The
Lagos State Government on Friday had vowed to commence a total enforcement against street trading and street hawkers.
The Governor disclosed this in a live interview on Television Continental on July 1st, 2016. He said that the law banning Hawkers activities across the metropolis would
take its full course.
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 sympathizing 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
(KAI) 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 N139 million 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.
He said his administration has also
concluded plans to roll out a massive campaign which would warn both
motorists and hawkers of the restrictions and the penalty for
defaulters.
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