INSIDE LAGOS UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL

Are you going to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos State as patient? Please buy your Standing fan, take your mat, carry your water and if possible go along with your generator set for these facilities are not there EMEKA IBEMERE, reports

For Chinedu Bosah, whose mother, the late Mrs. Rose Bosah, 1947-2013, died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos State, the hospital is a ghost of its former self.

Chinedu, ardent believer in Abacha’s infamous statement: ‘Nigerian Hospitals are mere consulting clinics,’ said years after that coup speech; LUTH is still on that condition. But why is Chinedu referring the famous LUTH, in disdain metaphor- LUTH contributed to the death of her mother due to the lackluster medical attention going on at the LUTH. The late Mrs. Rose Bosah was buried on Saturday March 30, 2013 at her family’s compound at her home town at Okpanam in Delta state.

“My mother died at the hospital at about 4am of infective CVD, so the hospital staff said. This unfortunate incident precisely took place at Ward A4 of female medical at 4am on Sunday 23 2012. The family was astonished at the death of our mother because two of the consultants had said that my mother could be discharged as soon as the test results are out since her condition had improved and we were hopeful that on Monday Dec. 24, she would go home”.

Chinedu Bosah stated in her petition which is available to Newswatch Daily.

Daily Newswatch gathered that Chinedu’s mother had been receiving treatment at LUTH for several months but was not admitted until Tuesday December 18, 2012, when she became unconscious and was rushed to LUTH.

For three years late Bosah was receiving treatment for ulcer and managing hypertension. She was allegedly admitted into the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E), where her condition was stabilized. She regained consciousness the next day but the neglect of patients at the LUTH was very unbearable.

According to Chinedu, the doctors recommended several laboratory tests which were to be conducted and amongst the tests were CT scan, Chest X-ray PA, and ECG etc.  He said he was astonished to discover that LUTH could not conduct a CT scan. He was told that the machine was not working. He was directed to a Foremost Radiology Consultants Ltd situated at No 50 Ogunlana Drive, Surulere where he actually did the CT scan at a cost of N35, 000 and Chest X-ray PA for N2, 200 on Thursday December 20, 2012.

Chinedu said he left that laboratory that day with one question continued to disagree with what he experienced on that day.

“One question that readily comes to mind is how come hospital as big as LUTH fails to have a functional Laboratory/Radio diagnosis Department while one man, Mr. Adeyemoye A.A.O whom I was told is a consultant to LUTH could have a more functional Radio diagnosis that can run CT scan”? However, Chinedu’s mother eventually did endoscopic test last year at a private establishment located at Ojuelegba when LUTH could not carry out such test.

“Is it not a case of deliberately undermining the public hospital vis-à-vis sabotage which profit private establishments who are in one way or the other linked to LUTH top management; or is it a failure of top public officials while LUTH’s top management remains lackadaisical”? Chinedu queried. Chinedu disclosed to our correspondent that the private establishments pay commission to any doctor that refers patient to their laboratories. 

Our source also stated that when her mother was transferred to ward A4 on the recommendation of the medical officials, on Thursday Dec. 20 at about 7 pm., it was difficult moving her mother to Ogunlana Drive and back to Ward A4 since she could not walk because she was very weak.

“Neither porter nor wheel chair was readily available; hence we were forced to carry our mother to the waiting cab outside. When we came back from Ogulana Drive and got to the ground floor of Ward A4, the elevator attendant told us that we cannot use the elevator because the light cannot power the elevator and again, I had to carry my mum on my arms to the 3^rd floor, an act that was uncomfortable for her because she was wearing urinary catheter”, Chinedu added.

“First, we got to Ward A3, we where redirected to Ward A4. When we got to Ward A4, there was no bed sheet, pillow sheet and mosquito net. We bought mosquito net while Ward A3 nurses obliged us with a bed sheet”.

According to Chinedu, lack of facilities and adequate personnel were also evident at Ward A4. Two nurses serve four bays in Ward A4 with over 20 patients between night time and day break. It would be recalled that the World Health Organization (WHO)’s standard is one nurse to four patients.

Aside lack of adequate personnel at LUTH, scarcity of water for patients and relatives to take their bath is also a problem. Patients resort in buying bags of sachet water popularly known as pure water to serve several purposes. Candle marketers at the shops littered roundabout LUTH are making brisk business.

