PRESS RELEASE FASHOLA INSPECTS ILLEGAL MINING AREAS ON BADAGRY WATERWAYS

…Warns of far reaching legislation, punishment against the practice Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Tuesday inspected the erosion affected sites and illegal sand mining areas on the Badagry waterways, calling for community action against the practice and warning that government will enact far reaching legislation that will inflict very serious punishment for those who want to persist in the act. Governor Fashola who spoke with State House Correspondents at the State Government Chalet, Badagry after the inspection of Ajido and other areas which he undertook alongside some members of the State Executive Council members said that the State will adopt a multi agency collaboration to put a stop to illegal mining in the area. “The law enforcement agencies will act. 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”. Expressing deep sadness over the negative effects of the activities of the illegal sand miners, Governor Fashola who also had a meeting with all the community and traditional leaders in the Badagry Division after the inspection, said the issue calls for community action as those responsible for the illegal mining are not aliens but members of the community from Ajido to Badagry. “And here we have leaders and all sorts of representatives, we have traditional rulers. 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. And one expects that the leaders of those communities will rise up and stop this”. “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. Governor Fashola described the waterways stretching from Badagry all the way 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 stated that on the eastern side towards Ibeju- lekki, one can see ravages of erosion and vessels that have come aground ashore which the State Government is still trying to deal with. “On my way here this morning alone, I counted 15 ships that have lost anchor, damaging our coastline. 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”, the Governor reiterated. Among those who accompanied the Governor on the Inspection were the Commissioners for Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesegun Oniru, Mineral Resources and Energy, Mr Taofik Tijani, Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr Toyin Ayinde, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Demorin Kuye, Chairmen of Badagry West Local Council Development Area, Mr Hotonyon Bamgbose, Badagry Local Government, Mr Husitode Moses, Hon Abudu Amida, Olorunda Local Council Development Area and Managing Director of Lagos State Waterways Authority, Mr Yinka Marinho. SIGNED HAKEEM BELLO SPECIAL ADVISER TO H.E ON MEDIA MARCH 13, 2012