Lagos renews crackdown on agberos, nabs 46

Agberos

Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement Unit) says it has begun a fresh crackdown on touts, popularly called agberos, who collect illegal dues outside motor parks.

Task Force Chairman, Bayo Sulaiman, said on Sunday that since the state Road Traffic Law 2012 prohibits collection of dues by union members and others outside their parks, the task force had a duty to enforce it.

He said, “The government will not allow miscreants to behave lawlessly. There is no room for miscreants and criminals in Lagos  State because we will make life uncomfortable for them.”

Sulaiman said the task force arrested 46 agberos between Mile 12 and Agric Bus stop on Ikorodu Road, who were collecting illegal dues.

He said, “Magistrate Jadesola Adeyemi of the Special Offences Court in Alausa sentenced the 46 miscreants to 50-hour community service for constituting an environmental menace.

“We believe that the punishment will serve as a deterrent to others who might want to constitute a menace to law-abiding Lagosians.”

The task force boss said the unit’s officials had been going round the state in under-cover vehicles to make it easy for them to nab violators of the traffic law.

He said,  “They (agberos) should stop collecting illegal dues from commercial vehicles outside the parks. They left the road before and are now back and we are after them.”

The PUNCH had on Tuesday published an expose on the return of the agberos on Lagos roads despite the traffic law. It was alleged that the agberos obeyed the restriction order for only one month.