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By Victor Ganzallo
The Lagos State Government recently issued a quit notice to all illegal occupants of spaces under Ijora Causeway bridge, in order to mitigate potential safety risks to the Lagos Blue Line rail corridor. The state government further disclosed that security and safety concerns were part of the reasons the shanties and makeshift shops that have come to characterize that particular location have to go.
Since the inauguration for his second term in office, the ministry of the environment and water resources under the Babajide Sanwo-Olu government has made its mandate very clear to all and sundry, that it was not going to be business as usual, and from some of the engagements and activities carried out by the men of the ministry, it is daily becoming clear that indeed the ministry means business. The man saddled with the responsibility, the commissioner for the environment and water resources, Tokunbo Wahab, practically hit the ground running, leaving even his staff panting in his wake.
The current security realities across the country makes it imperative that even beyond the Ijora Causeway bridge, other illegal occupants and activities across the state under the bridges needs to be looked into. It is a known fact that aside from the environmental infractions that these illegal occupations constitute, in the area of indiscriminate waste disposal and health risks, some, if not most of the shanties under the bridges have been known to harbor criminals and criminal activities.
Recall the case of the famed cannibal, Clifford Orji in 1999, who was apprehended under the Toyota bridge linking Oshodi and the expressway to Apapa Oshodi Expressway and the international airport. Clifford was indicted for serial killing, sales of human body parts, kidnapping and ritual activities. Clifford eventually died in incarceration 13 years later at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison.
There has also been several incidences where articulated container trucks have fallen off some of the bridges, whilst these may in part be due to the negligence of the transport company or the state of some of the bridges, it is important to note that having occupants living under such bridges increases the casualty risks and makes rescue operations difficult in the event of such unfortunate occurrence.
The other illegal occupants of the spaces under our bridges are the lawless transport union and park operators. their activities, often indecorous and with no respect to rule and others, have to be looked into by the environment ministry. The National Union of Road Transport Workers and its sister union, the Tricycle Operators Association have been known to set up illegal garages under the bridges and operate with flagrant disregard for environmental laws. Often, they defecate in the open and dispose of their wastes indiscriminately.
As a cosmopolitan state and a mega city in the making, there is a lot of need for more green areas in the state and these are the use such spaces under the bridges should be put to, rather than being converted to garages, shanties and slums by illegal occupants.
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