Lagos traders accuse council officials of extortion

Some business owners plying their trade in the Ikeja area of Lagos State have lamented alleged harassment and extortion by enforcement officers from the Ikeja Local Government Secretariat.

The traders who spoke to PUNCH Metro on Wednesday accused the officers, who were said to be from the environmental unit of the secretariat, of going about locking up their shops for allegedly contravening the position of the local government’s Sanitation Bye-Law.

Parts of the alleged offences contained in a notice sighted by our correspondent include constructing on road setbacks as well as on public drainages and canals.

While denying committing the offence, the traders described the exercise as an “annual ritual” by the enforcement officers.
They alleged that the officers after they locked the shops, asked them to report at their offices and requested them to pay some amounts of money before permitting them to unlock their shops.

One of the traders who gave his name simply as Mr Tunji narrated his encounter with them during one of their exercises.

He said, “We have been going through a series of harassments by enforcement officers. They come around locking shops while claiming that we have violated one environmental rule or the other. They came recently and pasted their notice on my wife’s shop and when I asked what was the reason for their action, the next thing said was that I should come to their office. I don’t see where we have gone wrong in the environmental law.
“I had to run after them and pleaded with them to open the shops while I explained that we were not on the road neither did we build on the drainage as they claimed. This is what we face every year.”
Another trader who preferred anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue said he was helping his brother in his shop when the officers arrived.

“My brother travelled and I was helping him in his shop when the enforcement officers came and wanted to lock up the place. I asked what happened but they refused to answer me. While I stood outside trying to speak with the senior officials to know the reason for their actions, the other officers were already trying to fasten a padlock on the door. I quickly rushed towards them to allow me to pick something but they declined. They later accused me of erecting an overhanging structure beyond the drainage which was not true. As you can see for yourself what they accused me of did not even get to the drainage at all. The next thing they said was that I should come to their office.”

Speaking on the encounter he had during a visit to their office, another trader, who also identified himself simply as Kingsley claimed to have visited their office after his shop was locked, saying he was asked to make some payment.

He, however, noted that he was handed no receipt after the payment, even after requesting it.

“When I got to the secretariat, I went straight to their office and on getting there, I was told to make some payment. After I did, no form of documentation indicating the payment. This made me worried because it was not the first time. They did the same last year when my shop was locked, even when they didn’t give clear reasons why it was locked.”

Meanwhile, a houseowner in the community who corroborated these claims, said, “Although some of the traders contravene these laws, the local government environmental officers are not fair enough when discharging their duties. I had to intervene in the case of a trader who had an altercation with them one day. I told them to prove to me where the shop was built at the drainage which caused the argument.
The council chairman, Mojeed Balogun, could not be reached as calls made to his telephone were not responded to. A text message sent to him had yet to be responded to as of the time this report was filed.