Desist from patronising cart pushers or risk prosecution – Lagos SSG
Secretary to the Lagos State Government (SSG), Mr. Tunji Bello, has been reacting to the announcement made at the weekend, banning commercial cart pushers and wheelbarrow operators from Lagos streets.
Confirming the report, Bello said cart pushers and wheelbarrow operators had been totally banned from Lagos streets, saying their activities were inimical to the environmental cleanliness in the state.
According to him, the state government, with the flag off of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI), had to enforce the ban as the continuous activities of cart pushers would pose a threat to the success of the initiative.
Bello said investigations had also revealed that the said cart pushers were responsible for most of the illegal dumping of waste in canals and road medians at night which causes flooding, adding that aside constituting environmental nuisance, they were also traces of security threats.
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“What the state government has discovered is that these set of people use the night to perpetrate all sorts of dastardly acts. They dump refuse indiscriminately on the median of major roads and highways. They also pose serious security threats because they use those carts to hide arms and ammunitions and hide under the guise of carrying refuse to rob unsuspecting residents,” the SSG said.
He said the state government had finalised plans to ensure that the CLI would cover every area of the state and ensure that refuse were well packed and collected, urging residents to desist from patronising them or risk prosecution.
“The state government has declared zero tolerance for the activities of cart pushers and wheel barrow operators. Security agencies in the state have been directed to ensure that those found still operating are arrested and prosecuted according to the State Environmental Laws.
“The law also applies to residents who patronise cart pushers. It is an offence and the state government would not hesitate to enforce the law to put a stop to such practice,” Bello said.
Benjamin Omoike
