performance will be duly recognised and rewarded at the end of the service year,” he said.

     

  • Illegality of houses demolition in Lagos

    Illegality of houses demolition in Lagos

    In this article, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, lists the processes that must be followed by the government before embarking on demolition of houses.  

    Sometime in 1989, about 300,000 people were rendered homeless in Maroko, a shanty town on Victoria Island in Lagos State when their houses were demolished by the defunct military junta.  All efforts by the displaced people of Maroko to halt the demolition failed on the ground that a breach of the fundamental right to property could not be enforced under the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules, 1979.  Upon the appropriation of Maroko, it was sand-filled with public funds and distributed by the government to some top civil servants, military officers and business elite. Even though the Court of Appeal later held that the refusal of the High Court to grant the relief sought by the displaced community was wrong, the ruling military junta arrogantly named one of the streets after the judge who refused the injunction!

    However, following the destruction of their homes by the Lagos State government, the Maroko people took over the uncompleted Abesan Estate. To prevent the government from ejecting them forcefully from the estate, we approached the Lagos High Court for legal protection. In stiff opposition to the suit the government contended that since the occupants of the estate were squatters, they could be ejected forcefully. In rejecting the spurious contention, the presiding judge, Alabi J. (as he then was) ruled that the occupiers of the estate were entitled to be served a seven-day quit notice and be sued if they refused to quit the premises.

    Notwithstanding the clear provisions of the law enunciated by the Lagos High Court in Samuel Ayeyemi’s case, the Lagos State government has continued to embark on mass demolition of houses occupied by the poor in the state. It is our submission that all the demolition exercises carried out so far are illegal as they violate Section 36(4) of the Constitution which stipulates that in the determination of their rights and obligations, every citizen shall be entitled to make a representation to the authority. It is pertinent to note that the right of owners or occupiers of houses to make representation to the government before any demolition exercise is carried out is enshrined in the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law Cap U2 Laws of Lagos state 2015 (herein referred to as the URPD Law).

    Thus, by virtue of Section 49 of the URPD Law, there shall be a renewal agency which shall be saddled with the responsibility to issue enforcement notices, including the following: Contravention Notice; Stop Work Order; Quit Notice; Seal-up Notice;  Regularisation Notice; and Demolition Notice.

    Before enforcing the order contained in any of the aforesaid notices,  a committee of members of the renewal agency shall be set up to hear, consider and report on any representation or objection which may be made orally or in writing by the owner or occupier of any building on which a notice has been pasted. It is further provided that before a demolition order is made in respect of any building or a part of it, estimates of the compensation payable to the owner or occupier shall be determined and made available.

    If the agency dismisses the objection and confirms the demolition order, the aggrieved owner or occupier has the right to appeal against the decision to the Physical Planning and Building Control Agency Appeals Committee. Furthermore, an aggrieved person or any interested party may appeal against the decision of the Appeals Committee and such appeal shall lie as of right to the High Court of the State. The appeal to the high court must be made within twenty-eight (28) days after written notification of the final decision of the Appeals Committee.

    It is clear from the foregoing that it is after the complaint of the aggrieved person has been dismissed by the High Court that any demolition can be carried out in Lagos State. However, a building cannot be demolished in any part of the state without a valid court order, unless it has been established that it is structurally defective or found to constitute environmental hazard.  Therefore, the practice of demolishing houses after the expiration of a 48-hour notice is illegal in every material particular.  In a judgment delivered by the Federal Capital Territory High court on February 2, 2017, in Chief Jacob Obor & Ors v Federal Capital Territory & Ors (unreported suit no  CV/3998/12) Kutigi J. declared the planned demolition of all the houses in Mpape illegal on the ground that the notices purportedly served on the plaintiffs did not meet  statutory requirement.

    Indeed, the illegality of the demolition of houses in Lagos State is compounded by the refusal of the Ministry of Physical Planning to hear and determine the objections and complaints of owners of buildings which are marked for demolition. In other words, the action of the government constitutes a reckless violation of the provisions of sections 57-89 of the Law. It is also a breach of section of 36 (4) of the Constitution which guarantees the fundamental right of every citizen to make a representation before any matter affecting their civil rights and obligations is determined.

