Eric Patrick
Operatives of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (KAI) in collaboration with the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) have demolished over 650 illegal shanties and shops located beneath the Idumota Bridge.
The operation was aimed at dislodging traders who had set up shop at the base of the bridge to sell goods.
The authorities moved in to clear out the traders who had set up shops at the base of the bridge to sell goods.
This was made known in a post by the Senior Special Assistant on New Media to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Jubril Gawat, and shared on his X account on Friday.
The post read, “In continuation of efforts to restore environmental sanity across the metropolis, the Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), popularly known as KAI and in conjunction with the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), on Thursday removed more than 650 illegal shanties and shops beneath the Idunmota Bridge to dislodge traders occupying the base of the structure to display wares for sale.
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“Speaking on the exercise, the Corps Marshal of the Agency, Major Olaniyi Olatunbosun Cole (rtd), made this disclosure at the Agency’s Command Headquarters, Bolade-Oshodi. According to him, ‘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 mentioned that the clearance operation was activated to forestall a repeat of the Apongbon bridge incident, which pointed accusing fingers at traders that erected electrical installations and cooling systems under the Apongbon bridge, which caused the inferno.”
However, First News has reported on several demolitions across Lagos, Nigeria, including church buildings, illegal structures, and shanties.