As part of efforts to discourage street trading, the Lagos State government has warned that henceforth, anyone caught buying goods from street traders would be sent to prison.

This warning was issued by the state’s Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Information and Strategy in an initiative to enforce law and order contained in the street trading and illegal markets law.

The notice warns: “if you buy goods, wares, articles, or anything capable of being bought or buy any services whatsoever on roads, highways, expressways, or bridges in and around Lagos, or within or around any public building in Lagos State from anyone offering such goods or services for sale, you shall be liable to a fine of N5,000 or six months imprisonment as a first offender and a stiffer punishment for subsequent offences.”

The warning, according to the notice, applied to all streets in all local government areas of Lagos State.

Street traders are also not left out in the punishment list as the notice also warned that anyone found selling any good or services on streets or roads shall be liable to six months imprisonment or an option of fine.

It says, “if you hawk, display or sell any goods, wares, articles or anything capable of being sold or offer any services whatsoever on roads, highways, expressway and bridges in and around Lagos State, you shall be liable to a fine of N5,000 or six months imprisonment as a first offender.”

Traders on overhead bridges, owners of shops extended to highways and indiscriminate poster pasted are also liable to same punishment.

http://thepmnews.com/2008/06/14/govt-goes-tough-on-street-traders

This is typical madness with all this do this and go to jail syndrome. it is ridiculous and i can't just help but laugh. Lol

This is good news!! At least we are taking steps toward having a sane community.

Those that are used to the former way of life should just brace up for what is ahead instead of complaining.

What becomes of those woman that sells roasted plantain/roasted corn at the corner of your street? Or the street vendor who brings the dailies to your doorstep each morning? Abeg let us be realistic. Can't even imagine the ridiculous penalty.

Discouraging street trading is not a bad idea
But I think removing traders from our roads should be done gradually
Provide workable alternatives to rehab them
Then prohibit street trading after 6pm
Thereafter total ban!

I do not think street trading can be banned with fiat!
Just like banning okada riders without providing alternatives.

good law indeed

bluehorizo:

What becomes of those woman that sells roasted plantain/roasted corn at the corner of your street? Or the street vendor who brings the dailies to your doorstep each morning? Abeg let us be realistic. Can't even imagine the ridiculous penalty.

This is looking at things from the short term perspective. What we fail to realise is that, at the risk of sounding blunt, is that Lagos is not for everybody just like London, Johannesburg, New york.
The woman you are talking about is better off in Sagamu ( which is less than 30 minutes drive from Lagos). How does she survive on selling roasted corn, if she sells 30 piece @ 20 Naira per day in Lagos.
Imagine her having 4 sons, how many of them will at your age have access to internet. With rent at about 50,000 per year ( 100,000 + 20% for 2 years), what future do you think she and her kids have. At best they will end up as houseboys for you, or barber for you , or conductor/ danfo drivers or worse still end up as Armed robbers robbing you.

There a lot the government has NOT done but by discouraging this, will make some sensible ones make right choices.

That is Nigerian way of life. is he going to give those people job?

oldie:

Discouraging street trading is not a bad idea
But I think removing traders from our roads should be done gradually
Provide workable alternatives to rehab them
Then prohibit street trading after 6pm
Thereafter total ban!

I do not think street trading can be banned with fiat!
Just like banning okada riders without providing alternatives.

Common sense at its finest.

deor03:

This is looking at things from the short term perspective. What we fail to realise is that, at the risk of sounding blunt, is that Lagos is not for everybody just like London, Johannesburg, New york.
The woman you are talking about is better off in Sagamu ( which is less than 30 minutes drive from Lagos). How does she survive on selling roasted corn, if she sells 30 piece @ 20 Naira per day in Lagos.
Imagine her having 4 sons, how many of them will at your age have access to internet. With rent at about 50,000 per year ( 100,000 + 20% for 2 years), what future do you think she and her kids have. At best they will end up as houseboys for you, or barber for you , or conductor/ danfo drivers or worse still end up as Armed robbers robbing you.

There a lot the government has NOT done but by discouraging this, will make some sensible ones make right choices.

Ahhhhhh. . . . . . . . . . . . all these algebra for woman wey dey sell roasted plantain?
What if Lagos was her home city? Will she have to now park to Sagamu where she barely knew? Or does making very little from the road side shopping make her not qualified to live in Lagos?

