The Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), popularly known as KAI, in conjunction with the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), on Thursday removed more than 650 illegal shanties and shops beneath the Idumota Bridge to dislodge traders occupying the base of the structure to display wares for sale.

According to the Corps Marshal of the agency, Major Olaniyi Olatunbosun Cole (retd), who spoke at the agency’s Command Headquarters, Bolade-Oshodi, the exercise was in continuation of efforts to restore environmental sanity across the metropolis.

He said, “The clearance operation, with the code name #LetLagosBreathe, undertaken by our operatives in collaboration with LAWMA, ensured that we dislodged defiant traders erecting shops beneath the bridge, which is hazardous to the integrity of the structure and capable of causing infernos.”

Cole also noted that the clearance operation was activated to forestall a repeat of the Apongbon Bridge incident, which pointed accusing fingers at traders who erected electrical installations and cooling systems under the Apongbon Bridge, causing the inferno.

The KAI boss also warned traders in the habit of erecting illegal structures beneath other bridges to desist from the act, as defaulters will be made to face the full wrath of the law.
He said that the operation would be continuous.

The Corps Marshal also read the riot act to street traders to refrain from hawking in traffic and displaying wares for sale on road setbacks, lay-bys, medians, verges, kerbs, and gutter slabs, which is in stark violation of the state’s environmental laws.

He enjoined transiting Lagosians to always embrace safety by using pedestrian bridges when crossing highways in the state.