Lagos State government at the weekend issued an immediate seal and stop work order for illegal land reclamation activities to narrow and reduce the size of the Ikota River around Partibons Homes Estate/Bee-Forth Estate Phase 2 off Orchid Road in the Lekki area of the state.
The state’s commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, gave the directive while speaking with the media after an inspection of the area, saying the illegal activities in the region are heart-wrenching because some individuals have deliberately chosen to destroy the ecosystem.
Wahab said the ministry recently received an SOS message stating that some people were aggressively reclaiming parts of the Ikota River and erecting illegal structures to sell the illicit properties to unsuspecting/innocent citizens.
He stressed that flash flooding cannot be stopped in a coastal state, especially one like Lagos, which borders the Atlantic, Lagoons, and rivers. He added that flooding can only be mitigated by implementing resilient infrastructure alongside various sustainable approaches.
“This present administration has introduced different approaches in mitigating flooding, some of which include the provision of resilient infrastructure, continuous maintenance of all drainage channels all year round by the Ministry’s EFAG team and construction of secondary collectors/primary channels statewide”, he said.
He added that some unscrupulous individuals who believe they are above the law are pushing back nature and blocking system 156/ 157, forgetting that these channels are on a coastal alignment that must discharge into the Ikota to further discharge into the Lagoon.
He said storm water discharge had been designed by nature itself, but human activities have distorted it. He said the government would not fold its hands and would allow the implications to affect the majority.
The Commissioner also visited the ongoing right-of-way restoration along the Ikota River alignment in Oral Estate II, noting that 17 units have been removed.
He recalled that the government engaged the property owners to find a win-win solution, saying it was necessary to remove the contraventions on the right of way along the Ikota River because it is the only channel supporting the Atlantic in the axis.
The Environment Commissioner, alongside his counterpart in the Ministry of Transportation, Mr Oluwaseun Osiyemi, also inspected environmental infractions along the Lekki/Epe expressway in preparation for the forthcoming Green rail line along the Corridor.
