The Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Babatunde Adejare, on Friday said that total elimination of street trading was being factored into the state’s market reform package.
Adejare told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that provisions would be made in the reforms to accommodate as many traders as possible in well-organised markets in the metropolis.
According to him, the idea is to have markets where sellers, goods and services will be laid out in sectors, in a way that will not give room for street trading.
“This will eliminate the belief and tendency that it is when goods are sold on the streets and on setbacks that selling can be achieved.
“No one is permitted to convert the roads, medians, set-backs and walkways into markets.
“The government is committed to its policy of zero tolerance on street trading and hawking.
“Violators of the state’s environmental laws should desist from such acts or incur the wrath of the law,’’ the commissioner said.
Adejare said that the activities of street traders and hawkers were degrading the environment.
He said the government’s insistence that all markets should be fenced had ensured that refuse generated within the enclosures was properly disposed of.
The commissioner said that perimeter fencing of the markets had also reduced the volume of refuse generated around such markets.
According to him, street trading will be a thing of the past in the state, as efforts are being made to ensure an end to such huge menace.
Adejare said that environmental officials were enlightening people on the dangers of street trading and why it should be stopped.
He said that those arrested for street trading were also being counselled on why they should stop it.
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