“In actual fact, we bought bags of pure water to enable my mum take her bath on the morning of Friday December 21, 2012”. The toilet at Ward A4 is also dirty and lack basic facilities. In some cases, the wards are so stuffy, particularly when there is no electricity; hence some patients or their relatives resort to buying their own standing fans. A visitor at the loo is confronted with stagnant dirty water on the floor and the toilet very unkempt. The condition of lavatory at the A&E department could best be described as filthy.

A situation where two nurses are allowed to take care of 20 patients will overwhelm them and this explains why small buckets are placed under the bed of every patient so that the patients whether capable or incapable could help themselves when passing out excrement without resorting to assistance from the nurses.

“My mother fell from the small bucket while passing out feces; apparently she was weak, then fell and died. At no cost to LUTH, the family requested that one of her sons who is currently a student nurse at LUTH should stay by the side of my late mum all through the night like it was at the A&E ward, the nurses on duty refused. We were always keeping an eye on her all round the clock because of her health condition in order to assist her with all her needs including taking her to the toilet, bathroom, watching her health and reporting her health conditions to the nurses and doctors. These, the nurses and doctors could not do and yet they insisted that the hospital management have a policy that prohibits a relative staying at the wards at certain period of the day, particularly all through the night. Why would LUTH management introduce a policy that is inimical to the patients, particularly the ones that are so weak and needs all round-the-clock care that the hospital cannot give”?

According to Chinedu, when the results of CT scan and Chest X-ray PA the mother did on Thursday Dec. 20, 2012 came out on Friday Dec. 21, 2012,  for proper analysis, interpretation and prescription. It was gathered that the junior doctor (House Officer) on duty had no capacity to prescribe drugs based on the result, hence she did not prescribe.

He said one option confronting them then was for the consultant to come and interpret the results and prescribe drugs. But the consultant was nowhere to be found, he said.

 “The consultant (senior doctor) attending to my late mother will only be available on Monday Dec. 24, 2012 so we were told. So, it was to take about 72 for a competent doctor to carry out the required job! From my own observation it appears the senior doctors come to see patients in the morning from Monday to Friday. After the routine morning visit that would last for about 1 hour, the next visit will be the next day. Besides, the routine morning visit is used to attend to the patients and also serve as avenue to groom the upcoming doctors. Besides, most of these senior doctors do this routine morning duty and subsequently retire to their own private hospitals”. He queried.

“My question is that why would a hospital as big as LUTH lack adequate capable hands after morning routines and could not be seen on weekends? Had the senior doctors prescribed drugs immediately the results were out, there would have been higher chances of my mother surviving. It appears the hospital management and most key workers do not care if patients left under their care die; hence there is lukewarm attitude towards patients. It explains why the matron of Ward 4 on the day my mother died boosted that her husband died in the same LUTH”.

Chinedu disclosed that in Ward 4 alone, all the three female patients including his late mother transferred from emergency ward between Dec 20 and 21 2012 died.  Our source revealed that his late mother was transferred to Ward 4 on December 20, 2012 and she died on December 23 2012; Late Mrs. Florence who was suffering from diabetes and transferred to Ward 4 on December 21, 2012 also died on December 28, 2012; while Late Mrs. Beauty Uba, who was suffering from hypotension and transferred to Ward 4 on December 21, 2012, equally died on January 4, 2013. Hence, LUTH was unable to salvage the lives of all the three patients.

“I can’t imagine how many patients die every day! I submit that there is high degree of negligence and inefficiency at LUTH, which are responsible for many avoidable deaths”, Chinedu stated.

“I analyzed my observations and experience of LUTH bothering on lack of facilities and adequate man power in a letter dated January 31, 2013 and submitted it to the Prof. Akin Osibogun, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), on the same day as dated. He called me on phone the next day Friday, February, 2013 and promised to investigate the circumstances of my mother’s death. Like most government appointees who are never responsible to the people they serve, he never got back to me. All subsequent calls put through to Prof Osibogun were rebuffed and only on two occasions, his so called Personal Assistant answered and stated that his boss was very busy. In fact, in the same conversation I had with the CMD, he was defending the government and blaming private sector for not investing in teaching hospitals to be able to meet the growing demand. Though, being appointed by the federal government, I don’t expect less in the same way I don’t expect anything different from politicians benefiting the present rot. The question that readily comes to mind is that, is it private sector that will teach Prof. Osibogun how to keep toilet clean or make water and light available at all times just to mention a few”?  Investigation revealed that   it was extremely difficult for LUTH to care for patients with serious ailments; let alone heal them considering its state of facilities and personnel at disposal.

