LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT REFUNDS 145 FORMER SUBSCRIBERS OF EGAN HOUSING ESTATE
admin The Lagos State government yesterday ordered traders operating illegal markets/shanties on System 6C drainage channel setback and alignment at Odo – Ashimawu, Cele Bus Stop, on the Apapa Oshodi Expressway, to vacate following the expiration of the abatement notices earlier served them.
Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources Tokunbo Wahab gave this order when he led state officials on an inspection tour of System 6C Cele/Ilasa drainage channel. He said the government must take action to redress the various human activities that have totally blocked the canal.
According to Wahab, ensuring a clean and flood-free environment is a major task and the government is committed to, and will not relent in efforts to achieve it.
The commissioner lamented that in 2024, several complaints of illegal activities were received about the System 6C channel from residents within the vicinity, hence the visit.
He said: “Activities such as trading and construction of shanties under the Cele Pedestrian bridge, as well as under the bridge harbouring illegal market, Abattoir and criminals living in shanties on System 6C, Odo-Ashimawu cannot continue. Enforcement team were earlier deployed to do a reconnaissance and they came with a feedback.”
Wahab stressed that the illegal/unwholesome activities were not just about marketing and trading, but various contravening structures/shanties that have been erected on the channel, under the bridge as well as on the major channel.
He lamented that illegal human activities in the area goes beyond environmental and safety issues, because the major channel has been turned into a major incinerator.
The commissioner explained that the government is not against the operation of markets, but traders must operate in designated markets and traders should desist from erecting shanties on drainage channels, setbacks, kerbs, open spaces, among others.
“The removal, which will stretch till the weekend, will also include the pedestrian bridge, under the bridge and on the whole stretch of the drainage channel.
“It’s not enough to clear and cart silt from the drainage path, but it’s about the human activities happening here. Even if the government clean up these canals everyday, traders at the illegal market will continue to dump their waste inside, thereby rubbishing the government’s efforts.”
The commissioner advised residents to avoid indiscrimate waste disposal, and know that climate change and global warming is real, and so they must always take ownership of infrastructures built for their benefit.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment, Olakunle Rotimi-Akodu, advised traders to desist from selling on the roads, medians and sidewalks because ‘studies have shown that refuse generated from their sales most times are dumped on the roads’.
He added: “It is regrettable that many of the channels that were earlier cleaned are being littered with refuse. Residents should always maintain the drainages, especially the tertiary ones, because these infrastructures have been provided with tax-payer’s money.
