Taskforce dislodges illegal shops on walkways at Gudu

By Stanley Onyekwere

The FCT Administration joint task force has dislodged illegal shops and confiscated building materials, consisting of bags of cement and PVCs belonging to traders on walkways around the Gudu district of the nation’s capital city, in its ongoing efforts to effectively sanitise the city.
The task force, which consists of conventional security agencies, officials of the Department of Development Control, and the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), also impounded vehicles indiscriminately parked on walkways.
Coordinator of the FCT management joint task team and Director of Development Control Department, Mukhtar Galadima, described the exercises as a continuation of the clean-up exercise of sanitation embarked upon by the present administration.
According to him:“Just like you have seen in the last few days, the clearing of walkways in the city. We are trying to recover walkways where people have annexed them to other purposes, other than what they are meant for.
“ Most times when people do not have where to walk, they resort to walking on the dual carriage which can lead to accidents.”
On his part, deputy director in charge of Enforcement at AEPB, Kaka Bello, while speaking on the penalty for defaults said that the AEBP has different penalties for people selling on the walkways and drivers parking walkways.
He further advised that to sustain the sanity in the city, all agencies need to sustain the clean-up exercise, saying that they should continue to go around daily to ensure they do not come back because selling on walkways is illegal.
“Well, selling on undesignated places is illegal and whenever they are apprehended they are charged to court and it all depends on what the court judgment is. A times it carries a prison term, apart from fines, it depends on the Judge.
“Some of the goods are confiscated in the process and it all depends on the court, whether to release such goods after a fine or not.
“Talking of sustainability, it is something we must continue to do daily. Some of the people who generate this waste are apprehended. Most of the markets have space for these people, but most of them have refused to use this space”, he said.
Also, the Secretary of Command and Control, Peter Olumiji, explained that selling on walkways has security implications, saying that when traders are allowed to sell on the walkways, there will be an increase in criminality because of the congestion of the walkways.