Lagos State Apprehends Touts Extorting Civilians On Yaba Pedestrian Bridge

The Lagos State Government has apprehended two suspects accused of extorting traders and residents using a pedestrian bridge in the Yaba area of the state.

The state Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, disclosed this via his X handle on Thursday.

Wahab noted that the arrest was made in response to a viral video where the suspects were seen carrying out the act.

The suspects, whose identities were not disclosed, were reported to have imposed an N100 levy on each pedestrian with luggage.

The commissioner, who claimed to have ordered their immediate arrest, added that they would be charged to court.

He wrote, “In response to the viral video of some miscreants extorting traiders and other lagosians on a pedestrian bridge in Yaba, I instructed the Corps Marshal of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps @LAGESCOfficial to immediately arrest the persons and the officer involved.

“They will be arraigned immediately in court while the clampdown on those on the run would continue.”

Lagos State Gives Fresh Update On Monthly Rental Policy, Discloses When It Will Be Enforced

Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Housing, Barakat Odunuga-Bakare, has said that the state’s monthly rental scheme will be enforced before the end of 2024 or early next year.

Odunuga-Bakare disclosed this during a recent press briefing of the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority in Ikeja, Lagos.

Naija News recalls that in 2021, the governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu had said the current rental model in which people pay yearly rent in advance to property owners has become inadequate to address contemporary realities in the housing sector, especially in cities where demand for property is high and expensive

He advocated a monthly rental system, which he said would be affordable to low- and middle-income earners pressured by the yearly rent obligation.

Sharing fresh information on the proposed policy, Odunuga-Bakare disclosed that rents of residents in the state would be charged based on their earnings.

She said, “We all see what is being done in other climes, rents are collected monthly. Hence, we are looking and hoping that before the end of the year, or by early next year, we will be able to implement the policy of monthly rental. Also, the rental would be charged according to tenants’ earnings.

“The good part about it is that we would be test-running it first within the public sector since we can ascertain how much everybody is earning, and once we see that it works in the public sector, we can now push it out to the private sector.”

Speaking further, she noted that the N5bn allocated for the monthly rental scheme was still set aside and untouched.

“The last administration that initiated the monthly rental scheme was coming to an end when the scheme was to be introduced. Now, we have a new administration and the governor wants the scheme to come into effect by the end of this year or early next year,” she added.