Community petitions Sanwo-Olu over dredgers’ activities in Ajah

Landlords and residents of Tunde Afolabi Street, a residential area in Ajah area of Lagos State, have petitioned Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on the ‘illegal activities’ of sand dredgers in the community.

The community said the sand dredgers have used their trucks to destroy roads, disrupt movements, and instil psychological trauma on the residents of the street. They further accused the sand dredgers of daily frustrating the Governor Sanwo-Olu’s administration’s urban renewal programme.

The petition, filed on behalf of the community by its solicitor, Skyfall Partners and signed by Cookel Oke George, urged the government to deploy the state’s special task force and KAI Brigade to curtail the excesses of the dredgers and their trucks in Ajah, especially on Tunde Afolabi Street.

While lamenting the refusal of the dredging operators to obey an earlier directive to cease operation until a suitable parking arrangement is made for them, the association said the recklessness of the truck drivers is endangering lives and properties within the estate.

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According to the petition, “We are solicitors who act on behalf of the Landlord and Resident Association of Tunde Afolabi Street, Ajah, Lagos. First and foremost is to commend Mr Governor for the giant strides you have attained which has been evident in various sectors of our beloved Lagos State. The most recent of them all is in the area of housing in LAGOSHOMS Lekki Phase II, on Wednesday, January 27, 2021.

“Be that as it may, it is very crucial that we bring to the attention of Mr Governor, a state of emergency in one of the regions which experienced an enviable urban renewal. It is the Ajah region and more particularly, Tunde Afolabi Street.

“Sir, these dredgers were adequately informed to cease operation and so shall it be until they have put in place adequate/proper parking arrangements for all the tippers serving their interest.

“Sadly and most regrettably, the sand dredging operators have deliberately refused to shut down their sand dredging operations. They have religiously breached the above action point reached. Their actions have frustrated the administration’s effort to free the Ajah interchange and achieve enduring peace as canvassed by the commissioner for transport and the commissioner for physical planning.

“Their tippers regularly ply the street road on continuous bases. In fact, the residents cannot even drive out of their homes in the morning to work or take their children to school. The truck drivers drive recklessly thereby endangering lives and properties within the estate,” the petitioners said.