The Lagos State Task Force on Environment and Special Offences has threatened to seal off the Ago Egun/Isale Ijebu dredging site, along Addo road- Badore, in Ajah area of the state.
The task force’s threat followed the indiscriminate parking of trucks on the road, and other illegal activities perpetrated by dredgers on the site.
The task force chairman, Shola Jejeloye, who led other operatives to the site on Wednesday, also warned that the state government may equally be forced to withdraw the dredgers’ operating license if nothing changes.
Lamenting the hardship faced by motorists and residents of the area as a result of the dredgers’ activities, Jejeloye said: “This site is just about three kilometres to the road and about five minutes’ drive, but people spend close to five hours on this road trying to get to work. If they do not change, we will seal off the dredging site.” He said the enforcement team was at the site to ensure that sanity is returned to the community.
He also said that the site was being used as a criminal hideout, “hence a report would be forwarded to the Commissioner of Police over the dredgers’ activities.”
“The traffic situation in Ajah inward and outward Ado is excruciating. It has been very difficult for residents who work in Lekki, Victoria Island, and other places outside Ajah. If they must make it early to work, they would have to rise as early as 5 am or 5:30 am. Anytime beyond this, such persons would have to spend at least one hour to get out of Ado road to Ajah,” said Kenneth Adejumoh, a concerned resident of Badore.
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According to Adejumoh, the traffic situation caused by the dredgers has affected the turnaround time for workers and other economic activities on Ado road. Interestingly, this has also increased insecurity in the area as cult activities are perpetrated in broad daylight.
“This is no thanks to the trucks that have invaded the road in the early hours of the day to access the numerous dredging sites. They line up on a stretch of about 1km. Their activities have resulted to the current deplorable condition of Ado road. They have formed the habit of climbing the median instead of going through to make a U-turn at the appropriate junctions,” he said.
Speaking further on the activities of the truck drivers along the road, Adejumoh said, “They have taken over a section of the road outward Ado road from Blenco junction all the way to Makairus (MRS Filling Station) where they go to the dredging site. With this, other road users are left with a small portion of the road which causes thick traffic and backlog on the other side of the road,” the resident added.
However, one of the operators on the site who preferred to be addressed as Dylan, said they were not notified by the task force before the enforcement. “I saw it this morning and I never heard about it before. And it is the first time to me,” he said.
