Landlords and residents of Tunde Afolabi Street, a residential area in Ajah, Lagos State, have petitioned Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on the illegal and reckless activities of sand dredgers in the community.
This is as the association said the sand dredgers have used their trucks to destroy roads, disrupt movements, and instill psychological trauma on landlords and residents of the street, adding that the operators are daily frustrating the administration’s urban renewal programme.
The petition, filed on behalf of the association by its solicitor, SkyFall Partners and signed by Cookel Oke George, urged the government to deploy the state’s special task force and KAI Brigade to curtail the excess activities of the dredgers and their trucks in Ajah especially on Tunde Afolabi Street.
While lamenting the refusal of the dredging operators to obey an ealier directive to cease operation until a suitable parking arrangement is made for them, the association said the recklessness of the truck drivers is endangering lives and properties within the estate.
The petition reads: “We are solicitors who act on behalf of the Landlord and Resident Association of Tunde Afolabi Street, Ajah, Lagos. First and foremost is to commend Your Excellency for the giant strides you have attained which has been evident in various sectors of our beloved Lagos State. The most recent of them all is in the area of housing in Lagos HOMS Lekki Phase II, on Wednesday, January 27,2021.
“Be that as it may, it is very crucial that we bring to the attention of Your Excellency,a state of emergency in one of the regions which experienced an enviable urban renewal. It is the Ajah region and more particularly, Tunde Afolabi Street.
“Sir, the dredgers were adequately informed to cease operation and so shall it be until they have put in place adequate/proper parking arrangements for all the tippers serving their interest.
“Sadly and most regrettably, the sand dredging operators have deliberately refused to shut down their sand dredging operations.
“They have religiously breached the above action point reached. Their actions have frustrated the administration’s effort to free the Ajah interchange and achieve enduring peace as canvassed by the Hon. Commissioner for Transport and the Hon. Commissioner for Physical Planning.”
Explaining the effect of the illegal activities on residents and infrastructure in the area, the association said, “It will interest Your Excellency to know that the sand dredging operators have escalated their impunity on our Client’s street with reckless abandon. This has led to enormous disturbance, road dilapidation and psychological trauma exerted on the residents owing to the illegal activities of the sand dredging operators.”