Speaking at a live interview session on
Television Continental, the State Governor, Mr.
Akinwunmi Ambode said that the renewed
enforcement is in line with Section One of
the Lagos State Street Trading and Illegal
Market Prohibition Law 2003 which restricts
street trading and hawking in the metropolis.
The Governor, while sympathising with the
family of a street hawker who was knocked
down by an articulated truck while trying to
evade arrest from officials of Kick Against
Indiscipline along Maryland Bus stop on
Wednesday, regretted that the situation led to
the destruction of public assets.
“It is not in our DNA to allow someone to just
die by road accident or the way it happened in
respect of the incident. But beyond the fact
that we lost one person while crossing the
road as a result of evading arrest by KAI
officials, I need to tell Lagosians that over 49
buses were actually destroyed and it is
costing us like almost N139m to put those
buses back on the road,” he said.
Consequently, Governor Ambode said the State
Executive Council has resolved to enforce the
Law, which according to him makes both the
hawker and the buyer liable of the offence.
“The issue is we need to enforce our laws
because we already have a law in respect of
that and then there is a clause in it which
says the buyer and the seller are both liable
and that we are going to fine them either N90,
000 or a six month jail term.
“What we are doing on traffic is that we are
introducing new strategies to eliminate traffic,
but Lagos being a cosmopolitan city, you
cannot totally eliminate it but now this is the
case, in the next few days, you will see on the
street of Lagos signs that will be warning you
that buyers and hawkers should be aware that
there are consequences,” Governor Ambode
said.
Source: Punch