The Lagos state governor, Mr. Babatunde fashola has vowed that the state government will take very stern measures towards checking the activities of sand miners along the Badagry waterways.
The governor made this known while visiting the Ajido community of Badagry, where he condemned the spate of illegal sand mining along the Badagry waterways. He noted that the activities could aggravate flood disasters in the area and expose the entire state to grave situation.
“This is an extremely very dangerous business. Nobody should continue in this kind of business and we are determined to put a stop to it”, the governor emphasized.
According to the governor, peolpe have dug almost four to five metres into the Atlantic ocean, along the coastal area of Badagry, which will endanger the environment to erosion and other forms of environmental degradation.
He said the law enforcement agencies “will act” adding his administration will set up a multi-agency collaboration to address the illegal mining. “We will have multi-disciplinary and multi- agency collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure and the Lagos State Water Ways Authority and we will put an end to this.”
The governor also gave strong warnings to the local leaders in the community saying “here we have leaders and all sorts of representatives, we have traditional rulers. One expects that the leaders of those communities will rise up and stop this.” “So it is a call for community action because the people who are doing this very illegal business, this very dangerous business are not aliens, they are members of the community here from Ajido to Badagry. “
The governor described the waterways stretching from Badagry to Epe as “God’s gift to Lagos with a Peninsular in between, a lagoon at the back and the Atlantic in front”, adding that it is coastline that many people wish for.
He noted that the State Government is still trying to battle with vessels that are grounding ashore on the eastern side of the waterways-Ibeju-Lekki-as a result of the ravages of erosion on the land. “On my way here this morning alone, I counted 15 ships that have lost anchor, damaging our coastline” Mr Fashola lamented.
“Now as if that is not bad enough, we have come here now and we see that this place is a calmer area and not really yet subject to that devastation of nature, climate change and global warming, but the people themselves are the ones now devastating it, digging with all those little canoes and they have dug in some places almost four to five metres to the Atlantic. Now that is a danger waiting to happen”, he said.