OLOWA PROFFERED LASTING SOLUTIONS TO ENCROACHMENT ON THE EXPRESSWAY BY PLANKS AND BAMBOO ASSOCIATIONS

In a bid to curtail the encroachment into the Lekki-Epe Expressway and walkways by traders and dealers of planks and Bamboo Sellers Association, the Executive Chairman of Ibeju-Lekki Local Government, Hon.(Engr) Abdullahi Sesan Olowa took a proactive step on Friday 29th August, 2025 by hosting the concerned stakeholders which comprise of Bamboo Marketer Association, United Timber Merchant Plank Seller and Lagos State Plank and Building Material Association in a meeting at the council"s Secretariat in igando oloja. The scheduled meeting was aimed at proffering positive solutions to relocating dealers of Bamboo, Planks and Timbers away from the expressway and roadsides to a safer and convenient location. Addressing Executive members of the three Associations, the Mayor emphasized the urgent need to relocate them to a designated location, while charging them to instill orderliness and discipline into their members as regards their methods of operation and stop littering the roads, walkways, and expressway with waste generated from their sawmills, noting that ibeju-Lekki Local Government spent substantial amount of money on waste evacuation along the expressway, walkways and roads everyday. He stated that, as a government, constituting environmental nuisance by anyone, body or association will not be condoned by Ibeju-Lekki Local Government. Speaking further, he frowned at how some sellers of planks and timbers littered the roads and expressway with sawdust generated from their sawmill after operation of each day and sometimes empty the sawdust and waste generated into the drainage channels. He Charged the Association to commence the search on relocating to a safer site which could be named after the Associate as ibeju-Lekki Plank Dealers Association and where residents and members of the public can come to patronize them. Responding to the charged by the helmsman to members of the association, Mr Afolabi Muyideen, Zonal Chairman of Plank Association, Ibeju- Lekki, stated that the Association has 10 hectares of land, registered in their name and which its tittled has been secured from the Lagos State Government. However, he noted that the road to the site is swampy and not motorable. He appealed to the Mayor to come to their aid to sand and fill the remaining 300 Meter road remaining in order to make the road accessible to all. Finally, the three Associations pleaded for time to be able to organize themselves and members and to leave the expressway and roads to a safer and permanent site as proposed by the Executive Chairman.