The video below went viral yesterday and it shows some men who arrested a driver because his vehicle had an Ekiti State branded waste basket. The people, who claimed to be officials of the Lagos State Government, claimed that the driver had committed an offence because he did not have a Lagos State branded waste basket.

The driver asked if he could buy a waste basket from the market, but the officials replied that he had to have a Lagos State branded waste basket because his vehicle is registered in Lagos State. The officials said that the man had to pay ₦3,500 for an authorisation form in addition to buying the Lagos State branded waste basket.

Some of the officials were wearing a green uniform, but the uniform did not look like that of any agency that I can recognise. See the video below.

The Lagos State Government has now disowned the officials. Here is a statement from the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA).

LASEPA @LasepaOfficial

PRESS STATEMENT! LASG DISOWNS CONTENTS OF VIRAL VIDEO ON SALE OF BRANDED WASTE BASKETS
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The Lagos State Government on Thursday disowned the contents of a viral video where some uniformed impostors were promoting the sale of a branded waste basket purporting to be from the State.
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In a statement signed by the State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello, he stated that all the characters in the viral video are fraudsters who do not represent the State Government or any of its agencies.
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Bello affirmed that there is no unit or agency under the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources that goes by the name “LAGOS STATE VEHICLE WASTE BASKET (LAVWAB) ENFORCEMENT/COMPLIANCE” as portrayed in the branded vehicle which the fraudsters operated from.
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He added that the dubious intent of the criminals in the video could be deduced from the fact that they operated from inside a van in an automobile workshop and were very dodgy about the kind of enforcement exercise they were purportedly carrying out.
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He explained that while the State Government had always encouraged all buses, trucks and articulated vehicles to provide waste baskets in their vehicles to encourage people not to litter the roads and streets; it has never prescribed any branded waste basket.
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The Commissioner said the development has been communicated to security agents to spread their dragnets towards apprehending the criminals and their cohorts wherever they operated from and bring them to book.
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Bello enjoined members of the public to report any incident of anyone purporting to representing the State Government and coercing them to purchase any particular brand of waste baskets to be placed in their vehicles
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The Commissioner encouraged owners and operators of buses, trucks and articulated vehicles in the State to continue to provide waste baskets of their choice in their vehicles as part of efforts to discourage littering and promote a culture of proper waste disposal.   
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Signed Kunle Adeshina Director, Public Affairs MOE&WR End.
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