There was pandemonium, yesterday, along Jakande Gate, in Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), as officials of the council’s revenue department seal shops over levies for lock of shops.
The LCDA officials said they were in the area to seal off some shops for defaulting in payment of levies. The officials claimed that the defaulting traders and shop owners were served notices to that effect.
One of such letters from the revenue collection officer pasted on one of the shops reads: “Record at our disposal in the office indicates that your company/organisation have not fulfilled the payment/levies to Ejigbo Local Council Development Area. You are hereby advised to pay immediately.”
Before yesterday’s sealing, the traders said they protested severally, wrote letters to the LCDA over the continuous display of goods by street traders in front of their shops, thus preventing customers from accessing their shops.
The traders said their calls were ignored because the officials are allegedly collecting daily levies from the street traders and allows them to continue using the space. A trader, Ifeoma Ofurum, who spoke on behalf of shop owners said they refused to pay the council levy to protest street trading.
She said: “They should stop collecting money from the street traders because it is affecting our businesses. Some left their shops in the mall because of lack of sales, but we are still here and confronted with these challenges.”
We have spoken to the LCDA several times, but nothing has been done and our refusal to pay is just a protest.”
Speaking with The Guardian, Ejigbo LCDA revenue officer, Oyebode Shadeko, said: “They refused to pay the levy since last year. So, they are defaulters and that is why we locked their shops.
“I have advised them on where to direct their complaints to and that should not make them default.
“Anyone with proof that the council is collecting money from the street traders should come forward with it. We don’t collect money from the traders because the place is not a designated market area.”
Asked what the council has done to stop street traders in the area, he said: “We had a meeting on Wednesday, where the Head of Environment was informed to drive the street traders away, but the problem is that they converge to the area in the evening when we have closed.
“The only agency that can stop them is the Lagos State Task force and they have been there twice this year and they always return. We don’t have the capacity to carry out such a scale of enforcement.
“Two years ago, our department stopped people from collecting levies from the street traders, because we never designated the area as a market. So, anyone that has a receipt bearing the name of the LCDA should bring it and confront us.”
