After setting the blueprint for the future years with the T.H.E.M.E.S agenda Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu set out starting his journey as the top state executive, next is for the megacity of Lagos to sanitise the environment. Prostitutes in their sharks around Lagos Island are in the pecking order off a list of menaces that officials want to pluck off as well as those who hawk wares on streets.

Last month at the China-Africa Summit in Beijing saw the President of Nigeria Bola Tinubu overlooking the Lagos State governor taking part in the signing of fresh new treaties between the countries. One of these is to build the 68-kilometre rail line designed to run from the Lekki Free Zone to Marina where Lagosians already have the Blue Line running.

That is the vision that is selling, hence no room it seems for anything like prostituting or selling one’s body in the glare. It is the same frown that has been extended to traders colonising sidewalks and pedestrian pathways just to market their goods.

Mentally still known as KAI, the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) was able to get a dozen sex workers convicted of environmental offences. The agency after its inauguration on Friday 30 June 2017 has as its mission statement the duty to promote a cleaner, hygienic, aesthetically resplendent environment.

Doing that was what Wednesday 2 October 2024 was all about after LAGESC ensured the conviction of 12 sex workers who ran afoul of environmental regulations. Those convicted are to serve eight months in prison, says a press statement communicated via the agency’s social media today.

It was the aftermath of a 30 September briefing administered by LAGESC’s Corps Marshal, Major Olaniyi Olatunbosun Cole (Rtd.) at the Oshodi Headquarters.

While there, the chief administrator Cole made a point about the THEMES agenda of Mr Governor clearly stated the need for Lagos to be habitable for business and the situation at Obalende has deteriorated over time, prompting the need for us to launch a large-scale enforcement operation against these nefarious elements that want to desecrate our environment which resulted in arrests and multiple secured convictions.

Obalende is a major hotspot close to Lagos Island for never-ending commercial exchanges and nightlife. A total of 19 sex work offenders in the eyes of the authority represented an example of reckless thrill-seeking.

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This infraction got them arraigned before Chief Magistrate, S.A Adefioye of the Special Offences Court in Oshodi who was judging them for contravening Section 142(1)(a)(b) and 168(1) (d) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State.

Among the offenders, only 12 pleaded guilty. This then means that seven others have to wait until a week before Christmas to see a judge again. They are to be held in prison until their next hearing.

The press statement from LAGESC showed an aggregate of women in their early to mid-20s as the common factor when reviewing the age of the offenders.

Press Release

Obalende Enforcement: 12 Suspects jailed for Prostitution, Breach of Peace Offences by Court

As part of consolidated efforts exhausted towards reducing the spate of environmental infractions in the Obalende area of the State,
1/2 pic.twitter.com/VugZI6uPtR

— Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (@LAGESCOfficial) October 3, 2024

It is a tough job facing Lagosians going against the environment laws but the agency has a mandate always to prevail.

This time the trap only caught those in the prostitution line. Still, LAGESC also has eyes for residents who risk their lives crossing speedy highways instead of navigating through a nearby pedestrian bridge that has been built. All is in the name of caring for over 20million people.

Meiza Nigeria