Oldie has already said my mind; hastily sending this woman who was born and bread in Eko to Sagamu will not only make her children armed robbers, but thugs, prostitutes, ritualist and fraudstars.

nuzo:


Ahhhhhh. . . . . . . . . . . . all these algebra for woman wey dey sell roasted plantain?
What if Lagos was her home city? Will she have to now park to Sagamu where she barely knew? Or does making very little from the road side shopping make her not qualified to live in Lagos?

Oldie has already said my mind; hastily sending this woman who was born and bread in Eko to Sagamu will not only make her children armed robbers, but thugs, prostitutes, ritualist and fraudstars.

Spot on. All in the name of creating a Mega city.

bluehorizo:

Spot on. All in the name of creating a Mega city.

Yes sir, in the process of creating a Mega City that we will all be proud of, Me , you and so many other people will have to sacrifice.

deor03:

Yes sir, in the process of creating a Mega City that we will all be proud of, Me , you and so many other people will have to sacrifice.

Even if the sacrifice will turn many into prostitutes,armed robbers,fraudsters and a menace to the society? There need to be alternative provisions for those affected. I am not against the creation of Mega City. Just this night i was watching Galaxy Tv and there were some residents of an area protesting to the State Govt for marking their properties down for demolition. Tell me what becomes of those that will be left homeless. Do you expect them to contribute positively to the society or unleash terror on people like you who sees no wrong in taking their daily breads and shelter from them?

This is excellent news. Like someone mentioned earlier, Lagos is not for everyone! Thats one of the problems Lagos has. Over-population. Hopefully this will not only clean up Lagos, but also reduce the population!

Governance is all about give and take and vice versa.The problem with Nigerian govt a la this new law is the fact that we leap before we jump.It is teh same reason why okada was prohibited from moving from 7pm and before we could say TINUBU,it was changed till 9 0r 10 pm.I knw Fash has great dreams of and for Lagos,but its a journey that starts with gradual,well- planned and non- counter productive strategies like this one is.What becomes of this thousands of street hawkers you impetously yanking of the street.And more, some agberos even depend on thier selling on the streets and they take "tax" from them,what becomes of this notorious collectors when their "subjects" vanish.This is one action i can tell you wll destroy a feeding cycle and spiral into yet another emergence and insurgence of criminals.Oga Fash abeg find an mitigating alternative B4 taking this bold step.

@deor03 and landre , do you have human feelings @ all?

everyone making excuses for the traders are doing so without considering the whole picture! i completely disagree that this is gonna greatly increase crime rate. All he is banning is street hawking for God's sake. I am sure they have open markets where they can relocate to. Street hawking slows down traffic a lot, selling under bridges wears out and destroys the already poorly maintained infrastructures, not to talk of the menace of trash/litter caused by this street traders. You wanna sell ur stuff Go to the open markets/designated market areas, Period! All this dude is trying to do is to enforce the rule! People come to Lagos to search for greener pastures, a lot of people during that process destroying the place and becoming a menace to the society! I am 100% for this rules and MAY GOD Help Fashola!

You just realized?

@bluehorizon unless i am missing something and before you jump in to criticise government first think who is the law aimed at? Some roads in lagos that are meant to be three or four lanes have been effectively reduced to 1 lane and that one lane is used by bus drivers to stop and pick up passengers while others driving have to wait for all of this to happen before moving. What happened to other lanes? Street traders!! This is one of the major things that cause traffic, right or wrong? And we haven't even considered the street hawkers that consist of children that should be in school considering now that free education at certain levels is in the works in lagos. Shouldn't these children that swarm the streets at any chance of traffic which poses a threat to their lives be thinking of education instead so they don't stay street urchins forever?

Without being sentimental i hope you took those things into perspective. You can still buy bole and so on but at designated market places which has been provided for quite a while now while street traders have been continuosly persuaded to move to this designated places. Why have a lot of street traders not moved to designated areas? Let us not be sentimental, it is because wares are more likely to be patronised at a higher price on the street by passengers in moving vehicles. This law does not all of a sudden mean there will be no place to buy bole or mamaput in lagos, it just means more order in the former chaos. I think lagos can still be for everybody just like New York creates opportunities for a very wide range of people from the poor to the rich, from the elite to the bohemians, etc.  However living there means you live in a society and you don't have to be a nuissance to everyone all in the name of making a living. If street trading is not such a big deal for you then i don't think you should ever complain about the traffic in lagos because the two go hand in hand and moreso than you might think.

