Traders Dare Lagos Govt, Return To Red Rail Line Right Of Way

Less than a week after the Lagos State government cleared traders and hawkers away from the right of way (RoW) of the Red Rail project, the traders have returned to selling their wares on the rail track.

LEADERSHIP visited one of the cleared areas in Agege on Friday at about 5pm and saw that a multitude of traders had returned to the RoW.

Traders were seen displaying their wares and the whole area bustling with economic activities.

LEADERSHIP reports that the Lagos State government had last Saturday begun clearing the shanties and makeshift shops to reclaim Right of Way within the Red Rail line corridors from Agbado, Agege, Ebute-Metta areas of Lagos.

The enforcement team, which cleared the rail corridors, including the Agege railway crossing, was led by the State’s Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Oluyinka Olumide.

Olumide was accompanied by the Special Adviser, e-GIS and Urban Development, Dr Olajide Babatunde; general manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Mr Gbolahan Oki, and senior directors of both the agency and ministry, respectively.

LASBCA is an agency under the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development.

The enforcement started from the Lateef Jakande Station, Agbado, on the Lagos-Ogun boundary and continued through Iju to Babatunde Fashola Station, Agege.

All makeshift stalls along rail lines were removed, permanent structures including four new generation churches were partially demolished, and other encroachments were removed from the Red Rail line RoW.