The Lagos State Government on Thursday shut down the Idera market in the Oshodi area of the state for contravening environmental laws.
This was disclosed by the Marshal of the Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), Major Olaniyi Cole (retd), at the agency's command headquarters in Bolade-Oshodi.
“Our officers stationed at Oshodi division during routine monitoring of the market identified filth, unhygienic practices and indiscriminate dumping of garbage around the Idera market area, prompting us to close the market until further notice,” Cole said.
He said poor hygiene conditions in the market were capable of causing disease outbreaks and stressed that markets in the state must adopt hygienic practices to prevent the spread of diseases.
Cole also pointed out that market leaders failed to provide a valid waste collection contract, citing this as the main cause of the piles of rubbish in the market.
The KAI boss called on all markets in the state to maintain an acceptable level of hygiene, adding that KAI officers stationed in Lagos are constantly monitoring the market environments for violations.
Cole warned that any market that made mistakes would be shut down until full compliance was achieved.
Referring to the ban on the sale, distribution and use of polystyrene containers in the state, he expressed the agency's determination to deal decisively with merchants found guilty in this regard, stating that the display of products for sale on roadsides, sidings, medians, shoulders and curbs, which constitutes street trading and itinerant vending, continues to be prohibited in the metropolis.
