Prior to the recent wave of market and other business closures, the Lagos State Government claimed that traders disregarded their warnings.
The Lagos State Government recently ordered the closure of Mile 12 and Owode Onirin markets due to environmental violations and filth.
While there have been outcries over the move with many saying it would lead to food inflation, the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources Tokunbo Wahab said ample time was given to the business owners before the closure.
“We don’t just take decisions because we want to. We weighed all the options and that was why we had to ensure that they served them notices to comply. But when they fail, what do you have to do? You have to enforce the law,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“You see, if we go the emotional route to say there would be food inflation, have you quantified what you are going to lose if there is a cholera outbreak because of the filthy environment from where we buy what we eat?”
He argued that if there is a disease outbreak, the Lagos Government would be forced to spend more from its lean resources to contain it.
“So, if your environment is clean, however, that [resources] would be saved for other projects in the state,” he added.
Although some have claimed that the shutdown of the markets and businesses was targeted at political opponents and an ethnic group, the commissioner dismissed the allegations.
“We served requisite notices,” he noted, asking: “What is ethnic about it?”
According to him, the Lagos State Government would not condone cases of environmental infractions, vowing to clamp down on those who flout laid down rules.
“If you have an illegal title, nobody can make it legal for you because as you know in law, you can’t put something on nothing,” the commissioner said.
“So, we are not cherrypicking enforcement here but doing the right thing,” he maintained.