Lagos clears Ladipo Market, serves notice on furniture traders

For posing an environmental nuisance, the Lagos State government has served a 24-hour vacation notice to all furniture traders plying their trade on the roadside and walkways along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

Chairman of the Lagos State task force, Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Superintendent of Police (SP) who made this disclosure yesterday, said the order to vacate has been served on the traders.

Already, the taskforce in conjunction with other agencies of government yesterday began the demolition of shanties and evacuation of scraps at the popular Ladipo spare-part market on Toyota bus stop, Apapa-Oshodi expressway.

Egbeyemi said no responsible and responsive government would tolerate the gravity of environmental degradation being perpetuated by illegal traders around that axis. He said illegal shanties constructed by the traders who specialise in sales of new and fairly used furniture from Oshodi to Mile 2, particularly around Itire and Ijesha areas, has now become an abode for criminals.

“Residents around these areas no longer sleep with their two eyes closed because of criminal activities being perpetuated by some miscreants who pretend to be furniture traders around Itire and Ijesha axis. Also, residents of Oshodi to Mile 2 areas have been warned to desist from dumping refuse on the median, road setbacks and walkways.

“This warning became imperative as anyone caught dumping refuse at undesignated spots by the task force would be charged to court for prosecution. The Lagos State government, however, enjoins members of the public to properly package and dump their refuse inside waste-bins provided by ‘Cleaner Lagos Initiative’ at different designations across the state.”