Press Releases

Illegal Dredging Or Sandfilling To Attract 2-Year Jail Term, Or N2M Fine In Lagos

Feb 2, 2009 - Henceforth, anyone caught dredging or sand-filling in any part of Lagos State without approval by relevant authorities will be liable to a fine of N2 million or two years imprisonment or both.

Also, anyone who acts in anyway to obstruct or restrain authorized agencies of government from carrying out their lawful duties of preventing illegal dredging or sand-filling in any part of the State, is liable to a fine of N50,000 or six months imprisonment or both.

These form part of the 29 sections of a bill on regulation of Waterfront infrastructure development in Lagos State presented to and signed into law Monday by the State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN).

The Law christened “Law to provide for regulation of Waterfront Infrastructure Development in Lagos State”, also provides that the Governor under whose control and direction the law operates, has the right to rename , revoke, suspend or even transfer any operating license under the Law.

Two other bills signed into Law by the Governor include those to provide for a law to establish the Lagos State Debt Management Office and a Sales Law for Lagos State.

In his remarks shortly before accenting to the bills, Governor Fashola said the responsibility of every government was to continually review and appraise existing institutions of the State to see how well they are serving the people and whether the society has evolved in such a way that it was leaving the law behind, adding that the purpose was to always strive to bring the laws to catch up with and advance the society.

“It is important to emphasize that everything that we do in public and private life is regulated by one law or the other. How well we do them and how effectively we do them depends on how the law responds to or opportune us””, the Governor said adding that there are laws that determine every aspect of human life including how to die and burial.

Governor Fashola lamented that because of the uncontrolled exploitation of the sand and other natural resources with which the State is blessed, the blessings were now posing great danger to the lives of residents, adding that this has informed the promulgation of the law meant to regulate the exploitation of the sand and clay resources of the State.

According to the Governor, “Our objective here is to regulate the dredging and sand-filling operations in the State. There are places where it is environmentally friendly to dredge and extract sand and there are places which are no longer environmentally friendly to extract sand and these are what the law is out to protect. There are places now where we expect to start dredging to facilitate our water transportation scheme. These are places we would like to grant licenses rather than places that have been extensively dredged”.

“The law will strengthen the arm of the agency in charge and also my office” the Governor said, adding that a problem of environment anywhere was a problem of environment everywhere.

On the bill providing a Debt Management Office of the State, Governor Fashola said the signing of the bill into law would strengthen the office to render more effective service.

“The Debt Management Office Law is a law that will strengthen the financial base, financial management and financial future of the State”, the Governor said.

Earlier, while presenting the bill to the Governor, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Political and Legislative Powers Bureau, Hon. Abdulateef Abdulkareem, had explained the details of the provisions of the three bills including the penalties attached to the State’s Waterfront Infrastructure Development Law.

According to him, while the State’s Waterfront Infrastructure Development Law has 25 sections, the Debt Management Office Law has 29 sections with section one providing for the establishment of the State’s Debt Management Office while section two provides for the establishment of the State’s Debt Management Office Board.