At the very worse if people living in lagos don't like the order created and the ease to traffic this will hopefully cause then when next election comes you can vote to have the old restored and if the hate for the order drives more people to vote then good for democracy. Everyone is shouting for order and change but don't want any compromise whatsoever made, LOL. You want free flowing traffic but you also want street trading that consumes lanes on the road and just turns roads into market to be left alone? You want behaviour in traffic but call fines and deterrents put in place to achieve this unrealistic? So how is this order going to be created then?

kay_pumpin:


@deor03 and landre , do you have human feelings @ all?

Yes i do,

That is why i do want my fellow poor Nigerians to be running after your car endangering their lives to sell gala to you in your air-conditioned car.

That is also why i don't want your kids to request for caprisone and you will just beckon on their AGE MATE to sell it , so that you can give your thirsty kids in your car.

somebody has no job, he has applied to all companies in Nigeria without success. therefore he took hawking , now you want to send him to prison.

when people are sent to prison without alternative, they are forced to follow the hard way, the only way; and become member of Nigeria exclusive club:armed robbery.

Police research shows that more and more graduate are becoming armed robber. Lagos state government policy will only lead to increase in crime.

Good Idea but we need to see 'implementation plan' otherwise it will fail like everything else.

Questions:

1. how many street traders?

2. what do they trade?

3. what is age, sex group?

4. why do Lagosian buy from the street?

5. what education level. etc


We need to research on the issue and then come out with good plans NOT just ban this, stop that.

deor03:

Yes i do,

That is why i do want my fellow poor Nigerians to be running after your car endangering their lives to sell gala to you in your air-conditioned car.

That is also why i don't want your kids to request for caprisone and you will just beckon on their AGE MATE to sell it , so that you can give your thirsty kids in your car.

spot on

So kindly suggest alternative occupations for the thousands of youths selling Recharge cards on the road. or the call center operators by the roadside. Or the People selling Gala and drinks.

I agree we need to make lagos more sane, but an outright sudden ban is asking for disaster.

Sky Blue

Don't get me wrong. I am not against this govt creating a mega city BUT without any alternative! This govt is all interested in making a mega city and gives no regard to the residents. We all want a better Lagos. What about if you were to be brought up with the proceeds of street trading? Afterall,all are not born with a silver spoon,so fingers can never be equal.

@bluehorizo so if Lagos was not organising itself to become a worthy mega city then all this chaos would be ok? So this is just about mega city? If you don't see a problem with such chaos that slows down traffic to a snail pace, making people regularly turn up very late for work and hence reducing the ammount of man hours spent on work and the economy because people are stuck on traffic, partly because some roads further down the line have become markets then it makes me wonder what else you pass as acceptable in Nigeria? It is sad that people have to make a living this way and someone has asked for alternatives by which i have stated that there are already designated market places that street traders can move to. You can't just let anything go because there is poverty in the land. Where is the line, what is the point of having the law?

Sky,i do agree that you that traders who display their wares by the road sides thereby slows down traffic should be relocated to the designated markets. But what about residential streets? Are they also not affected?

@bluehorizo what do you mean? So all residential streets should become market too? If you mean the one or two people that sell stuff on residential streets who are actually residents of those streets then i don't think it applies to them but why don't we find out and get more info instead of just immediately shouting wolf for something we are not completely sure off?

I am not a Government agent. I have never desired to be and I will never be.

Just the way a lot of Nigerians believe their future is warped unless they travel abroad a lot of Nigerians in the hinterland believe when they come to Lagos all their problems will be over.

The problem caused by illegal Nigerian immigrants in Europe and America has brought us a very bad name. The jobs are not there.

The same way people who should have remained in their villages all want to be in Lagos.

What do we get? The chaos we have now. The disorder we have now. The indiscipline we have now.