“This is why the rich and politicians travel abroad to get treatment at the best hospitals in the world at the expense of the public while public hospitals in Nigeria are abandoned to rot away. It is estimated that privileged Nigerians spend over $500 million (N80 billion) every year to treat one ailment or the other in foreign hospitals”, he reasoned. 

Chinedu said the LUTH management and relevant government officials in the health ministry should put in place basic facilities and adequate number of well trained personnel to be able to render qualitative health care service delivery to all those in need of it.

“This in my view will abolish avoidable deaths at LUTH and by extension should be replicated in all other public hospitals. One major problem aside inadequate funding and the reason why virtually all public corporations collapse is the undemocratic manner they are run”, he said.

“For instance, the management of LUTH is never accountable to workers and the entire public, not even workers are aware of how resources, either generated internally or allocated to it by the government are utilized, let alone managed, a situation that gives room to arbitrariness, mismanagement and embezzlement. I am also demanding democratic control of LUTH and other public hospitals such that workers/experts of different departments and representatives of the communities are elected into a committee to transparently manage them to forestall pilfering, looting, mismanagement and sabotage. This is the only way resources (man and material) will be best utilized in the overall public interest”.

Hell in Nigerian Prisons: Lagos-based rights activist blames police, lawyers, judges, others for congestion in prisons

EMEKA IBEMERE

In the eye of the international community, Nigerian government is one of the countries in the world with poor human right abuses.  This is because it has failed to meet up with its national and international obligations in the area of criminal justice system.

Despite several presidential commissions and committees that have recommended urgent reform of the Nigerian prisons in the in the past years, a number of Nigerian inmates are still languishing in jail without trial across the country.

Even with the lion share budgets earmarked for the Internal Affairs and Justice Ministries for the reform of the Nigerian prison service, the result is yet to be achieved due to the lopsided administration and sloppy justice structure in the prisons across the nation.

Since coming into power as Minister for Justice, Mohammed Adoke hasn’t deemed it necessary to visit any known prison for the on-the-spot assessment of the Nigerian prisons across the country and even feel the pulse of inmates who are still awaiting trial for close to 20 years.

Today, the Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Apapa, Lagos is filled with inmates whose human rights are systematically abused and violated. Roughly 80 percent of the inmates are on awaiting trial, most of whom have been waiting for their trials for 15 years. For instance, at the Maximum Security Prison, Kirikiri, Apapa, Lagos, over 200 inmates are on hold-on charges while at the Medium Security Prison, Kirikiri, 58 inmates are the awaiting Director of Public Prosecution’s advice list since 2008.

Investigation showed that the longest inmate on awaiting trail is one Sule Sanni with serial number C163. He was charged with murder and is, therefore, facing his charges at the Magistrate Court 1, Yaba. He was arraigned on January 8, 1999. Sanni’s charge number is A/1/99. He has been in prison for 11 years without trail after the first adjourned case.

Sharing the same fate with Sanni are three other inmates: Lookman Ajala, (10 years); Victor Akpan, (10 years); Wasiu Ajayi, (9 years); Abayomi Makinde, (8 years); Kingsley Ogbakpa, (8 years) and James Okoro (7years), respectively.

Shockingly, Daily Newswatch investigation further revealed that some had been buried and forgotten by family members on the grounds that they are dead, but are still in detention cells.

There are others who have been on awaiting trial for between four and six years. The least are the inmates on three years awaiting trial. Most of the offences allegedly committed by the inmates range from robbery, murder, unlawful possession of firearms, human skull, possession of double-barrel guns and other sundry crimes.

These cases are at the Magistrate courts sitting at Tinubu, Igbosere, Ogba, Ebutte-Metta, Tapa, Isolo, Ejigbo, Ikeja, and Airport, all in Lagos areas.

 At the Medium Security Prison, about 35 inmates are languishing without knowing the day of their trails. Out of this number, 33 have already spent three years waiting for trial.  

Their offences range from robbery and illegal possession of firearms. Investigations by our correspondent revealed that in Kirikiri Maximum Prison, 600 are on Awaiting Trial Men (ATM); 74 inmates are on life sentences; 110 have been convicted and 75 condemned to death.

It was gathered that those on death row have been waiting the hangman’s noose since 10 years, while the convicted criminals and 74 inmates on life sentences are rotting away without any proper attention.

