Over 2000 Lagos residents to be displaced

Posted by admin Headlines, Lagos, State News Friday, August 19th, 2011

Lagos State Government is set to demolish over 500 clusters of shanties at the Ilaje lagoon front in Bariga Local Government Area of the state. The demolition, when carried out, would render over 2,000 residents homeless.

The state Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesegun Oniru, who addressed the over 2,000 affected residents on Wednesday shortly after issuing the notice, urged the residents to vacate the area as it planned to demolish the shanties. He explained that it was necessary for the government to demolish the structures as the area constituted serious environmental nuisance and security threat to citizens in the state.

Oniru said government could no longer fold its hands and allow the situation to degenerate, adding that the shanties which were visible from the Third Mainland Bridge constituted an eyesore to foreign investors and visitors to the state for the first time.

“We have come here to warn you to leave this place; we would not come back here to warn again. The bridge you see there is an international link bridge and we do not like the eyesore these shanties are creating here; we do not want them near the bridge anymore. The entire area has been bastardised with shanties in the water and we would remove them if you refuse to move,” he added.

The commissioner disclosed that the state had earlier issued warning to the dwellers to leave the area, saying their continuous stay on the lagoon posed security as well as environmental threat to the state. According to him, “we are here because of the ongoing security problem that we have in our state today. If you look around, you would see law enforcement officers; they are here to help and enable us clear the eyesore you are looking at behind me.

“Those shanties on top of that water is no street address for anybody, so the state government is here to warn them to move from the water body because we are coming to clear all the shanties on the water bodies, be it on the water and along the water front, the state government is here to make sure that people don’t live like this anymore.”

He explained that there were no plans by the state government to aid the dwellers relocate to other areas, emphasising that the dwellers would have to look for alternative abode on their own.

-Sunwp_posts