Lagos Government D£molishes 17 Houses In Ikota, Vows To Prosecute Developers
Wahab said the ministry had received reports months earlier about illegal reclamation activities aimed at narrowing the river’s RoW.
The Lagos State government on Saturday demolished no fewer than 17 houses illegally built on the Right of Way (RoW) of the Ikota River alignment in the Lekki area of the state.
The state’s Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, led a monitoring and enforcement team — accompanied by journalists — to the demolition site, warning residents against actions that destroy the environment and obstruct natural water channels.
Wahab said the ministry had received reports months earlier about illegal reclamation activities aimed at narrowing the river’s RoW.
“We stopped them then, but we were alerted again recently that the encroachment had resumed aggressively, with attempts to sell to unsuspecting buyers,” Wahab said.
He noted that the latest demolition was part of a broader effort to reclaim and protect flood-prone areas of the state, stressing that those behind the illegal developments would be identified and prosecuted.
Recovered evidence from the site showed several ongoing reclamation projects, sand-filling operations, and partially completed structures built directly on the natural water channel.
Wahab condemned such activities, warning that “nature would always retaliate against human negligence and unlawful reclamation.”
The commissioner explained that while Lagos, being a coastal state surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, lagoons, and rivers, cannot completely avoid flooding, the government was investing heavily in resilient infrastructure to mitigate its impact.
“What we can do is mitigate its impact through resilient infrastructure, which Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has continued to provide and maintain,” he said.
Wahab cited property No. 156 as a major obstruction to the coastal road alignment, saying it blocked the natural flow of the Ikota channel and would be completely cleared to ensure free discharge of stormwater into the Lagos Lagoon.
He added that demolition was not always the state’s first option, but that some developers ignored repeated warnings and refused to implement approved stormwater discharge plans.
Sometimes, we ask developers to produce practical designs for stormwater discharge, but they must bear the cost, not taxpayers,” Wahab said, describing it as “irresponsible for government to fix problems created by private individuals who profit from violating environmental regulations.”
During an inspection of the Lekki–Epe corridor, Wahab also decried the massive encroachment on wetlands, which serve as natural buffers to retain excess water during rainfall.
He disclosed that drone surveillance had exposed extensive damage to the wetland corridor, where coconut trees originally planted to stabilise the soil had been destroyed by illegal developers.
According to him, enforcement notices were issued to violators on September 26, ahead of planned transport infrastructure works along the same route.
The exercise, he added, was also meant to synchronise environmental protection efforts with the Ministry of Transport’s Green Line Rail Project.
Speaking during the joint inspection, the Commissioner for Transport, Oluwaseun Osiyemi, said the Green Line project — which will run from Marina to Epe — would commence in December 2025 after stakeholder consultations and feasibility studies.
He added that some car dealers, initially given temporary permits to use power line spaces, had violated the terms by building permanent structures on wetlands.
“As a state, we must enforce compliance and protect the environment while accommodating transport development,” Osiyemi said.
The inspection team also visited Chevron Gate off Orchid Road, Partibon Homes, Oral Extension Phase 2, and Park View in Ikoyi, where multiple environmental violations were discovered.
