THE Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps, popularly known as KAI, has removed 54 shanties, which harboured 84 illegal occupants and eight make-shift toilets beneath Eko Bridge in the Ebute-Ero area of the State.
According to media reports, the exercise carried out on Monday, November 11, 2024, was part of existing efforts to reduce the spate of environmental nuisances to the barest minimum in the metropolis.
In a statement issued by LAGESC, the Corps Marshal of the Agency, Major Olaniyi Cole (retd), said the illegal occupants practised indiscriminate dumping of refuse into the lagoon.
In his words: ‘‘The Elegbeta Water Channel, which spans the Lagos Lagoon right under the Eko Bridge around the Ebute-Ero axis turned home to miscreants, illegal occupants occupying the waterfront, usually in the habit of promoting indiscriminate dumping of refuse into the lagoon, activating the base of the bridge as a criminal hideout and enjoining open defecation, urination, and we swung into action after serving a seven-day abatement notice which was not adhered to.’’
While lauding the leadership of the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, Cole expressed LAGESC’s readiness to maintain a cleaner and greener environment as enshrined in the THEMES+ agenda of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The Corps Marshal also warned environmental defaulters usually in the habit of indiscriminately dumping refuse into drains and water bodies. He also warned against the erection of illegal structures on road setbacks, lay-bys, kerbs, medians, and verges.
Frowning against the refusal of public and private premises to obtain a valid waste collection contract, Cole vowed punishment for those who disregard the environmental laws in the state.
He urged residents to ensure the appropriate use of pedestrian bridges instead of crossing highways, affirming that defaulters were always arrested and prosecuted daily to serve as a deterrent to others.
GUARDIAN