Lagos Govt Intensifies Efforts Against Flooding, Dredging Abuse

Lagos State government has intensified efforts to address flooding, regulate sand dredging, and improve the management of its waterfronts and waterways.

The state’s commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Dayo Bush-Alebiosu, who stated this in an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos, said the administration’s approach was to move beyond reacting to flooding after it occurred and instead identify the factors responsible for water accumulation and put appropriate interventions in place.

He said the success of flood management should not be judged simply by whether flooding occurred, but by how quickly floodwater drained after rainfall.

“Flooding happens everywhere. But what you should look at is how quickly the water drains. Some of these interventions should have been addressed before the problems exploded. The issue, for me, is about understanding the factors responsible and putting the right interventions in place,” he said.

The commissioner harped on the challenges confronting Lagos’ waterfronts, including sand dredging, reclamation, environmental degradation, inter-agency coordination and the need for better data to guide government decisions.

Dwelling on the urgent need for the state to have data on sand resources, Bush-Alebiosu said the state could not effectively manage its aquatic resources without knowing the quantity of sand available in its waters, where it was being dredged and where the excavated material was ultimately going.

He said accurate information was essential for determining which areas could be dredged and which needed to be left undisturbed to allow natural replenishment.

“How can we not know the amount of sand in our waters? How can we not know where the sand is going? What Lagos State has is land and water. How do we utilise them? If we cannot say, ‘This area, let us leave it. Let it replenish itself,’ you cannot do that if you do not have the necessary information,” he said.

According to him, the state is working to gather the necessary information and conduct studies to provide a scientific basis for decisions on dredging, reclamation, and waterfront development.

“That is why we need to capture everything and have the facts,” he added.

The commissioner said some of his concerns had been reinforced by what government officials had observed during inspections of areas affected by dredging and excavation activities.

He stressed that activities taking place out of sight could have serious consequences if the government lacked the capacity to monitor and document them.

“So, if we do not capture some of these things properly, what are we going to bring to the table? We are already on top of it. We are putting the necessary information together,” he explained.

While pointing out that dredging is causing environmental and infrastructure damage in the state, Bush-Alebiosu expressed concern over what he described as damaging practices by some sand-mining and dredging operators.

He cited areas around the Lagos airport where extensive excavation had created large craters and left significant portions of land degraded.

According to him, government officials used a drone to survey an area extending several kilometres within the airport grounds and to assess the extent of the excavation.

“I don’t know the last time you were at the Lagos airport. There is a huge expanse of land designated for that purpose.

“We used a drone that went as far as five kilometres ahead of us within the airport area, and what we saw was quite disturbing. Today, we have craters and areas that have been dug up,” he lamented.

Bush-Alebiosu explained that sand excavation involved different soil layers, each with a specific purpose and requiring proper handling after excavation.