Shanties: Lagos vows prosecution, permanent enforcement on Badagry Expressway

The Lagos State Government has said it will permanently enforce the removal of illegal makeshift and shanties on the median along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, warning that offenders who return after the ongoing clearance exercise will be prosecuted.

The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, disclosed this on Wednesday during an inspection of the exercise on the expressway.

PUNCH Online’s correspondent who monitored the exercise observed that some wooden structures that were initially erected on the median had been removed.

Officials of the state enforcement team were also seen setting fire to the wooden debris despite heavy rainfall.

Recall that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had on Saturday ordered the clearance of the median while vowing to deploy all needed resources for the exercise.

Addressing journalists, Wahab said the inspection was to determine the level of compliance with the government’s directive. He said, “We just need to see the level of compliance and the level of work that has been done based on the directive of the governor.

“We have drawn the mark on the ground. It’s a major highway. Tons of taxpayers’ money have been used to put this in place. In the past few years, we’ve been talking to them and moving them back.

“For now, the operation is once and for all to control it. Let the businesses have a setback and make the median free for all road users.”

Asked how the government intended to prevent a return of illegal occupants, Wahab replied, “We will continue to patrol and monitor every day.”

The commissioner explained that the wide median was reserved for the proposed rail line along the corridor and could not be converted to other uses.

“It’s for the rail line coming this way. That’s why it’s wide and we have to keep it free for them,” he said.

Speaking on indiscriminate waste disposal observed during the inspection, Wahab blamed residents and traders for dumping refuse on road medians, saying the practice contributed to recent flash flooding experienced in parts of the state.

He urged residents to patronise their Private Sector Participation waste operators or notify the Lagos Waste Management Authority where waste collection services were unavailable.

He said, “Keep our surroundings clean. Let us use the PSP operators. If they are not coming, call LAWMA. Inform LAWMA. Let LAWMA come and take your waste.

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“It doesn’t speak well of us for people to take waste from their homes and dump it on the median. It’s a polluter-pays policy, but some people are not even paying.”

Wahab added that the government would continue to prosecute those who violated environmental laws. “We have been prosecuting. In the past year, over 1,000 people have been prosecuted. We are not holding back.

“That is what the law provides for. Once there is a law, you must enforce it and attach consequences for bad behaviour,” he said.

Explaining the recent flooding witnessed across Lagos, the commissioner described it as flash flooding caused by heavy rainfall coinciding with high sea levels, which temporarily prevented stormwater from discharging into the lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean.

“Flash flooding is basically when the sea level is up. When it rains heavily, your stormwater cannot discharge into the lagoon or its discharge point. It will hold back for about one or two hours.

“Even after the rain stops, within one or two hours, the water will recede because nature allows it to return to the discharge point. That’s why we call it flash flooding,” he said.

He, however, noted that the government was addressing areas experiencing persistent flooding, blaming some of the problems on illegal land reclamation by land-owning families.

“There are one or two areas that have persistent flooding, and we are addressing them. One of them is Ajiran. And it is not because of the government; it is because of irresponsible land-owning families. We are calling them out.

“We are extending the drainage channels to the lagoon. Those are the issues we are addressing,” Wahab added.

Lagos State has continued to battle with environmental issues ranging from flooding, waste disposal and illegal shanties and makeshifts that challenge the megacity status of the state.

Residents and governments had continued to trade blame over some of these environmental issues.

While residents argued that the government had not done enough, the government has also attributed the issues to the unhealthy practices of the residents.