Traders lining up near Agege rail tracks
Eko Hot Blog reports that the Lagos State Government, alongside the Agege Local Government, has ordered traders and beggars on rail tracks along the Agege corridor to vacate before strict enforcement and demolition.
The local and state governments gave the directive on Sunday at a stakeholders meeting with illegal occupants, owners of shanties, traders, and those begging for alms on the rail tracks.
The governments said their directive was with immediate effect.
Speaking at the meeting, Lagos State Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pension, Afolabi Ayantayo, called on the occupants of the shanties to vacate the rail lines before the enforcement would commence.
“It has come to our notice that various criminal activities are being carried out along the rail corridor. We learnt that the shanties are harbouring criminals attacking passers-by and residents at night,” he said.
“The government has invested a lot of money in the rail project and we don’t want anybody to sabotage and deface the infrastructure, that’s why we are educating and warning the people involved to vacate the area before enforcements begin. I am calling on the police to face this task seriously.”
The commissioner also appealed to the community and market leaders to enlighten their residents and traders to shun trading on the railway lines to avoid being arrested by a joint enforcement team to be set up soon.
Police officers displacing traders near Agege Rail Tracks in July 2023
Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, recalled that he had been at the rail corridor to sensitise residents to proper sanitation and avoid the rail track when trading.
Obasa, who was represented by a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly Representing Agege II Constituency, Jubril AbdulKareem, said the government would come with full force to demolish the shanties after the stakeholders meeting.
“We need to understand the reason the government is doing this enforcement. It is for our safety and for our benefits,” the top lawmaker in Lagos said.
“The railway is for the benefit of the people not for trading; and the bridges are not meant for begging or commercial purposes.”
Earlier, the Chairman of Agege Local Government, Ganiyu Egunjobi, said enforcing and holding people accountable for their actions would now be the priority of the government at the railway line.
Egunjobi maintained that community police would join hands with the police to arrest the perpetrators.
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