Informal workers have cautioned Lagos State government to stop its recent attacks on working people, their livelihoods and their communities.

The workers, under the umbrella of the Federation of Informal Workers’ Organisations of Nigeria (FIWON) demanded for a reverse of actions on the recent destruction of 24 waterfront communities and what it considered whimsical ban on Okada and Keke operators in the state, staring from February 1, 2020.

General secretary of FIWON, Gbenga Komolafe, at a media briefing, said 24 communities, mostly in Amuwo Odofin Local Government as well as the Ibeju Lekki Local Government Area of the state have been levelled, leaving thousands of families homeless by a government that swore to provide basic security for them.

“Not only have homes and ancestral landmarks and monuments been destroyed, thousands of livelihoods providing basic subsistence to the residents of these communities have also been destroyed at a time that so many Nigerians are suffering the consequences of mass unemployment. Thousands of children can longer go to school because their schools have been leveled,” he said.

He noted that the reason given for the demolition, that the residents have been engaged in illegal, criminal activities such as oil bunkering and vandalism of NNPC pipelines were baseless as that would not be the first time such would happened.

He lamented that in the past several communities and mechanics’ workshops have been destroyed without any plan in place for resettlement and rehabilitation of innocent people, including the elderly, women and children.