Press Releases

LASG Explains The Activities Of KAI: Calls For Cooperation

Oct 13, 2009 - The Lagos State Government Tuesday gave a clean bill of health to its environmental sanitation taskforce, Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), saying that far from perpetrating illegalities, members of the outfit work to ensure orderliness, safety and security in their areas of operation.

The State Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Muiz Banire who gave the explanation while briefing Government House Correspondents at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa on the activities of the agency, however, called on members of the public to cooperate with the government in its efforts to keep the State clean.

Some of the allegations against operatives of the agency include that they indiscriminately seize goods and deprive people of their sources of livelihood, share the contravened goods amongst themselves while arrested offenders are unlawfully kept in detention without being arraigned for proper prosecution.

But Banire, who described the allegations as wild, explained that the State Government found them to be baseless after subjecting them to thorough investigations severally and finding that they are untrue.

“The central issue here which the people seem to be shying away from is that of illegal street trading which consequences bother on law, safety and security”, the Commissioner said, pointing out that although there are designated market places all around the city where people should trade, some people have chosen to convert major roads and streets to markets.

The Commissioner, however, acknowledged that there could be some bad eggs within the organization but explained that the State Government has always dealt decisively with such offending officers by prosecuting them. He appealed to members of the public who have genuine cases against any KAI official or officials to report such cases to the Ministry for proper investigation and action.

The Commissioner also revealed that the some of the KAI officials have suffered attacks and all manner of assaults in the hands of members of the public in the course of carrying out their legitimate duties, pointing out that there have been cases where some of the officers have been matcheted.

Noting that illegal trading on the roads and streets has resulted in the death of many people and also contributed in no small way in the traffic snarl in the city, Banire revealed that a World Bank study in 2000 showed that the State lost a whooping N42 billion in man-hours in that year alone as a result of traffic holdups.

“It is common knowledge that men of the underworld capitalize on the traffic snarl generated by the illegal trading to rob people of their belongings, maiming and killing innocent citizens in the process”, the Commissioner said, adding that robbers had been known to infiltrate the ranks of the street traders to perpetrate their evil acts.

According to the Commissioner, “Faced with this ugly trend, no responsible and responsive government will fold her arms and allow man-hour waste and risk to lives of the citizens to continue all in the name of street trading. Thus the law has to be enforced and the modus operandi is that after public enlightenment and education has been carried out to inform the people on the need to relocate to identified markets within the affected area, enforcement follows to ensure compliance”, adding that offenders are arrested and their wares taken along as exhibits to aid prosecution.

The Commissioner further explained that such arrested offenders are promptly arraigned before the court of law where their guilt or innocence is established adding, “As expected, some people get convicted while others are discharged”.

As to what happens to the seized wares, Banire said perishable ones, especially food items, are forwarded to orphanage homes on the orders of the court pointing out that 12 orphanage homes duly registered with the State Government are the major beneficiaries of the items.

Such Homes, he said include, S.O.S. Children Village, Isolo, Boys’ Remand Home, Oregun, Christ Foundation Orphanage Home, Alakuko, Bethlehem Charity and Orphanage, Bamgbola Avenue, Akowonjo Egbeda, Little Saints’ Orphanage, Palm grove Estate, Ilupeju and The Nigerian Red Cross Society Motherless and Abandoned Babies’ Homes, Makoko, Yaba, among others.

Other confiscated goods that have stayed in excess of six months in the custody of the organization, Banire said, are auctioned publicly by government approved auctioneers to interested members of the public, adding that such goods auctioned recently include tires, motorbikes, electronics, new and fairly used clothes and shoes, motor spare-parts and generators among others.

Banire said there is no excuse by any trader that he or she cannot pay for shop or space in the identified markets pointing out that the Government has provided micro- finance as a means to obtain soft loans to pay for such shops or space.

According to the Commissioner, apart from micro-finance and the provision for mortgage to facilitate easy payment, spaces are provided allover the markets to accommodate all categories of traders in the State.

Calling on members of the public to cooperate with the Government in the effort to keep the State clean, the Commissioner said the KAI organization lacks the numerical strength to cover the whole State adding that at the moment, the organization has 1060 members.

Also in attendance at the occasion were the Special Adviser to the Governor on the Environment, Mr. Sesan Olanrewaju, the Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Bola Afuye, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello, the KAI Marshal, Captain Maigari among other top Government functionaries.