By Femi Akinola
Due to continuous illegal dredging going on in Lagos State, the government has vowed to put in more stringent measures to curb illegal dredging across the state.
The State Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructural Development, Mr. Yacoob Alebiosu, disclosed this in Lagos last weekend during the ongoing 2024 Ministerial Briefing at the State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja.
According to Alebiosu, what oil is to the people of the Niger Delta area of the country is what sand is to Lagos State adding that there should be laws that will protect the sea and sand dredging in the state within the state territory.
The commissioner noted that the state government will not allow indiscriminate dredging which is hazardous even if the people of Lagos need sand for construction of roads and other infrastructures saying, “There are laws that should be adhered to.”
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He said, “What oil is to Niger-Delta is what sand is to Lagos, so it is important to have an idea of how much sand is been dragged. We don’t want to end up like Dubai for dredging all their sand and the result of that was evident with the recent downpour, we don’t want that to happen to us in Lagos.”
Alebiosu further reiterated the ministry’s commitment that laws were adhered to.
The commissioner also highlighted some of the ongoing projects and current level of work done so far.
He made mentioned of channelization project that is ongoing from Epe to Ebute-Lekki noting that this project is 90% completed while the one from Mende to Ikorodu is 20% completed.
He, however, noted that this project started late last year.
He said the ministry will continue to formulate and evaluating policies relating to waterfront infrastructure development adding that the ministry will continue to take charge on coastal zone management plan, sand dredging and others.