MAJORITY OF NIGERIANS SUFFERING AND CRATING PROBLEMS IN LAGOS AND THE STREETS OF EUROPE WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF IN THEIR HOME TOWNS AND VILLAGES.

Yo will be amazed that they have a far better place to lay their heads at night than they do right now. There are people in the villages who live a far better life that people in Lagos.

I know a family that is suffering in one tiny room in Lagos who have a wonderful building in their home town. Go home now, they will not. The man has a bus for moving goods o.

With the advent of the internet and GSM the world has become a global village. Wherever you are you can do your thing.

The street market is there because the average Nigerian knows they hawker are there. They day they wake up and not find them they will adjust. That is the simple truth.

Development has never favored all the citizens of a country. Some will always be "swept" away by the change.

For example, when the computer came the manual and electric type writers had to give way. Though they can still be found in a a few places.

The woman who sells food by the road side claims she cannot afford to pay for a shop. But she makes money there everyday, pays no tax and as such keeps all her profit. Yet she "cannot" afford a shop. The street hawker and everyone says the same thing.

They create problems on the road and when they are knocked down by vehicles, it becomes a big issue. Meanwhiel they were not supposed to be on the road.

I witnessed and accident recently where a driver lost control of his car and ran over one of these people who have call centres along major roads.

Sentiments aside. Is this the kind of Nation we want?

Government can only as much as they can do. We must begin to do the right thing in this country.

winnteam:

I am not a Government agent. I have never desired to be and I will never be.

Just the way a lot of Nigerians believe their future is warped unless they travel abroad a lot of Nigerians in the hinterland believe when they come to Lagos all their problems will be over.

The problem caused by illegal Nigerian immigrants in Europe and America has brought us a very bad name. The jobs are not there.

The same way people who should have remained in their villages all want to be in Lagos.

What do we get? The chaos we have now. The disorder we have now. The indiscipline we have now.

MAJORITY OF NIGERIANS SUFFERING AND CRATING PROBLEMS IN LAGOS AND THE STREETS OF EUROPE WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF IN THEIR HOME TOWNS AND VILLAGES.

Yo will be amazed that they have a far better place to lay their heads at night than they do right now. There are people in the villages who live a far better life that people in Lagos.

I know a family that is suffering in one tiny room in Lagos who have a wonderful building in their home town. Go home now, they will not. The man has a bus for moving goods o.

With the advent of the internet and GSM the world has become a global village. Wherever you are you can do your thing.

The street market is there because the average Nigerian knows they hawker are there. They day they wake up and not find them they will adjust. That is the simple truth.

Development has never favored all the citizens of a country. Some will always be "swept" away by the change.

For example, when the computer came the manual and electric type writers had to give way. Though they can still be found in a a few places.

The woman who sells food by the road side claims she cannot afford to pay for a shop. But she makes money there everyday, pays no tax and as such keeps all her profit. Yet she "cannot" afford a shop. The street hawker and everyone says the same thing.

They create problems on the road and when they are knocked down by vehicles, it becomes a big issue. Meanwhiel they were not supposed to be on the road.

I witnessed and accident recently where a driver lost control of his car and ran over one of these people who have call centres along major roads.

Sentiments aside. Is this the kind of Nation we want?

Government can only as much as they can do. We must begin to do the right thing in this country.

Every thing you have written here is very true and i agree completely with it, This is all part of the shared scarifice we all have to take to make Nigeria better, Change be it for good or for bad comes with a lot of pain and discomfort, i just hope that lagosians are open minded and sensible enough to see the long term advantage and positive effect  this legislation will have on lagos state and probably Nigeria as a whole. . . . . . . . . . . .

it is about time haba, street and residential tradings should be stopped. why can't they have something like Giant, uncle sam club, food lion, wegmans etc?

If government is going to take this step, there should be a provision for alternative location for sales of their wares. Lets not forget that this will affect peoples' means of livelihood.

replenish:

If government is going to take this step, there should be a provision for alternative location for sales of their wares. Lets not forget that this will affect peoples' means of livelihood.

my thots exactly. But if this will help curb child hawking, i see it as progress

so whats madness about this. if a zone is declared trade free, then how is it madness? amazing naija mentality. these rules were obviously put in place for good reasons!

This is why our people are always deported.


If something is declared ILLEGAL, is't MADNESS?