By Seyi Babalola
The Lagos State Government and the Agege Local Government have ordered traders and beggars to leave train lines along the Agege corridor before stern enforcement and removal.
At a stakeholders’ sensitization meeting organized by the Agege Local government chairman on Sunday, the government instructed unlawful inhabitants, shanties owners, dealers, and those begging for alms on the rail lines to leave the area immediately.
The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu appreciates the local government chairman for organizing the stakeholders sensitization meeting on behalf of the state government and in the same light urged the police officers and all other law enforcement agencies to tighten their security because of the hoodlums that are roaming about the railway station.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented at the event by the Lagos State Commissioner for Establishments and Training, Mr. Afolabi Ayantayo, emphasized the need for residents to vacate the railway corridors in other to allow proper functioning of the project and promote cleanliness. He stressed that the goal is to achieve total cleanliness and prevent accidents along the railway corridor.
“It has come to our notice that various criminal activities are being carried out along the rail corridor. We learnt that the shanties are harbouring criminals attacking passers-by and residents at night.
“The government has invested a lot of money in the rail project and we don’t want anybody to sabotage and deface the infrastructure, that’s why we are educating and warning the people involved to vacate the area before enforcements begin. I am calling on the police to face this task seriously,” he said.
The commissioner also urged community and market leaders to educate local people and merchants about the dangers of dealing on railway lines to avoid arrest by a joint enforcement squad that will be established soon.
The Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, recalled being at the rail corridor to sensitise residents to proper sanitation and avoid the rail track when trading.
Obasa, who was ably represented by a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly Representing Agege II Constituency, Jubril AbdulKareem, urged the residents to take note of the importance of the Stakeholders sensitization meeting and to comply with the instructions to avoid any issues or arrests by the government.
“We need to understand the reason the government is doing this enforcement. It is for our safety and our benefit.
“The railway is for the benefit of the people not for trading, and the bridges are not meant for begging or commercial purposes”.
The Agege Local Government Chairman, Alhaji Kola Egunjobi JP, has disclosed that the overall purpose of sanitation is to provide a healthy life for everyone, to protect natural resources, and to provide safety, security, and dignity for people.
Egunjobi noted that the Government’s potential partnership with the Lagos state government is to bring out the aesthetic value of the environment by greening railway corridors with trees, with the assistance of the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources.
He highlighted his government’s commitments: “Enforcing the law and holding people accountable for their actions will always be a priority for this government.
“For the community policing, there will always be a need to hold people who break the law accountable for their actions.”
The Chairman pleads with the residents to do away with selling any markets, erecting any shanty, and sleeping along the railway corridor for the safety, security, and well-being of the community.
He also made a request to facilitate and accelerate the provision of the pedestrian bridge across the railway line beside the Agege fly-over bridge at Pen-Cinema in other to put an end to illegal trading within the axis and the railway corridor.
Responding, market and community representatives at the meeting thanked the state and local governments for the warning and stated that they would follow the new instructions.
