Lagos to go tough on hawking, street trading

Lagos State government yesterday restated its determination to rid the state metropolis of street trading by fully enforcing the provisions of its relevant laws restricting street trading.

Olubukola Abe, chairman, Task Force on Environmental and Other Special Offences (enforcement unit), who gave this commitment while speaking with journalists in Ikeja, said the new drive was to reduce traffic congestion on the road, often caused by the activities of street traders.

According to Abe, Section 1 of the Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law 2003 restricts street trading and hawking in the metropolis.

“Section 7 and 8 of the same law gives jurisdiction and power to the special court to order the seizure and public auction of items impounded from street trading,” he said.

Abe, who said his men were prepared to step up enforcement of the relevant sections of the law, urging motorists not to encourage their activities by patronising them.

“Section 10 of the law prescribes a N5000 fine or three months imprisonment upon conviction,” he said, warning that the implication of the violation of the law is multi-faceted.

“Aside from the far reaching implication of street trading in terms of accidents, which in most cases are fatal, street trading also affects the free flow of traffic in the metropolis as well as contradicting the environmental sanitation laws by littering our streets with waste generated from the act.

“We’ve had reports on the activities of persons who pose as beggars, especially in traffic, but their sole aim is to perpetrate evil. We are putting a search light on this trend and one way to do that is to ensure that we take pre-emptive measures to forestall this development,” he said.