    In SERAP v. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2002) 2 CHR 537 at 562 the African Commission on Human and People’ Rights condemned the demolition of a number of houses in Ogoniland. While upholding the human right of the owners of the demolished houses to shelter the Commission said:

    “At a very minimum, the right to shelter obliges the Nigerian government not to destroy the housing of its citizens and not to obstruct efforts by individuals or communities to rebuild lost homes. The state’s obligation to respect housing rights requires it, and thereby all of its organs and agents, to abstain from carrying out, sponsoring or tolerating any practice, policy or legal measure violating the integrity of the individual or infringing upon his or her freedom to use those material or other resources available to them in a way they find most appropriate to satisfy individual, family, household or community housing needs.”

    To check the menace of land grabbers and prevent a breakdown of law and order, the Lagos state government has enacted the …….Law, 2016, which has criminalised the seizure of land and houses without a valid court order. Thus, by forcefully taking over houses before demolishing them, the Lagos state government has violated its own law. The duty of the government to prevent the use of force was emphasised in the case of Attorney-General of Lagos v. Attorney-General of the Federation (2004) 18 NWLR (PT 904) 1 at 53 by the late Justice Niki Tobi when he said:

    “The courts are available to accommodate all sorts of grievances that are justiciable in law and section 6 of the Constitution gives the courts power to adjudicate on masters between two or more competing parties. In our democracy all the governments of this country as well as organizations and individuals must kowtow to the due process of the law and this they can vindicate by resorting to the courts for redress in the event of any grievance.”

    It has been confirmed that some of the demolitions were carried out while cases challenging the validity of demolition notices were being challenged in the Lagos High Court. Even under a military dictatorship the government  was called to order in the case of The military governor of Lagos State v Chief Emeka Ojukwu (1986) 4 NWLR (PT 18) 621 when the Supreme Court said:

    “In the area where the rule of law operates, the rule of self-help by force is abandoned. Nigeria being one of the countries in the world, even in the third world which proclaims to operate under the rule of law, there is no room for rule of self-help by force to operate… the rule of law means that disputes as to the legality of acts of government are to be decided by judges who are wholly independent of the executive.”

    In the light of the foregoing, it is submitted that the demolition of houses carried out by the Lagos State Government without a court order is illegal and unconstitutional. If the victims seek legal redress, the government is liable to pay special, general and aggravated damages. Perhaps the attention of the government ought to be drawn to the damages of N166 billion awarded by the Federal High Court against the Federal Government in three separate judgments over the wilful destruction and demolition of houses during the military invasions of Odi, Zaki Biam and Gbaramatu.

  • ERA/FoEN criticises proposed Lagos environment law

    ERA/FoEN criticises proposed Lagos environment law

    The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has described the proposed Bill to Provide for the Management, Protection and Sustainable Development of the Environment in Lagos State as a document laden with ambiguities to mask its privatisation plans in the water sector.

    At a Public Hearing by the Lagos House Committee for Environment at the House of Assembly Complex in Alausa, Ikeja, ERA/FoEN faulted sections of the proposal, which it viewed as attempts to sneak public-private partnership (PPP) into the water sector. The sections include: Allocation of Fund and Guarantees, Sinking of Borehole Hydraulic and other Structures, Maintenance of Water Bodies, Functions of the Office and Powers to Make Regulations.

    ERA/FoEN Deputy Executive Director Akinbode Oluwafemi said: “We are shell-shocked at the proposed law as it is fraught with deliberate loopholes that will open the door for the corporate take-over of Lagos water, the sanitation sector and, ultimately, the state.”

    Oluwafemi frowned at the provisions of the “Allocation of Fund and Guarantees,” saying it is scandalous for the state government to contemplate securing payment for contracted services and concessions for long-term infrastructure investments as first line of preference from internally-generated revenue. This he interpreted to mean that government must pay corporate entities before spending on roads, schools, hospitals, and water.

