Lagos issues quit notice to illegal occupants under ijora, Blue Line bridges

The Lagos state Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab has issued a five-quit notice to illegal occupants residing under the Ijora Causeway Bridge and Lagos Blue Rail Line overhead bridge in Ijora.

The Commissioner on Sunday ordered the occupants to remove all their shanties for constituting a danger to the Lagos Blue Line corridor or risk demolition.

Leading a delegation that included the Chairman, the Special Intervention Squad on the Restoration of the Lagos Badagry Rail Corridor Clean-Up, Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP, Bayo Sulaiman, and Special Adviser on the Environment, Kunle Rotimi-Akodu on an inspection of the Ijora and the under bridge, Wahab lamented that the squatters pose a security risk to the Blue Rail Line bridge.

He added that the mini buses, block molders, fuel sellers parked under the bridge also pose risks to the safe operation of the Blue Rail Line service.

The Commissioner stated that the State Task Force on Special Offences would take full possession of the whole expanse of land under the Ijora Causeway Bridge and would be sustained by the state government.

Wahab also gave a 24-hour quit notice to all those selling petroleum products under the Ijora Bridge to move all their trucks and containers or risk confiscation, adding that they posed enormous dangers to the infrastructure and human presence in the area.

Recall also that the state also recently banned the use of styrofoam across the state. This had stirred various reactions from business owners and environmental experts, however the state government has shown no reluctance to reverse the policy.

Wahab issued a three-week moratorium noting that no form of enforcement must be carried out against distributors and sellers of styrofoam products until the expiration of the moratorium granted.

Wahab maintained that the three-week window would allow all producers and distributors to mop up all the stock they have before the enforcement of the ban takes effect.