By Mohammed Adekola
Lagos State Government has warned against developing wetland bordering Magodo Phase II to prevent heavy flooding.
The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, gave the warning on an inspection tour of some areas to assess the level of compliance with demolition exercises.
Wahab warned that developing the wetland will be disastrous and detrimental to everyone.
The Residents’ Association had petitioned the government on suspicious planned development of the wetland by the communities. But Wahab insisted that the government’s position remained that no wetland will be developed for residential or commercial purpose.
He said: “We had received many petitions with respect to the back-and-forth issues between the communities and residents. So today we came to see the state of the wetland. We had placed a signpost that this is a wetland and you can’t build on a wetland. But if people say they have a layout and approval, I am waiting for it.
“We are doing this because we don’t want a repeat of what we are experiencing at Isheri-Oshun, that will be child’s play if people go ahead to build on this wetland. And we have reassured the residents that our position on wetlands remains and we shall enforce it.”
Wahab also insisted that the buildings demolished around the Isolo/Jakande area of the state had no approvals, especially as they were on canals and totally blocked the path of water.
