A non-governmental organisation, the Centre for Human and Socio-economic Rights (CHSR), has called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to immediately reopen all the markets sealed by his administration to alleviate the anguish of traders and Lagos residents.
The group which condemned the government’s total ban on street trading/hawking and closure of markets, during a press briefing on Friday in Lagos, however, described the decision as draconian.
The Lagos State government on Friday, September 29, 2023, announced a total ban on street trading, hawking, building of illegal structures on drainage, and display of wares on walkways across the state.
The Commissioner of Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, who announced the ban in a statement, said the measure is to curtail the nefarious activities of criminals who disguise as hawkers to rob motorists and also disrupt the free flow of traffic.
SaharaReporters had reported that government officials had been closing markets, citing poor sanitation.
It was reported on October 3 that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration announced the shutting down of Alamutu Market at Idioro, in the Mushin Local Government Area of the state over poor sanitation and inefficient waste disposal practices.
Wahab, who made this known in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday said that the market was sealed on Tuesday on his orders.
The commissioner earlier ordered the immediate closure of Ladipo Market in the Mushin area of the state for several environmental offences including reckless waste disposal, unhygienic premises, and non-payment of waste bills.
But reacting to the issue, the Centre for Human and Socio-economic Rights condemned the actions of the government and described it as a mere attempt to divert attention from the root cause of the problem and unjust punishment inflicted on the market traders and working people.
In the text of the briefing which was made available to SaharaReporters and signed by CHSR’s President Comrade Alex Omotehinse, on behalf of Civil Society Stakeholders, the group stated that the simultaneous enforcement of the total ban on street trading and closure of markets would further aggravate the suffering of the people whose only means of survival is hawking and petty-trading.
While the group acknowledged the need for proper waste management in the state, it however, warned that the “government may unwillingly be driving people into criminality by denying a large number of the population their means of livelihoods without a ready alternative they can fall upon.
“We believe that the closure of these markets is misguided and draconian. More importantly, the measures fall short of expectation as they fail to address the core issues that make street trading and hawking thrive in Lagos State.”
Titled: “Total ban on street trading /hawking and closure of markets in Lagos state – A call for stakeholders’ engagement to guarantee the livelihoods of masses and to forestall unmitigated abuses and attendant consequences,” the group said the “ban on street trading by the state government raises more questions than answers as no alternative means of livelihoods had been considered by the government to support the overwhelming majority of the masses who engage in menial trading and hawking for daily survival.
“We are concerned about the implementation of the directive without the necessary engagement with stakeholders either at the local government or community/grassroots level.”
Citing the previous government’s similar actions in 2011 under former governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), which established the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) with the mandate to enforce compliance with environmental laws. In 2016 Governor Akinwunmi Ambode ordered law enforcement agencies to implement the ‘Street Trading Law and Illegal Market Law, 2003. Reminded the incident between KAI officials and a trader that resulted in the death of the latter along Ikorodu Road.
“While the objective was laudable, the agency however degenerated into a platform for indiscriminate arrest of innocent citizens some of whom were imprisoned without due process.”
It, however, noted that the reasons for the large numbers of street traders in Lagos are traceable to the fact that most of the locked-up shops are beyond the reach of the masses who now resort to street trading and hawking for survival.
The group said, “We wish to reiterate that street trading creates ample access to goods for low-income consumers who cannot afford to shop in formal retail stores.”