The Lagos State Government has issued 7-day ultimatum to landlords in the state to leave all gated streets open between 5am and 11:59pm or have them dismantled.
The former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola had enforced the policy on gated streets but due to sloppy enforcement, landlords and community leaders went back to locking their street gates by 6pm.
At a news conference on Monday in Alausa, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, Commissioner Local Government and Community Affairs, Muslim Folami, ordered that the gates be opened at the stipulated hours but that they could be shut between 12 midnight and 5 a.m. but that such gates must be manned by security guards to allow for emergency movement.
Folami said henceforth the state government would be forced to demolish gates where it is discovered that landlords or Community Development Associations(CDA)s have failed to heed the order.
He added that landlords and CDAs have just seven days to implement the directive.
Also speaking at the event, Special Assistant to the Governor on Community Affairs, Alhaji Tajudeen Adeniyi Quadri said the order became imperative because locking of gates had resulted in inconvenience, making many to walk long distances to get to the main road.
He said the state government is revisiting the issue of gates in streets to allow for free flow of traffic since the gates are obstructing traffic and impacting negatively on the aesthetics of Lagos.
He said the development has become a source of worry to the state government and CDAs.
In 2009, the Lagos State Government issued a directive to landlords and CDAs that all gates leading to major roads be locked between 12 midnight and 5 a.m. and that any gate locked must be manned by security guards in case there is any need to go out to allow for free flow of vehicular movement, reduce traffic congestion and remove the difficulties ambulances and individuals faced while taking sick people or pregnant women who are in labour to hospital at night.
