19th September, 2011
The Lagos State Government has issued shut down notices to the popular Ladipo spare parts, Mushin and Cele markets over dumping of refuse on drainage channels and environmental degradation.
The state government also said it cannot promise Lagosians flood-free Lagos, saying that there are times heavy rains that would last for hours could not be brought under control like the Sunday 10 July rainfall which wreaked havoc in Lagos.
Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello who said this at the weekend in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, said the state government was appalled by the wanton degradation of the environment by traders at Ladipo Market.
He threatened that government would soon move to the area to close of the market if the traders did not change and stop dumping used spare parts into drainages in the area.
“Ladipo traders dump spare parts into canal. We are using this medium to serve them notice; go and clean up your surroundings. If you are running a market, you don’t have to dump refuse in a canal,†he said.
The commissioner also decried the poor state of Mushin and Cele markets, saying that if the traders did not act swiftly to clean up their environment, government would move in sooner and shut them.
According to him, the state government could no longer tolerate a situation where traders dump refuse in canals thereby causing massive flooding across the state, warning that government would no longer issue notices to such markets but would move in and shut them down until they complied with the environmental laws of the state.
Bello added that markets that contravened the environmental laws of the state would be shut down and would not be re-opened for three months to serve as deterrent to others.
The commissioner defended the demolition of Yaba Market, saying that he would not call it a market but an illegal trading point as government never gave approval for such place to exist.
He said despite the fact that the government allowed them to trade at the place, the traders took laws into their hands by attacking officials of the Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI, and stabbed one of them, a woman, in the eye which she has lost.
The angry commissioner said government had no choice than to demolish the illegal market to teach them a lesson that traders should not attack government officials unjustly.
He added that the other market which was shut in Yaba would be re-opened later after the traders would have served their punishment for partaking in the attack of KAI officials.
On flooding, Bello stated that if rain that lasted for 15 hours like the last one falls again, there is no way there won’t be flood, adding that the best drainage system in the world cannot withstand such a heavy rain.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State government is set to clampdown on roadside mechanics in the state as the ultimatum given to them to either relocate to approved mechanic villages or get plots of land for their vocation expires.
The State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, who gave the mechanics and others in their group a 24-hour ultimatum at the weekend, warned that failure to abide by the order would make any one arrested face prosecution.
The ultimatum expires today and the Parks Monitoring Committee which was set up last Friday by the Ministry of Transportation has been mandated to raid any of the mechanics still found operating along the streets or major roads in the state.
Opeifa, while disclosing this, also said that the law enforcement agents in the state have also been informed as they would collaborate with the government in order to rid the state of people causing nuisance in the state.
While expressing government’s determination to ensure sanity in the state, Opeifa said the Parks Monitoring Committee was set up to facilitate effective communication within the parks, transport unions and the state government.
According to him, the committee would monitor those selling alcoholic drinks like paraga within the parks and ensure that officials of each park ensure cleanliness of the parks.
“This committee has the power to recommend the closure of any park or the sack of its union officials if such a park is found not to comply with government laws,†he said.
Opeifa has issued a warning to some disgruntled members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, in the state, who, according to him, are bent on causing tension within the union.
He said the government had contacted the national body of the union and has been told that the executive arm of the NURTW in Lagos State has not been dissolved.
“There is no dissolution of NURTW executive members in Lagos. Anybody who is aspiring to become the next officer of the body in the state should please wait until such directives are given.
“The leadership, I repeat, for NURTW in Lagos State is intact,†he said.
He warned members of the union, who operated under the umbrella of Elders Forum to desist from causing tension in the chapter and instead lodge whatever complaints they have with the state government.
“It is an advice and if you fail to heed to the advice, then we will not hesitate to make use of the law,†he warned them.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga & Eromosele Ebhomele