Tag Archives: hawkers

The Senate Committee on FCT orders evacuation of hawkers, beggars.

Posted on by
Reply

The Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory has directed security agencies in Abuja to clear the city of beggars, hawkers and commercial sex workers.

Briefing journalists at the National Assembly, the Chairman of the committee, Senator Dino Melaye, said the evacuated persons would be taken to a rehabilitation centre in Bwari before they are sent to their respective states.

“We also (last week) summoned the Commissioner of Police of the FCT, and the Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps because we are (as a committee and the Senate, we are appall with the security situation in Abuja.

“We are very uncomfortable with the number of hoodlums on our streets in Abuja.

“You have beggars, destitute and commercial sex workers spread across every nook and cranny of the city.

“We have also asked the FCT to immediately put in order, the rehabilitation camp in Bwari that has been specifically and specially built for those arrested on the streets,” the lawmaker said.

Senator Melaye also announced plans by the committee to transfer the maintenance of street lights and environmental cleaning to banks and corporate organisations.

He noted that the banks are to take over the cleaning of streets in the city centre, as well as maintaining public facilities as part of their corporate social responsibility.

 

Source: Channels TV

El-Rufai Denies Arresting Beggars, Hawkers

Posted on by
Reply

Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has denied rumours that the state has started the enforcement of the law prohibiting begging and hawking.He said the law will not take effect until after 60 days.

A statement by the Media Aide to the Governor, Mallam Samuel Aruwan, added that the police is currently arresting suspected criminals within Kaduna as part of security operations directed by the Inspector General of Police.

According to him: “The Kaduna State government has not directed the police to enforce the begging law, which is not in force yet. Malam Nasir El-Rufai has repeatedly stated that opportunities for rehabilitation would be offered to the disabled. The State Executive
Council has just approved a Disability Policy, which is a necessary precursor to the drafting of any bill or other measures to promote the rights of the disabled.”

He also remarked that: “The Kaduna State government is not in a position to impede security operations that are adjudged necessary by the relevant agencies. As part of preparations for the regional security summit, the police commands of states within Abuja, which includes Kaduna, Niger and Nasarawa states and the FCT, are undertaking security operations.

“This includes actions to remove street beggars, hawkers and all abandoned vehicles along the major roads. These actions have nothing to with the Kaduna State government. The government is engaging the police on behalf of all residents of the state, including the disabled, for proper management of the situation.”

He added that: “The Kaduna State government wishes to appeal for calm.
It commends the people for the orderly response to the fuel price adjustment by the Federal Government, and requests their continued patience until the supply of petroleum products to improves.”

Credit: Guardian

Lagos Issues Quit Notice To Street Traders, Hawkers Over Lassa Fever

Posted on by
Reply

Lagos State Government, yesterday issued quit notice to street traders and hawkers in the state.

 

 

Commissioner for Environment, Dr Babatunde Adejare, who gave the warning, said the measure became necessary following the recent outbreak of Lassa fever in some parts of the country and Lagos in particular, as well as the coming rainy season.

 

Adejare said street traders were not only degrading the state’s environment in total disregard to extant laws, but engaging in armed robbery, child abuse, and compounding the traffic gridlocks and vandalising valuable infrastructure in the state.

 

 

According to him, the state government had given the Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI, Brigade and the Task Force, assisted by other law enforcement agencies, the directive to clamp down on all violators of its environmental laws.

 

 

He lamented: “It is regrettable that the illegal hawkers and street traders have not heeded the enlightenment and advocacy messages from the ministry on the need to keep the state’s environment clean and safe to attract more investors and boost the economy of the state.”

 

 

Adejare explained that all the agencies of the ministry, the Private Sector Participant, PSP, operators and non-governmental partners, had been fully mobilized with men and equipment to ensure a 24-hour monitoring and enforcement for a sustainable environment.

 

 

“To halt the spread of Lassa fever, Lagosians must maintain personal hygiene, proper sanitation in their environment, especially, clean-up of the vegetation in their premises, and proper bagging and disposal of waste to keep off the wild vector rats spreading the virus,” Adejare said.

 

 

He advised residents experiencing symptoms of headache, sore throat, cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain to seek the medical help immediately.

 

 

Credit : Vanguard

Ambode Reads Riot Act To Traffic Offenders, Okada Riders, Street Hawkers

Posted on by
1

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, Friday, read the riot act to commercial motorcycle operators popularly called Okada riders, commercial buses and street hawkers, saying that the state government will no longer tolerate their nefarious activities on the streets and highways which has caused untold hardship for the people of the state in recent times.

Addressing Government House Correspondents shortly after an emergency Security Council Meeting which he chaired, Governor Ambode said that it had become evident that traffic crimes and robbery are mostly as a result of the menace of Okada riders and street hawkers, while recalcitrant commercial buses have become lawless and reckless on the road.

He said the Council made far reaching decisions at the meeting in line with the commitment of his administration to ensure security of lives and property as well as the enforcing of the Rule of Law.

The Governor said that the government will not allow a few notorious elements to cause a breakdown in law and order and upset the peace that the state has enjoyed over the years.

To this end, he said he has directed the full enforcement of the Lagos Road Traffic Laws, especially as it concerns the restriction of okada and tricycle operations.

He reminded that Schedule II of the Lagos State Road Traffic Law 2012 restrictsOkada, tricycle (Keke Marwa), carts and wheel barrows on some routes including Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Oworonshoki-Oshodi Expressway, Lagos-Ikorodu Expressway, Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway and Third Mainland Bridge.

Others routes include Eti-Osa/Lekki –Epe Expressway, Lagos –Badagry Expressway, Funsho Williams Avenue, Agege Motor Road and Eti-Osa/Lekki Coastal Road.

The Governor therefore said, “Any person who fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Section commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction as stipulated in the law.

“Henceforth, all commercial vehicles, except Bus Rapid Transport buses, must use only the service lanes in accordance with existing traffic laws. All conductors of Commercial buses must sit down in their buses and keep the doors closed at all times while in motion. It is against the Law for conductors to hang on the bus doors and leave the doors open. Any bus contravention will be met with severe punitive measures.

Read More at : Vanguardngr.com

Rice Scam: China Now Produces And Sells Plastic Rice

Posted on by
Reply

A woman recently reported that she had unwittingly purchased small pieces of rolled up paper sold to her as rice on the streets of China.

Ms Cai, from the Guangdong province, a coastal region of south-east China, claims she was eating lunch with her family when she bit into a tightly rolled piece of paper that was disguised in a bowl of cooked rice.

‘The rice we ate felt no different than usual, until half way through the meal I chewed onto an unusually hard piece of rice,’ she told Chinese newsmen.

According to Daily Mail, quoting the Chinese media, Ms Cai reportedly pulled the grain out of her mouth and was shocked when it unrolled into a small piece of paper.
The paper appears to have been twisted at the ends to take the shape of a grain of rice.
According to reports, Ms Cai bought the rice from a street vendor who had assured her the rice was grown naturally, without any pesticides.
.

Cai told local police she bought the rice from a street hawker who promised they were grown in the countryside in a “very environmentally friendly” way “without any pesticides.”

Hong Kong Free Press reports that the woman and her family had been buying rice from the same hawker since the beginning of this year.

HKFP adds that the seller is unlikely to get caught because street hawkers are very mobile and Cai did not get a receipt when buying the rice, Shantou Metropolis Daily said.

The fake rice phenomenon has been in China for a while. Some of the reports indicate that the fake rice is sometimes made from a mixture of plastic and potatoes.