By Demilade Michael
The Ogun State government has commenced demolition of shanties and makeshift structures at the Old Sagamu Tollgate along Lagos-Benin expressway.
Speaking during the demolition exercise, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor and Chairman of State Taskforce on Environmental Compliance and Enforcement, Alhaji Farook Akintunde said the state government has given the street traders enough notice to leave the setback, saying that it will soon commence the landscaping and beautification of the area where the shanties were removed.
He warned the traders not to flout government order, by going back to the cleared setbacks.
"Aside from their illegal trading on the setbacks along the major road, they continually caused major bottlenecks for commuters as articulated vehicles drivers who wants to patronize them packed on the roads thereby causing unnecessary gridlock"
"Their shanties and makeshift structures have also been discovered to harbour criminals who might soon constitutes nuisance to travellers if the shanties were allowed to stand"
"Aside from these, the presence of these shanties and makeshift structures also constitutes environmental eyesore and nuisance to that major corridor of the state used by thousands of travellers to commute to other states of the federation daily thereby making nonsense of the tremendous achievements recorded by the state government in environmental governance in the last five years"
To arrest all these anomalies, Akintunde said the state government has decided to incorporate the setback into its "Green Ogun Programme" and will soon begin its landscaping and beautification which will showcase the beauty of the area to the outside world.
He therefore called on the street traders to move to nearby markets as the government is not interested in depriving them of their daily trading activities, but will resist any attempt by them to stage a comeback.
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