Lagos State to enforce anti-hawking law that will jail street traders for up to six months

LAGOS State government has announced that anyone caught hawking on its streets will face a possible six month jail term under a new law designed to eliminate roadside trading in a bid to address the growing number of accidents in the state.

 

During a live broadcast yesterday, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, said that his government had begun a total enforcement of the law prohibiting street trading and hawking. He added that that the law would be implemented in every part of the state in line with Section One of the Lagos State Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law 2003.

 

While sympathising with the family of a street hawker who was knocked down by an articulated truck while trying to evade arrest from officials of Kick Against Indiscipline (Kai) at Maryland Bus stop on Wednesday, Governor Ambode regretted that the situation led to the destruction of public assets. He added that the state executive council consequently resolved to enforce the law, which according to him, makes hawkers and buyers liable of the offence.

 

Governor Ambode said: “It is not in our DNA to allow someone to just die by road accident or the way it happened in respect of the incident. However, beyond the fact that we lost one person while crossing the road as a result of evading arrest by Kai officials, I need to tell Lagosians that over 49 buses were actually destroyed and it is costing us like almost N139m to put those buses back on the road.”

 

“The issue is we need to enforce our laws because we already have a law in respect of that and then there is a clause in it which says the buyer and the seller are both liable and that we are going to fine them either N90,000 or a six month jail term. What we are doing is that we are introducing new strategies to eliminate traffic but Lagos, being a cosmopolitan city, you cannot totally eliminate it but now this is the case, in the next few days, you will see on the street of Lagos signs that will be warning you that buyers and hawkers should be aware that there are consequences.”

 

He added his administration had also concluded plans to roll out a campaign which would warn motorists and hawkers of the restrictions and the penalty for defaulters. It is not yet clear what will become of the millions of hawkers who trade on the streets of Lagos as markets have not yet been built for them.