    He condemned the aspect of the bill which says: “in the event that the state’s IGR is insufficient or unavailable to discharge its obligations, it will apply monies due to it from the monthly allocations from the federal account to secure its payment obligation to the contractors and concessionaires”.

    The ERA/FoEN memorandum also carpets the clause on the composition of members of “The Trust Fund Board” to be set up. Going by the clause, the body will have six members, two of which will be from the Ministry of Environment, and the Commissioner for Environment being its chair. It noted that the commissioner would have too many powers under the law as he would also be tasked with making regulations.

    In the provision that criminalises “Sinking of Borehole Hydraulic and other Structures” with recommendation of prison terms and fines for defaulters, the group said Lagos residents using these means to access water were only victims of a failed system that failed to provide them a basic human need.

    “What logic justifies banning people from using streams or helping their neighbours who cannot access safe water due to inadequate investment from the state government for decades? Yet, this obnoxious provision is in the law,” Oluwafemi said.

    The ERA/ FoEN chief explained that if these measures were not challenged, they would further burden Lagosians at a time that the government has no plan to fix the public water system. He added: “Our fear is that this pressure on Lagos citizens could be the guise to introduce the PPP in the water sector which Lagosians have roundly condemned.’’

    ERA/FoEN also provided copies of the document titled:  “Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative Roadmap for the Water Sector” which it launched last October, as solution to the water crisis in Lagos.

  • Why Lagos won’t experience Lassa fever epidemic

    The fear of Lassa fever is the beginning of wisdom for many states. Experts are of the view that Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, has all it takes to prevent a Lassa fever epidemic, writes PETER EJIOFOR

    A man, Livinus Okeke (not real names) lives in a rat-infested house for decades, but unknown to him that rat is death in the house until the outbreak of the ravaging hemorrhagic disease, Lassa fever, in Lagos and other states in January 2016, caused by rats.

    States affected then include Niger, Bauchi, Kano, Edo, Nassarawa, Borno, Kogi, Oyo, Taraba, Plateau, Ondo, Ebonyi, Ogun, Rivers, Ogun, Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. On the whole, more than 154 people died of Lassa fever in 24 states in 2016.

    In some areas, it is common to find people killing rats and dumping them carelessly in front of their homes and in the streets without knowing that the dead rat is still poisonous. Unknown to many too, people fail to protect their foodstuffs against rats.

    Rats and rodents generally are vectors that transmit life-threatening infections, especially Lassa fever.

    Vector-borne diseases are infections transmitted by the bite of infected arthropod species, such as rats, mosquitoes, ticks, triatomine bugs, sandflies and blackflies.

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) says vector-borne diseases account for more than 17 per cent of all infectious diseases, causing more than 1 million deaths annually.

    No sooner than the first case of the disease was confirmed on Jan. 14, 2016, by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, Lagos State Government set out to curb the menace.

    Governor Akinwunmi Ambode instructed the health officials and Environmental Health Officers to rid the state of the vector. This led to the health officers killing rats in markets in the state.

    They say that more than 77,000 rats from different markets were eventually killed. However, the fight lost steam.

    But the government among other things set up surveillance and quarantine centres in the different parts of the state apart from ensuring that schools and public institutions and even homes had sanitizers.

    To ensure that the fight against Lassa fever is won, the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment with Dr Babatunde Adejare as Commissioner, in conjunction with Phosgard Fumigants Nigeria Limited adopted a novel approach to the vector control.

    Phosgard Fumigants introduced a slogan, “Operation Kill Rats, Make More Money In Lagos’’, to depopulate rodents in the state by putting a price on rats. The effort is also to make residents to join in the fight to rid the state of the vector.

    The Chief Executive Officer of Phosgard, Mr Oluwasegun Benson, explains that under the project, rodents multiplying ubiquitously across the mega-city state are to be exterminated from residential places and markets using hi-tech chemicals and equipment that will make their decomposing bodies non-infectious.

