CSOs berate Sanwo-Olu over arrest of hawkers hustling to survive poverty
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Civil society organisations (CSOs), Take It Back Movement (TIBM) and Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), have criticised Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for sanctioning the arrest of street hawkers struggling to keep their heads above the waters of multidimentional poverty.
TIBM National Coordinator Juwon Sanyaolu said Sanwo-Olu is criminalising poverty without solving any environmental problem.
A statement issued by the Information Ministry disclosed more than 25 hawkers were arrested in raids across the state carried out by the Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LESC).
“The continuous enforcement activated by the agency against street traders, hawkers have yielded impressive outcomes as arrests and arraignments are made daily by our established mandate to eradicate environmental infractions in the state,” the statement quoted LESC Corps Marshal Gbemisola Akinpelu as saying.
Akinpelu listed locations where arrests were made by LESC Special Squad to include Cele, Igando, Iyana-Ejigbo, Ikotun, Iyana-Ipaja, Egbeda, and Agege.
“Admonishing environmental defaulters to desist from trading in traffic, on highways, roads, streets, setbacks, lay-bys, kerbs, medians, road verges, drainage slabs, or pedestrian bridges, [Akinpelu] assured that there would be no hiding place for defiant traders in the habit of flouting the state’s environmental laws,” the statement added.
But Sanyaolu countered that “this action by the Lagos government is best described as a misplaced priority.
“It’s sad that rather than solving the challenges of unemployment and overwhelming poverty that drive many people to the streets, it’s like the government is criminalising people for being poor.
“Some of these hawkers are graduates but jobless. It’s rather unfortunate. Drainages should be built to address environmental challenges or decongest the roads by building environmentally-friendly transport systems.”
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Related articles:
World Bank warns, Nigeria’s economy too weak to tackle poverty
Catholic Bishops alert Abuja, rising poverty collapsing Nigeria
UNICEF alerts rich Lagos has 200,000 stunted, wasted children
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Hitting a fly with a sledgehammer
YRC Coordinator Adaramoye Michael urged the Lagos government to build modern and affordable markets to accommodate all traders, per reporting by The PUNCH.
“What is needed is for government to begin the construction of urban marketplaces for traders to access and revamp the existing ones while also making it affordable for poor traders to access. This vicious attack of poor traders is condemnable.”
Human rights lawyer Festus Ogun queried the alternatives available for hawkers as roadside trading is prohibited.
“No doubt, street trading is prohibited under extant laws in Lagos. However, we must interrogate the policies of the government,” he stressed.
“What alternatives are in place for these poor traders? I think the government should not only stop arresting them, but they should also find a way to relocate them to appropriate places at lower costs.
“Punishing them will amount to hitting a sledgehammer on a fly. Remember, laws are made for men and not men made for law.”
