7th January, 2016
Kazeem Ugbodaga
At least 3,178 hoodlums were charged and convicted in the last one year in Lagos State for different environmental offences including street hawking and traffic offences, the Lagos State Government has said.
Chairman, Lagos Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, Olubukola Abe, a Superintendent of Police, disclosed this on Thursday in Ikeja, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, while giving an account of his stewardship since assuming office five months ago.
He said the taskforce had received over 286 petitions from different individuals on matters relating to public health and environmental nuisance, saying most of the petitions bordered on blockage of public roads, walkways, illegal street trading, erecting shanties, illegal structures and mechanic workshops and many more.
Abe stated that his men had worked hard to restore sanity in Tejuosho Market and its environs, Oshodi, Ikorodu/Mile 12 axis and other black spots within the metropolis in the process of which many arrest and prosecutions have been made.
“Within the period of August to December 2015, we impounded and confiscated 4,430 motorcycles for breach of traffic rules. We also contravened and ticketed 201 vehicles. During the same period, we arrested 4,272 miscreants out of which 4,200 were charged to court and 3,178 convicted,” he said.
He said his men were able to sustain the earlier achievement of his predecessors in Oshodi, Obalende, Apapa and Yaba just as they succeeded in clearing all identified illegal parks and uncompleted buildings notorious for harbouring hoodlums.
The Taskforce chairman added that his men suffered a lot of attacks from hoodlums within the period as 15 officers of the agency were seriously injured; adding that some of the agency’s operational vehicles were damaged beyond repair.