The Lagos state government, on Sunday, sealed the Oja-Oba Market at Ile-Epo, over poor sanitary conditions and violations of waste management regulations.

The LAWMA managing director, Muyiwa Gbadegesin, on his official X handle, said the agency’s monitoring and compliance team sealed the market in a joint operation with operatives of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESCO).

According to Mr Gbadegeshin, the decision to seal the market became imperative following pictures and videos shared on July 11, 2024, by an X user, @freestuv1, showing the poor sanitary state of the market.

The post read, “I was at Ile Epo market a few days ago. This is one of the prestigious perishable food markets in Lagos. This is the current state of things. From what you can obtain from these videos, tell me why we won’t have cholera outbreak in Lagos.

“I hope the government can look into this and sanction whoever is in charge of affairs of this market. I feel disgusted seeing this level of decay at a place that should be hygiene for food storage and trading,” the user wrote.

Tagging his post and sharing pictures and videos of the sealing, Mr Gbadegeshin said, “Following complaints from concerned members of the public, particularly #Freestuv1, Oja Oba market at Ile Epo, was sealed this morning by a combined #ZeroToleranceLagos Task Force consisting of #Lawma_gov Monitoring and Compliance Team and men and women of #LAGESCOfficial.”

“This market has become notorious for very poor sanitary conditions and failure to comply with set waste management regulations,” he explained.

The LAWMA MD explained that it carried out the operation “to protect members of the public from food-borne and water-borne diseases like cholera, typhoid, dysentery, etc.”

Urging members of the public to join in protecting the state, the LAWMA boss advised them “to raise the alarm anywhere they see these kinds of poor sanitary practices by markets or other business outlets.”