Lagos enforces ban on street selling

03 Aug, 2016

Lagos governor gets tough with hawkers.

A ltittle-used ban against selling, or hawking, on the streets of Lagos is now being enforced as part of a crackdown by the Lagos governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

Although the practice of street selling has been illegal in Lagos since 2003, police rarely applied the law against hawkers. Now street vendors, and those who buy from them, face fines of $300 or six months in prison.

The traders have presented a petition to the Lagos House of Assembly calling for a review of the law banning street trading.

They argue that they cannot afford shop rents and that they are providing a useful service, particularly to motorists stuck in the city's regular traffic jams.