    “Everything is going to be water-tight as we are not just going to kill the rats, we are going to collect them using our trained and well-kitted personnel,’’ Benson said.

    Describing rats as destructive and hazardous to nature, the company’s CEO added: “We cannot completely eradicate rodents, but we can control it to a tolerable level.’’

    He notes that with the cosmopolitan nature of Lagos, if measures are not put in place to exterminate rats, it may be difficult to control an outbreak of epidemics.

    Launching the project on October 27, 2016, at Obalende Market, Adejare said that it was pleasing to note that the traders in the markets were complying with set environmental laws.

    He disclosed that to enhance clean environment, the government was promoting the “kill rat, make money ’’in Lagos because of numerous health and economic benefits associated with it.

    Adejare, who noted that the major vectors in the markets included flies and rats, said that rat bites and scratches could result in disease and rat bite fever, while rat urine is responsible for the spread of Leptospirosis which could result in Liver and Kidney damage.

    Another major disease transmitted by rats is Lassa fever.

    He said that economic effect of vectors were funds spent to treat diseases, reduction of profit as a result of contaminated or damaged product and increase in cost to manufacturers who compensate the retailers for items lost to vector invasion.

    Also, fire outbreaks due to the nibbling of wires by rats, pollution of the surrounding with faeces and other waste and other environmental hazards are other effects of vectors.

    The state government also donated logistics, including two Toyota Hilux vans to the Phosgard to ease movement of men and materials in the course of the deratisation.

    The vector control programme approved by Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has moved to the implementation stage, according to Benson.

    Benson says that in between the launch and January 25, 2017, his company had engaged the market executives with the permission of the chairperson of men and women in the markets (Iyalojas) and the Iyaloja-General of Lagos, Folashade Tinubu-Ojo.

    “We have had meetings with her since October 2016 together with the members of her Executive Committee and tried to come out with modalities for safely carrying out the project without any cause for alarm to the market women or contaminating their foodstuffs and so on.

    “We have done sensitisation in markets but we are not stopping at that; part of our resolution is that our advocacy team will go into the markets for continuous sensitisation.

    “The local government we are going to be working with this time is Ikoyi/Eti Osa Local Government Council and will be working at Obalende Market and Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) Market, Ijeh Barracks.

    “Our advocacy team has gone there to sensitise them on the need to key into the project and the overall aim of preventing Lassa fever in Lagos. So, they have keyed into the project and opened their doors to execute the programme,’’ he said.

    He says the advocacy team is also reaching out to individuals after the exercise, and will get a number of people and in turn we buy the rat.

    “We are going to engage in full blown deratisation in Eti-Osa where we will commence the killing of the rats.

    “For some of the rats that we have killed before, we have the statistics per market and at a later date, we are going to publish the statistics of rats that we have been able to kill and the location in which they are killed.

    “This will help us in the future to draw a survey and a basic data collating in terms of the efficacy of the project.’’

    Benson adds that the company had simulation exercises in Census market in Surulere under Coker-Aguda Local Government Council, and a couple of streets. The project proper will now be carried out in Eti-Osa Local Government Area, Ikoyi-Obalende market and POWA market in Ijeh barracks.

    Benson says the traders have been mobilised and are now interested in the project such that “some people are not interested in selling the rats because they take it as a civic duty.

    “They believe that if they are not doing anything and the rats within the environment is being killed that part of their contribution is to get the rats and give it to us free instead of selling.

    “But some people are selling it to us and of which we have been doing skeletal purchases. The Phase Two of the project is to recognise key environmental champions, corporate key environmental champions that will provide the amenities and resources for the sustenance of buying of the rats. For now, the company will buy a rat for N10.’’

    With Lassa fever recurring in Ogun which shares border with Lagos State and in some others, it is pertinent that Lagos State residents embrace the project to exterminate vectors in the environment and live a life free of haemorrhagic fever. A stitch in time saves nine.

    • Ejiofor is of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).