The 600 on the waiting list don’t even know when their cases will be heard for the first time.

The whole scenario, according to a prison source, is a fraud. Before his suspension in the wake of the April polls in 2011, the then Minister for Interior, Navy Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho, had, shortly after being sworn-in, toured the Medium Security Prison in Kuje and Abuja, where he found many unfinished projects and demanded action. He also assured that his Ministry would work with in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice to speed up the trials of over 30,000 prison inmates that were on awaiting trial. This, according to him, was to allow for the release of inmates who had not been tried after three or more years in detention.

But that project seems to have gone with the sacking of Iheanacho, thereby dashing the fate of the inmates.

“Adoke and Abba Boro have not considered it necessary to take up that challenge. No wonder, the Boko Haram sect has taken up the challenge by releasing inmates in some Nigerian prisons”, says Onyeanuforo Chinedu, a social worker and deacon.

Also, in an exclusive interview with Giwa-Amu Igbono, a lawyer and a senior partner, Stephen and Solomon Foundation, a prison ministry of the Knights of St. Mulumba, Lekki Sub-Council, the reason why Kirikiri Maximum Prison and other prisons in Nigeria have continued to play host to so many inmates on awaiting trails are because of the poor legal assistance given to inmates by lawyers.

 Amu, whose chambers is devoted to ensuring that oppressed people who have been denied justice and their fundamental Human Rights are set free, further blamed his colleagues in the legal profession for taking up matters most of the times for pecuniary motives without having the freedom or liberty of their clients at heart.

 He also disclosed that his chambers had so far succeeded in securing the release of 3000 inmates from various prisons across the country.

“There are many reasons why so many inmates are awaiting trails. The blame must berth in the legal profession. My colleagues take up matters, where their primary interests are merely for pecuniary reasons. They are not interested in the freedom or liberty of their clients. That is why we have people we call “charge and bail. They are just interested in getting the defendants out on bail.

 “The fact that the government is not sincere with the decongestion of the prisons is disappointing. Also, it is disappointing that all the fines payable upon conviction go to the state governments, while the maintenance of prisons is borne by the federal government.”

It was gathered that due to paucity of funds, most of the cases last so long, as the maintenance of prisons are borne by a body that does not benefit from the fine payable. The state governments do not care how many people are in detention because their interests are financial and economic.

It was also revealed that some Magistrate courts are part of the problems of those on awaiting trails.

 Giwa-Amu revealed that the habit of judges absenting themselves from courts on flimsy excuses is another problem.

It was also gathered that some of the magistrates either engage in unnecessary oversea trips or come to courts complaining of headaches. Some even went on shopping sprees or selling assorted items, instead of looking at some of the cases they have at hand.

According to a reliable judicial source, there is the problem of the judiciary itself. Some of these judicial officers, particularly Magistrates, act capriciously in the daily administration of their own courts, thereby frustrating the trial of these detainees.

 Giwa-Amu disclosed that some of the magistrates give too stringent bail conditions, making it impossible for the victims to be granted bail due to the inability to meet some of the conditions.

He said the only way to nip in the bud the case of prison congestion is for the Deputy Chief Registrar (DCR) to enunciate some proactive measures that will bring about evoking its supervisory power over the magistrates.

Investigations also showed that most of the people in Kirikiri prisons are too poor to pay lawyers and only one out of seven of them has private legal representation.

Talking about those condemned to death but are yet to be executed, Giwa-Amu said, “Let’s talk about the present political atmosphere; no governor has had the courage to sign a death warrant for these people to be executed.

“Also, some of these cases are on appeal. You cannot go and hang a man whose case is still in the Court of Appeal. Even if the appeal is frivolous, vexatious and empty of substance, you will allow the highest court of the land to give its final judgment. So, there are some cases that are on appeal and there are even cases that have gone to the Supreme Court, where it has been confirmed that the person should die by hanging. But the present political era has not given any governor the courage to sign the death warrant.”

According to him, apart from it being political, the wind of change internationally now doesn’t look at punishment by death as a way out of the most grievous offences committed.

“Everybody is shifting away from death penalty to life sentences as the maximum punishment for any of offence. I think the government of the day is tilting towards that direction. In spite of that, their decision not to sign the death warrant is leading to the congestion of prisons. It is not these people that cause the congestion of prisons, but those on awaiting trials because they are more in number,” he quipped.

