October 19, 2022

The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Central Business Districts (CBD), Mr. Gbenga Oyerinde has dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the CBD was created to generate revenue for the State Government through arbitrary confiscation of vehicles and arrest of street traders by its enforcement officers.

Mr. Oyerinde made the clarification in Ikeja while reacting to the report of the allegation of indiscriminate arrest of Motorists by CBD operatives in Ikeja and Lagos Island Business Districts.

The Special Adviser said: “The present administration seeks total compliance to traffic and environmental laws in line with the Executive Order issued by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on zero tolerance for traffic and environmental nuisances as well as indiscriminate dumping of refuse across the metropolis of Lagos”.

He restated the agency’s commitment to creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, adding that motorists and traders operating within areas designated as business districts in the State must obey traffic and environmental rules and regulations to avoid penalties and sanctions by the State Government.

Speaking on the mandate of the Agency, Oyerinde said the agency was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring effective and efficient traffic and environmental services as well as improvement in solid waste management through the establishment of CBD Traffic and environmental Management Corps.

He listed some of the functions of the agency, including enhancing the aesthetics of CBD roads and surrounding areas through beautification of the business environment; Collaborating with relevant agencies in providing adequate security of life and properties of business owners and residents, and providing the provision of emergency management rescue services.

Oyerinde, therefore, called on the motoring public to always report any of its operatives who acted outside the ambit of its mandate to his office for necessary action rather than engaging in physical assault and destruction of government properties bought with taxpayers’ money.

Maintaining that all CBD activities are in line with the T.H.E.M.E.S agenda of the Lagos State Government, he decried the degradation of the environment through street trading. He, therefore, called on market leaders and business owners whose shops have been extended to the roads to remove them immediately or face the full wrath of the environmental and physical planning laws of Lagos State.

The Special Adviser also advised stakeholders operating within the Ikeja and Lagos Island business districts to cooperate with the State Government to curb environmental and traffic matters within the business districts.