NIGERIA (Kaduna) –The government of Kaduna State has issued a one-week evacuation ultimatum to street hawkers in the state capital.

Disclosing this, the General Manager, Kaduna Environmental Protection Authority, Alhaji Sani Aminu, said on Monday that the government would stop at nothing in putting an end to street hawking and abuse on the environment.

He said that the agency would no longer tolerate such environmental abuses which was costing the state so much of tax payers’ money.

“We are overwhelmed by the tonnes of refuse gathered from the streets of which between 60 to 70 per cent emanates from the activities of hawkers in various locations in the metropolis.

“The government is out to enforce all environmental laws, since the state is not a jungle where anybody does what he or she likes,” he said.

According to him, if the state is free from hawkers, the degree of crime shall reduce drastically because “some of the hawkers are into crime under the pretence of selling products.”

He cited areas where hoodlums disguised as traders and hawkers to include Independence way, Ahmadu Bello way and Station roundabout, all in Kaduna.

He warned that any erring hawker shall be prosecuted when caught.