Kogi Government gives 7-day ultimatum to Roadside Traders

Kogi State Government has given a 7-day ultimatum for traders to remove illegal structures erected by them outside markets as well as shops and stop trading on the road, Fresh Angle International can authoritatively report.

Our Kogi State Correspondent reports that the Kogi State Commissioner for the Environment and Natural Resources, Mrs. Rosemary Osikoya, handed down the directive on Friday February 3 while sensitizing market women on environmental sanitation in Lokoja.

According to her, the ultimatum is necessary to make sure roads and markets in Kogi are free of illegal structures and ensure a clean environment for healthy living.

She said, “we urge you to remove your tables and goods on the roads and junctions between now and the next seven days, or face the full wrath of the law. We have given enough warnings to traders and have explored every avenue to ensure full compliance, but it has yielded little or no results, hence the need for total enforcement”.

The Commissioner added that at the end of the ultimatum, the State Government will swing into action by using everything within its might to remove all illegal structures, tables and goods, warning that defaulters will be appropriately sanctioned.

The General Manager, Kogi State Sanitation and Waste Management Board KSSWMB, Mrs. Florence Joseph told the women that selling by the roadside was risky.

“We want you to inculcate the habit of cleanliness by always sweeping your surroundings and maintaining a sanitized and hygienic environment,” she said.

Earlier, wife of the Speaker, Kogi State House of Assembly, Mrs. Hajia Hadiza Imam, and the wife of Lokoja LGA Administrator, Mrs. Fatima Lawal, charged the market women to support government policies and programmes, to ensure a safe environment.

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