Lagos begins demolition of “Gated Streets”

Hold on. So, the government could not provide adequate security for residents and the residents decided to construct gates on their streets to keep armed robbers locked out but the government is now pulling down the gates? Issorait.

Anyway, the Lagos State Government has begun the demolition of gated streets across the state following the expiration of the ultimatum to all streets in the state to leave their gates open till 12 midnight each day.

The government has earmarked 62 gated streets for demolition across the state, out of which 28 gates have been demolished in Ajeromi Ifelodun area of Lagos.

The governments, because of the traffic gridlock in the state ordered all streets to leave their gates open between 5:00 am and 12 midnight so that motorists can navigate through them in order to curb traffic gridlock.

Government officials escorted by the Taskforce on Environment and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit stormed Ajeromi Ifelodun on Monday and demolished 28 gated streets which were locked against motorists.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Community Affairs, Alhaji Tajudeen Quadri noted that the removal of the gated streets had to be done after series of awareness campaign by the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs on the need to adhere strictly to state government directives.

He added that series of stakeholders meeting were held with executive members of the Community Development Committee (CDC), Community Development Associations (CDAs) and the Executive Secretaries of the Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs to ensure that they were all involved in the state government policies and directives.

“There is need to remove all the gated streets and barricades due to non-compliance of the residents to the opening hours of 5:00am to 12 midnight and to be effectively manned from midnight to 5am by security personnel who must always be on ground to open these gates in case of any emergency.

“Now that some gates in the streets are being removed, it will give assess to motorists who are being held up in traffic and will also enhance smooth operation for the security agencies during emergencies so as to carry out their operations effectively in any of the affected areas when there is any distress call.”

He advised some residents who had not complied to government’s directive on the appropriate time for the opening and closure of their gates to do so.

One of the residents, Engr. Oamen Edward, said this operation was a welcome development as it would put a stop to extortion in the area by the leaders and the landlords, adding that it would ease the flow of traffic and reduce the travelling time of people from their respective places of work.

Mrs. Ejioma Okoh, a resident, emphasized that the majority of the streets in her neighborhood closed their gates around 7pm and that this usually caused a lot of discomfort to people who got home late from work, saying that the enforcement carried out in the area was a welcomed development.