Lagos designates the last Saturday of the month as Environmental Saturday, which is in effect from 7am-10am. During this time, residents of Lagos are expected to be cleaning their yards and beautifying their area.
Last Saturday afternoon, I was out and about, and I saw these big trucks everywhere, with the logo KAI stamped on the side. I asked our driver, Samuel, what this was all about.
Kick Against Indiscipline, more commonly known as KAI, is an environmental task force unit which monitors and enforces the environmental law in the state. According to Samuel, anyone who is caught out in the streets between 7-10am on Environmental Saturday will be arrested by KAI. I had heard this before, but I’ve never seen these trucks out in force, nor have I ever seen them in action.
The trucks go around in groups and they “clean up the streets”. All street vendors, roadside eating establishments (people frying plantains on the roadside, or selling suya, for example), etc. are being targeted by KAI. Their stalls are destroyed in front of them and loaded onto the trucks. Roadside nurseries, which sell the most beautiful plants and add to the greenery of the city, are destroyed by this task force. Pots broken and confiscated, plants torn out, it’s really quite horrific!
This is one of the Kick against Indiscipline trucks that goes around the city and collects the broken up stalls.
I’m wondering what happens to the vendors and their families. They left their villages for a reason, I’m sure. They’ve eked out a living and are obviously providing a necessary service, if we can judge by the number of people frequenting these establishments. According to Samuel, most of the support staff on Victoria Island (maids, drivers, custodians, people working in the local businesses) cannot afford to buy food in the local restaurants and therefore patronize the local food vendors. Now that they are gone, the local staff is also at a loss.
Yes, the streets are much cleaner, and I’m sure it helps with the flow of traffic, as you don’t have people just stopping to buy fruit or whatever, but what happens to these vendors? Most of them have come to the city from the villages, seeking a better life for their families, as happens in most major cities around the world. The idea here is that by destroying their livelihood, they will return to those villages.
I noticed this past Saturday that a few of the local fruit vendors are braving the streets again, though there are definitely fewer, and they are no longer on the road, but well back, almost in hiding. It will be interesting to see what happens next.
The men are all lined up, arresting people and breaking up stalls.
A roadside nursery being destroyed.
This corner used to be hard to navigate by car, but now it is free and clear.
A plethora of shops lies behind the blue wall. The blue wall is a recent addition. You used to be able to drive by and see the shops, and traffic was really bad, as people were always double-parked. The traffic definitely moves better through here, though it isn’t nearly as interesting!
savagesinafrica 
It definitely helps traffic, but it is taking away so much of the personality of the city. I am so saddened, too, for the people who earn their living this way and those people who shop with them. Where do they go? It seems so heartless.