Amnesty International, while working on the prison system, exposed the gory state of Nigeria's prison system, saying that Nigeria's prisons are filled with people whose human rights are being systematically violated.

According to Amnesty International in February 2008, the criminal justice system is utterly failing the Nigerian people, adding that it is a mere "conveyor belt of injustice from beginning to end."

It was discovered that about 75 percent of prison inmates have never been convicted of any crime, with some awaiting trial for more than 10 to 11 years. One in seven awaiting trial has no access to private legal representation while there are only 91 legal aid lawyers working in the country.

Investigation revealed that Kirikiri prison is overcrowded and there are quite disheartening tales of the prison conditions, a situation that damage both the mental and physical health of the inmates.

According to the organization’s report, torture by police is also routine and widespread, with "confessions" extracted by torture often used as evidence in trials.

"The problems in Nigeria's criminal justice system, especially its prisons, are so blatant and egregious that the Nigerian government has had no choice but to recognize them. It has pledged many times that it will reform the system,” the organization claimed.

Amnesty International said that many inmates awaiting trial were effectively presumed guilty, despite the fact that there was little evidence of their involvement in the crimes they were accused of.

The organization, while x-raying the conditions of the inmates, also revealed how people not suspected of committing any crime were imprisoned along with convicted criminals. The report said that some were arrested in place of family members that the police could not locate; others suffered from mental illness and were brought to prison by families unable or unwilling to take care of them.

The report further showed the many could not afford the services of lawyers. Some cases take so long to get to court by the police because they always complain about logistics and unavailability of means of transportation to take the inmates to court.

A prison staff, who spoke under anonymity, told Daily Newswatch that the conditions in Nigeria prisons were far below  the UN standards for the treatment of prisoners.

 Checks at the Kirikiri showed that inmates sleep two to a bed or on the floor in their dingy cells. Toilets are blocked and overflowing or simply non-existent; and there is no running water, a situation that is responsible for why many of the inmates have contracted different diseases.

Efforts by Daily Newswatch to speak with the Lagos Prison Service Public Relations Officer were unsuccessful as calls made to his GSM line were not picked.

Group tackles KAI officials over harassment

Today, if you ask an average trader in Lagos State who constitutes a greater nightmare between the members of the Nigeria Police and the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) Brigade, he or she will definitely waste no time in pointing at the latter. And the reason is not far-fetched. It is generally believed that the organization’s existence has become a torn in the flesh of traders in Lagos State, given that they now act in total violation of the Statutory Act setting them up.  

Thirteen years after the establishment of the KAI Brigade in Lagos State, the officers, instead of maintaining law and order, are now law unto themselves.

Last Saturday, a bloody clash between members of the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) and the KAI Brigade was averted by providence, when the KAI officials allegedly attacked the SPN members at Oshodi while distributing leaflets, which the Brigade considered offensive to the state.

It was gathered that the leaflets were critical to the anti-poor policies of the Action Congress of Nigeria( ACN) government in Lagos as well as the misrule of other political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The group said the attack on her members took place when they were distributing leaflets, manifesto, constitution and Socialist Democracy, a bi-monthly newspaper of the Party, and were interacting with people on the streets.

In a petition dated June 28, 2013 and made available to Daily Newswatch, Chinedu Bosah, the Lagos State Protean Chairman, said, “After an hour that we had set the stand, officials of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) became angry, having discovered that the materials we were circulating was critical of the ACN and Lagos State government. They claimed we were supposed to get permit from the Lagos State government before setting up a stall and sharing the leaflets. But we countered them. They ordered us to leave and threatened to disrupt our stall. Luckily, we had already started rounding off the activities when they came. Otherwise, we would have called their bluff. We, however, still challenged their authority to prevent circulation of leaflets in Oshodi or elsewhere in Lagos.”

He further stated that the officials of KAI, after leaving their stand, went on to start hurling loaves of bread from under the table of a newspaper vendor.

This, according to him, was after the KAI officers had pounced on a bread vendor and carried away her tray containing loaves of bread.

“It was a sigh of pity for the poor victims, though not a shocking scene to the people around. The KAI operatives under the cover of enforcement of some obnoxious, anti-poor environmental law harass traders and loot their wares on a daily basis,” he disclosed.       

