The Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council Development Area has introduced a new initiative tagged “Street Marshals” to promote environmental cleanliness and orderliness within the community.

Announcing the initiative on Monday via X, the Senior Special Assistant on New Media to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Jubril Gawat, said the programme was spearheaded by the Council Chairman, Bola Oladunjoye.

According to the statement, the responsibilities of the Street Marshals are to “remove unauthorised structures on roads, tackle illegal markets and trading, and prevent unauthorised use of public spaces.”

It stated that marshals will also “curb unhealthy noise nuisance from social and religious centres, among others.”

“They will equally act as ‘information officers’ for the council,” the statement added.

Gawat said Ikoyi-Obalende LCDA chairman urged the newly inaugurated marshals to be proactive, disciplined, and respectful in discharging their duties, noting that they represent the image of the council.

“The council has started this with about 50 officers, and as time goes by, it will move up to 100,” Gawat added.

PUNCH Online reports that the initiative comes as the Lagos State Government had in recent weeks demolished several structures across the state, including duplexes along Ikota River in Eti-Osa, buildings at Oworonshoki, and more than 19 structures at the Trade Fair Complex in Ojo.

The demolitions, which were jointly carried out by officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, and the Lagos State Urban Renewal Agency, have sparked outrage, especially among residents whose structures were affected.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, has defended the recent wave of demolitions across the state, insisting that the exercise targets environmental contraventions and illegal developments, not legitimate homeowners.

He dismissed claims that the government’s actions were politically motivated or aimed at displacing residents, stressing that enforcement was necessary to restore order and protect flood-prone areas.

“I don’t demolish; I remove contraventions — that’s what the law allows me to do.

“For Ikota, for instance, they encroached on the Ikota alignment. Ikota is a river that discharges into the Lagos Lagoon.

“We engaged them for weeks and months, but they chose to be blatant. That was why those structures had to go,” Wahab said. (The PUNCH)