Stop the Extortion and Oppression of Informal Workers, FIWON Tells Government

The relentless attack on informal workers in Lagos State took a new twist last December when two government approved Mechanic Villages were whimsically destroyed by officials of Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Transport working under the inducement of private developers and interests. As most people were preparing to celebrate the New Year 2017, a certain Mr. Afolabi, Director of the Ministry of Environment came with Messrs. Kunle Adegbite and Durosinmi Etti and heavily armed but unnamed soldiers (they wore no name tags), mobile policemen and their demolition squad to destroy the Babs Animashaun Mechanic Village on November 29, 2016. On December 27, 2016, the same men of the Ministry of Environment working in cahoots with a so – called Engineer Matanmi of the Ministry of Transport also came to destroy the Coker Mechanic Village. Since these incidents took place, we have taken steps to petition relevant authorities to seek redress but all we have had in response is the continued boastful harassment of these civil servants especially Engineer Matanmi of the Ministry of Transport. The two cases are highlighted below:

The Case of the Coker Mechanic Village, Akinwande Road, Alaba, Lagos.

The ordeal of our members in this mechanic village which was allocated to us in 1980 by the Lagos Sate Government, started in 2012 when some building materials sellers registered under the name, STI Building Materials Limited started to mount pressures on us to quit the site to make way for them to expand their business premises. It is sad that the these same traders relentlessly worked through a certain Engineer Matanmi , a Director at the Lagos State Ministry of Transport who on different occasions, issued all manner of contradictory directives on us to vacate the site. We were eventually forced to concede a 13 metres space for STI Building Materials Limited to construct an entrance gate. Despite this and our repeated representations to Engineer Matanmi not to yield to the pressures of the STI Building Materials Limited, the STI brought a combined team of officials from the Ministry of Environment, armed men in military uniforms and a bulldozer to destroy our workshops and all the work tools and installed equipment therein on November 29, 2017.

Since this time, our members in the said mechanic village have been rendered destitute as their only means of livelihoods as well as work equipment valued at over N50 million naira have been whimsically destroyed.

The Case of the Mechanic Village at 106 Babs Animashaun Road, Surulere.

Just as in the case of the Coker Mechanic Village, the Babs Animashaun, Surulere Mechanic Village was allocated to our members by the Ministry of Transport in 1980 and since then our members have been judiciously paying accruing rents on the site. It is also worthy of note that the said Mechanic Village is under an electric power line which does not allow for the construction of permanent structures.

Despite this, a certain Mrs. Juliana Akinbinu, parading a Certificate of Occupancy started to terrorize and harass our members who have workshops in the Village since 2001 when she, acting in cahoots with officials of the Ministry of Environment and certain developers, actually pulled down a part of the Mechanic Village. This act prompted our members to embark on a peaceful demonstration to the Governor’s Office, Alausa in the same year. Although, we enjoyed some respite after this, we subsequently had to proceed to court to challenge Mrs. Akinbinu’s claim on a piece of land awarded us by the state government, and lying under electricity power line. While the court process was on-going, Mrs. Julianah and her developers Messrs. Mukaila Oloyede and Godwin Udeze mobilized officials of the Ministry of Environment who came with a bulldozer and a Black Maria van as well as soldiers to destroy the said Mechanic Village on November 28, 2016. Our members however challenged this move to destroy the mechanic village, demanding for documented authorization from the MoE. officials who led the operation.

Shokingly, the men of the MoE. under the command of a Director of MoE, Mr. Afolabi reinforced their demolition squad with even more heavily armed soldiers (who wore no name tags), policemen and thugs with Messrs. Kunle Adegbite and Durosinmi Etti leading to forcefully destroy the mechanic village on December 27, 2016. The soldiers and MoE officials subjected our members to unwarranted assaults, arresting ten people in the process. Several cars belonging to our customers were also destroyed, at least 15 mobile phones were seized and destroyed, ostensibly to prevent the illegal action being recorded, while our neighbours who have their shops close to the mechanic village were subjected to extortion so that their shops would also not be pulled down. A total sum of five hundred thousand (N500, 000) naira only was extorted from our members and our neighbours while properties, vehicles under repair and equipment worth over seventy million naira (N70, 000, 000) was destroyed. In addition, the MoE officials held the arrested men in illegal detention while the sum of four hundred and fifteen thousand (N415, 000) naira was demanded before their release.

We have attached herewith copies of the allocation letters granting our members use of the two mechanic villages from relevant Lagos State Government Ministries, copies of payment of rents and taxes as well as the list of demand for payment by MoE and the handwritten receipt of part payment of the said demand signed by Mr. Durosinmi-Etti of MoE. (we made the part payment before our arrested members were released from MoE illegal detention) for further information.

Our Prayers

Our organization, the Nigeria Automobile Technicians Association (NATA) is among the very few of similar organizations operating in the informal sector that takes the civic education of our members seriously. Hence, we have always sought to ensure that in our interaction with customers, neighbours and public authorities, utmost courtesy and strict adherence to the law are maintained. Even in the face of the worst provocations, we have always sought peaceful means to resolve conflicts, sometimes at great cost while we have always ensured that our members fulfill all civic responsibilities which is why NATA was awarded a certificate as the best tax paying organization in the informal sector in 2013. It is in view of this that we use this occasion to call on the Executive Governor of Lagos State, H.E. Governor Akinwumi Ambode to urgently step into this matter to help redress these cases of naked oppression, extortion and illegalities that we have been subjected to. Our prayers are:

a full scale investigation into the above incidents. In the interim, we demand that Lagos state Government should issue:
an Executive Order to restrain the Ministry of Environment especially Mr. Kunle Adegbite and conniving officials in the Ministry of Transport especially, Engineer Matanmi of Ministry of Transport from further harassment and extortion of our members,
that the STI Building Materials and the Lagos State Ministry of Environment be made to refund to our members the cost of the properties, vehicles and equipment valued at a very conservative cost of fifty million naira (N50 million naira) only destroyed at the Coker Mechanic Village while Mrs. Akinbinu and her developers, Messrs. Mukaila Oloyede and Godwin Udeze as well as the Lagos State Ministry of Environment be made to refund the sum of seventy million naira only at the Babs Animashaun Mechanic Village, respectively.
prosecution of the perpetrators of these incessant criminalities particularly Messrs. Afolabi, Kunle Adegbite and Durosinmi Etti of the Ministry of Environment and Engineer Matanmi of the Ministry of Transport who are found of making use of hired thugs and unnamed soldiers to destroy properties of the working people, often in collusion with private developers without express knowledge of appropriate authorities and without involving the Lagos State Ministry of Physical and Urban Planning which is statutorily empowered to effect demolition of illegal structures.

Press Conference by the Nigeria Automobile Technicians’ Association (NATA) and the Federation of Informal Workers’ Organizations of Nigeria (FIWON) on the Demolition of Two Mechanic Villages at Surulere, Lagos.