According to the group, KAI officers seem to have abandoned their primary assignments and have become thugs in the hands of some politicians

 “In between elections, KAI operatives harass poor traders and hawkers and confiscate their wares, which are shared amongst themselves. It is a case of the Lagos State government recruiting the poorest in the society and setting them against other poor people.

 “No doubt, the activities of KAI have become more vicious, authoritarian and criminal in the last six years. All kinds of crudity and absurdity are embedded in KAI activities. They embark on forceful arrest and sometimes subject their victims to crude and undemocratic trials. For instance, poor traders, hawkers and beggars are usually arraigned before a mobile court for trial without fair trial and are instantly sentenced to prison or are fined,” the petition further stated.

SPN decried the activities of KAI, which takes place every day on the streets of Lagos State, as they arrest and put people on trial under kangaroo court system.

The group said people are usually never given opportunities to defend themselves or prepare their defense before they are summarily sentenced.

“This shows how crude, undemocratic and anti-poor the Fashola-led ACN government is, despite its pretences, tokenism and grandstanding.

“These KAI operatives don’t restrict their activities to stealing and hooliganism; they also kill. As reported in the PM newspaper of January 20, 2012, two KAI officials (Taiwo Fashola, 52 and Musiliu Ismaila, 45) and others were alleged to have killed one 24-year-old Okaja Ahamefula, a street trader, on 28 August, 2011,” the petition also revealed.

The SPN, in their petition, called for urgent end to the harassment, attacks, undemocratic and crude arraignment of innocent poor people of Lagos State before what it called a “black market court”.

 “We are equally also demanding the scrapping of KAI operation in Lagos,” Bosah quipped.

Investigation showed that the Brigade before now had been orderly under Mr. Kehinde Oyenuga, a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, who was appointed as the first Marshal General of the Brigade.

When his appointment was terminated in 2004, he was succeeded by Navy Commando Femi Lawson and Captain Danjuma Maigeri( rtd.) was appointed as the deputy, KAI Marshal General, to Lawson during the period.

 Lawson left office as the KAI Marshal General in 2005 and his then deputy, Maigeri, was appointed the KAI Marshal General to succeed him.

Daily Newswatch gathered that the Brigade was later disbanded by the then governor of Lagos State, His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in October 2004 and the current KAI Brigade was re-lunched   on August 1, 2005 by the same governor.  Maigeri was appointed as the KAI Marshal General (KMG).

There are grievous allegations against KAI Brigade, the law enforcement unit of the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment. The group has been accused of auctioning of items allegedly confiscated from traders operating illegally in parts of the state.

 The auction, which normally holds at the Headquarters of the Brigade, is being allegedly handled by licensed auctioneers and attended by a large number of members of the public who were interested in buying the items. But it was learnt that some of the items are usually bought by the officials.

  According to the officials, the exercise is in compliance with the directive of the governor of the state, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, through the Commissioner of the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, that all the goods confiscated by the KAI Magistrate court be auctioned six months after judgment had been delivered.

 Most of the confiscated items usually auctioned are electronics such as standing fans, pressing irons, CD players, TV sets, clothes, shoes, phones, carpets and generating sets, amongst others.

KAI Brigade has, in the past years, demolished and sacked illegal street traders and hawkers at Obalende, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki areas of Lagos.

Over 5000 traders have been arrested by the Brigade since its inception in 2003 while the Brigade has also carried out actions at Obalende; Awolowo Road; Falomo under Bridge and on top of the Bridge; Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi; Ahmadu Bello Road; Ozumba Mbadiwe; Akin-Adesola; Adeola Odeku and Adetokunbo Ademola, all in Victoria Island. Even so, virtually all the mainland areas have fallen under the shooting pains of KAI.

The arrested traders have been charged to the mobile magistrate court. While some Lagos residents expressed appreciation to KAI for sanitizing some areas, many equally saw the organization as machinery of under-development.

 It was established on November 3, 2003 by the then governor of the State Asiwaju Bola Hamed Tinubu.

The Brigade was established to enforce effect change of attitude and promote clean and hygienic culture among the people of Lagos State; oversee the environmental sanitation law of Lagos State.

Among their responsibilities was to ensure that the state is kept clean by eliminating indiscriminate dumping of refuse in unauthorized places and eliminating all forms of street- trading and hawking.

Also, they were to see that vegetal nuisances and overgrown weeds around premises were weeded out; stop open defecation and urination in public places and kick against illegal buildings or structures on drainage alignments, road setbacks and verges, among other forms of environmental hazards.