Scores wounded as environmental corps raids scrap dealers’ yard

Officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) have raided a yard used by scrap and waste dealers in Idimu area of Lagos, carting away large volume of carts and other equipment belonging to the operators.

The raid, it was learnt, was in respect of the ban on cart pushers and wheel barrow operators as part of the implementation of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative of the state government.

The scrap dealers under the aegis of the National Association of Waste and Scrap Dealers Association of Nigeria (NASWADEN) had been at loggerheads with the state government over the ban, and the corps had been raiding hideouts of scrap dealers and arresting the cart pushers across the state.

The latest was at Idimu yesterday when the taskforce officials allegedly stormed their yard at 1:30 am.

In the ensuing confrontation, it was learnt that some of the scrap dealers and sanitation corps officials were seriously wounded.

Taskforce Chairman of NASWADEN, Alhaji Mohammed Musa in a chat with Daily Trust disclosed that no fewer than 30 of their members were arrested.

“We are surprised that they raided our yard because it was not that our members were arrested on the streets. They came and said the government did not want us in the state again,” he said.

But Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Chike Oti confirmed that the raid was carried out by officials of LAGESC at Idimu dump sites against those contravening the state’s environmental law.

He said in the course of the raid, some hoodlums attacked the LAGESC officials, wounded some of them and destroyed their vehicles, prompting them to call for reinforcement from the police.