The Chairman of the Special Committee on Clean-Up of Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki, Mr. Tunji Bello, has reported progress in the committee’s assignment, disclosing that it has already cleaned up seven major streets in Victoria Island and five in Ikoyi.

The Chairman spoke with newsmen after an unscheduled visit to some of the areas being cleaned up on Ahmadu Bello Way and Ozumba Mbadiwe. He said the committee has decided to take the clean-up exercise on the listed streets in batches to ensure sustainability and effectiveness.

Mr. Bello along with members of the Special Committee including the Sole Administrators of Iru-Victoria Island and Ikoyi-Obalende LCDA, Princess Aderemi Adebowale and Mr. Felix Ona-Olawale, officials of the Task Force on Special Offences, members of Victoria Island Residents Association (VIRA) on the inspection, listed the streets already cleaned up in Victoria Island to include Water Corporation Drive, Ahmadu Bello Way, Adetokunbo Ademola, Bishop Aboyade Cole, Ajose Adeogun, Ligali Ayorinde Streets and Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue while those in Ikoyi are Awolowo Road, Falomo Roundabout, Kingsway Road, Glover Road, and Bourdillon Road.

He clarified that KAI Operatives would be deployed to areas where street traders were dislodged and shanties demolished to ensure that such people do not return.

The Committee Chairman continued, saying: “On Ahmadu Bello Way, where we have a lot of infractions such as illegal parking by tricycles and conversion of median walkways to parking space and setbacks by yellow taxis, car hire services, companies without parking lots, all such vehicles which were not removed after due notices, have been towed away to ensure free flow of traffic. Even on the same Ahmadu Bello Way, all those who have turned the road to a major depot for charcoal have been removed and the spaces secured with motorized KAI patrol vehicles.”

“At the entrance to the Eko Atlantic City which has been taken over by miscreants and undesirable elements who masquerade as religious worshippers, sleep and defecate on the stretch of the fence have all been dislodged and the area cleaned up through combined operations by men of the State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences, the Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and Environmental Health Officers of IruVictoria Island LCDA,” Bello stated.

He said the exercise has also provided an avenue for security agencies to dislodge criminally minded people who reside in several abandoned land spaces and buildings in areas like Ligali Ayorinde that served as brothels and drinking joints.

He reiterated that the Special Task Force is committed to carrying out the mandate of the Committee as spelt out during its inauguration by the Governor and would ensure that all environmental nuisances which dot the area are removed in a steady and systematic manner.

•Photo shows Tunji Bello.