Residents and shop
owners in Solomon  Grace area of Abule Egba, Lagos have accused the private sector participant in waste evacuation assigned to the area by the Lagos Waste Management Authority of locking up their shops in contravention of  laid down regulations.
Some of the people, said their  shops were locked for several days because they failed to pay the required  service  charge to the PSP Operator.  Oye Balogum Enterprises.
Mrs. Florence  Adegothe, one of the affected shop owners, told our correspondent on that day, she got to her shop early for the day’s  business but was later ordered out by men who claimed  to have to collect the money for the refuse dispose for the previous month.
She said, “I opened my shop by 7 am that Monday that some men came and just chased me out  of the shop and locked it with a padlocked, while I stood by and watched.
“The shop was left that way for three days until I was able to pay the money. I sell yam, potatoes and vegetables, and by the time they opened the shop, all my goods, especially the vegetables, were rotten. I owed them N3,200 but I was  made to pay an extra N500 to get the key to open my shop”, she added.
The residents said they had earlier  been served a notice indicating an increase in the monthly service charge from N200 to N300.
“Some of us on ground here don’t generate refuse, so, I really  don’t know what we are paying for or why the money was increased”, Mr. Fatai Oguntade, told our correspondent.
He claimed to have also met a padlock on his  door that day and  was only able to gain access to the shop  after  he was  made to pay the N2,400 debt  and an extra  N500 for defaulting into the company’s  account  with a first generation  bank.