Press Releases

Illegal Sand Mining: Lagos Is In Danger, Says Fashola

Feb 21, 2008 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Thursday raised alarm over the continued illegal mining of sand from the coastline of the state saying the miners were putting the state in great danger.

Fashola also ordered the stoppage of mining activities going on near the Banana Islands where an attempt is currently illegal being made to create another island.

Fielding questions from newsmen after a visit to the Goshen Estate, one of the Coastline areas of the state where illegal sand mining was going on, Fashola decried a situation where some companies would commence the illegal mining of sand and reclamation of land in parts of the state without approval from the state government.

The Governor, who said he had received a comprehensive report about illegal mining and digging of sand across the state, particularly the coastlines, declared, that anytime these illegal miners were asked who authorized them, they would say it was the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), adding, “We will not Allow this to happen. They are endangering Lagos ”.

He declared: “Across the whole world today, we see the increasing water levels. We are part of the global world. The Atlantic Ocean runs beyond our state to so many other countries”, adding that the lessons of New Orleans and Tsunami were there for all to see.

Explaining that the company was attempting to create another island close to the Banana Island, the Governor said he had already written to President Umar Musa Yar’ Adua on why the state government wants to stop the project.

“The truth is that it is very close to Parkview. Today, the whole of Ikoyi is flooding because we lost Parkview which is a natural drain of flood into the lagoon. What is left that is draining Ikoyi today is Queens Drive and that is why I say we will not allow any development in Queens Drive . It is the natural drain for flood water into the sea,” the Governor explained adding that Ikoyi was planned to drain naturally into the Lagoon.

Fashola said he would continue to engage the President on the issue, stressing, “He is a law-abiding person. He has demonstrated this severally. Lagos State is part of corporate Nigeria . I am sure if there is any danger to Lagos State , I will receive the cooperation of Mr. President. He is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and all other security forces of this country”.

He continued, “There seems to be a deliberate attempt to undermine the coastline of Lagos . It is like an army of plunderers plundering the land and waters of Lagos . This is what happened when they passed some spurious decree some years ago saying that they took 100 metres of land from the coast of Lagos . Thankfully, the judiciary stood up and set aside that decree”.

According to the Governor, “We don’t know what the problem is with Lagos lands, but I do know that all of the land in Lagos State is vested on the Governor of the state as indeed on all the governors of the 36 states of the Federation under the Land Use Act. Anybody, therefore, who purports to grant license to reclaim land from the sea, the land becomes part of the territorial land of Lagos ”.

On the implications of the illegal dredgers finding their way into the state’s waters without the knowledge of the security apparatus of the state, the Governor who said it raised a serious issue of internal security, explained, “They do all these in the nights. I have been to Okunde Waters and the Lekki Beach on this Axis of Lekki. The story is the same all the way to Badagry, to Ikorodu, our coastlines are under siege”.

The Governor expressed dismay that the boundaries of Saint Saviour’s School, an elite school located between Alexander and Gerald Road in Ikoyi on Lekki Phase 1, had been extended by the authorities of the school who have sand filled the waters around the school without the approval by the state government.

“By this, they have reduced the width of the waterway. All of these we are going to stop. I do not know who gave them the approval. I did not give any approval and these are the elites of our society. It is illegal, it must stop, the elite cannot break the laws of the state”, the Governor said.