KAI Clamps Down On Roadside Phone Operators

Officials of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) of the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment have clamped down on roadside telephone operators in Ikeja, Maryland and Agege.

The officials destroyed the stalls and kiosks after seizing GSM handsets belonging to the operators.

Unlike in other operations whereby traders are arrested along with their seized goods, none of the telephone operators was arrested.

In an interview with a KAI official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, “it is the policy of the state government to make Lagos clean and be ready for the status of a mega city.”

He said the government was determined to get rid of all categories of street traders. He appealed to youths to look for shops to operate their businesses.

Some of the operators who spoke with P.M.News wondered what the government wanted them to do in the face of massive unemployment in the country.

Uche Ogochukwu, one of the operators whose kiosk was taken away by KAI officials around Hilton Bus Stop on Allen Avenue, lamented the hardship he had gone through before raising money to set up the business.

A customer who witnessed the raid condemned the action of the government, saying it would soon lose its popularity among the populace.

“The government should softpedal in the way they are displacing people from their petty businesses, otherwise the people will soon turn against their policies,” he warned.