The Chairman of Ikeja Local Government, Comrade Akeem Olalekan Dauda (AKOD), has relocated 30 street traders affected by the council’s ongoing environmental beautification projects to designated markets and provided each of them with ₦100,000 to support their resettlement.
Dauda disclosed this on Tuesday during the Lagos State Government’s statewide tree planting campaign, where he represented Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
According to the chairman, the relocation and empowerment exercise began on Monday as the council commenced tree planting and landscaping along road setbacks on Obafemi Awolowo Way in Ikeja.
“Fifteen of the street traders accepted our appeal on Monday. The council paid ₦20,000 to the Iyaloja for each of them to secure trading spaces in any of our three designated markets – Computer Village, Anifowoshe Night Market and Adegbola Market. Thereafter, we empowered each of them with ₦100,000 to help them settle into their new locations,” Dauda said.
He explained that although the traders were operating in unauthorized locations, the council opted for a humane approach by assisting them to relocate rather than simply evicting them.
“As a responsible government, we are concerned that the environmental greening projects have displaced some street traders. Even though they were trading illegally on road setbacks, we believed it was important to engage them and provide support for their relocation,” he said.
Dauda stressed that artisans and traders, particularly phone repairers, should operate within designated markets rather than on roadsides.
“What are phone repairers doing by the roadside when Computer Village is their designated market? We are aware of the fraudulent activities often associated with roadside operations, and we do not want innocent people to become victims. They belong in Computer Village, and they have understood our position,” he said.
The chairman added that another 15 traders who initially declined to relocate from Medical Road were also accommodated on Tuesday.
“Today, we identified about 15 traders who had refused to leave Medical Road. We have secured market spaces for them through the Iyaloja and equally provided each of them with ₦100,000 to facilitate their relocation to Adegbola Market,” he said.
He noted that allowing traders to continue operating along the road posed safety risks and undermined the council’s environmental renewal efforts.
“We cannot continue to allow them to endanger their lives by trading on the roadside. Officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) regularly remove them from that location because it is a road setback. We are extending the environmental beautification project to that area.”
Dauda said the ongoing greening and landscaping exercise covers road setbacks around the Traffic Police Office, the Department of State Services (DSS) office, the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) office and the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) office, adding that the relevant agencies had been duly consulted and were in support of the initiative.
