The Lagos State Government has started swooping on hawkers and traders around the sprawling tank farm facilities around the Ibafon axis of Apapa, Lagos, as well as those selling around the premises of the Lagos Port Complex and the Tin Can Island Port.
The Lagos State Government has started swooping on hawkers and traders around the sprawling tank farm facilities around the Ibafon axis of Apapa, Lagos, as well as those selling around the premises of the Lagos Port Complex and the Tin Can Island Port.
The state government had two months ago issued a notice to operators around the tank farms and warned them against the security risk of having unarticulated vehicles around the tank farms, the government had also been discussing with the relevant stakeholders at the tank farm as well as the ports on the need to decongest the area.
Shipping Position Daily however learnt that the government special task force has started going round the depots and the Apapa ports area and picking up environmental law offenders.
Our correspondent last week sighted a vehicle filled with police officers and a ‘Black Maria’ truck the officers were using to arrest oil peddlers, food vendors and hawkers. An official of one of the NUPENG units confirmed under anonymity that the government wants to ensure that it removes everybody that is not directly involved in marketing of petroleum product and to prevent infiltrators coming in unawares.
“They have also told us that we must carry our identity cards all the time so that they can be able to identify us easily, so that we will not be carted away with infiltrators, they don’t want any hazard to happen here, if any bomb is thrown here the magnitude will be too much so they want to eliminate market people here and make it a controllable crowd” he said
Also, Chairman of the Technical Committee of Stakeholders and Depot operators, Mr. Godfrey Okorie told our correspondent the government had prior to this time had several meetings with the operators.
“We have had several meetings with them and we were given notice that all these hawkers should leave, we have been given a deadline which has since expired”
The raiding will also be a continuous exercise in order to ensure adequate security at the port area.
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