Lagos begins arrest of buyers patronising illegal roadside traders next week

The Lagos State Government, through the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), will begin arresting and prosecuting people who buy goods from illegal roadside traders next week.

LAWMA Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin disclosed this at the Authority’s headquarters on Tuesday, September 8, 2026.

The measure is in accordance with Section 151, Subsection 2 of the Lagos State Environmental Management and Protection Law 2017 and forms part of a renewed enforcement strategy to curb illegal trading, indiscriminate waste disposal and the obstruction of public infrastructure across Lagos State.

What he is saying

Gbadegesin explained that enforcement would no longer focus only on illegal traders, as people who sustain such activities by purchasing goods from them would also be held accountable under the relevant provisions of the law.

He said the measure was necessary because patronage encourages traders to continue occupying roadsides, medians, walkways, setbacks and other unauthorised public spaces.

• “The Law does not only prohibit illegal street trading. It also makes it an offence to buy goods exposed or offered for sale in prohibited places. From next week, anyone found buying from traders operating on roadsides, medians, walkways, setbacks or other unauthorised spaces will be arrested, alongside the traders, and prosecuted in accordance with the law.”
• Gbadegesin said a person convicted of the offence could be liable to a fine of N90,000, imprisonment for six months, or both.
• “Our objective is to stop the cycle that allows illegal trading and indiscriminate waste disposal to return after enforcement operations. Traders occupy public spaces because people continue to patronise them.”
• He added that buyers must understand that their actions sustain the problem and that they…