A Lagos State mobile court on Friday convicted four people for different environmental offences as the state Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, demolished illegal structures, including car marts and mechanic workshops. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Lagos State task force on environmental sanitation arraigned the offenders before Magistrate Abimbola Oshodi-Makanju in Ikoyi. The magistrate found them guilty of converting setback of a building at the Murtala Muhammed Drive (MMD), Ikoyi, to a business outlet. Oshodi-Makanju convicted Lateef Olatunde and Damilare Taiwo guilty on a six-count charge of flouting the state environmental laws and fined them N120, 000 each. The magistrate also convicted another car dealer at the setback of MMD, Lukman Jatto, and fined him N30, 000. Oshodi-Makanju equally convicted Olomu Oladipupo and fined him N50, 000, for converting a garden space on the setback at MMD, to a bar. She said the convicts misled the government.NAN reports that the operators had all pleaded guilty before the mobile court. The task force Chairman, Mr Olayinka Egbeyemi, had led a team from the state Ministry of Environment and Water Resources to Ikoyi to demolish illegal structures including the car mart and a mechanic workshop. According to him, the ministry has since September 2019 given the occupants notice to vacate structures mounted at the setback of a building at MMD. Egbeyemi said that the government repeatedly told the convicts to remove the illegal structures.“This is just the beginning; within six months, all illegal structures on Victoria Island and Ikoyi will no longer exist.” My advice to those who engage in the act is to stop because the Lagos State Task Force has begun to clear and demolish any illegal structure while the ministry would sustain the exercise,” Egbeyemi said. A Board Member of the Lagos State Safety Corps, Lagos Division, Mr Ishola Laguda, said the corps was on ground to ensure continuous enforcement to end such illegalities. The Deputy Corps Marshal, Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), Mr Adeleke Adeeso, said that the corps was acting in line with Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s directive that Ikoyi and Victoria Island should be the first point for clearance of illegal structures.Adesso advised the state residents to obey environment laws.NAN reports that the Ministry of Environment Joint Sanitation Exercise for Cleaner Lagos impounded 36 assorted cars from MMD both from a mechanic workshop and an illegal car mart. The environmental enforcement unit also discovered an underground borehole built to source water for car washing business
