Lagos demolishes 17 houses along Ikota River channel

The Lagos State Government has demolished 17 houses built on the Right of Way (RoW) of the Ikota River alignment, as part of efforts to curb flooding and protect the state’s fragile ecosystem.

Tokunbo Wahab, commissioner for the environment and water resources, who led a monitoring team on Saturday, said the structures were illegally erected despite earlier warnings and enforcement actions.

Wahab said the ministry had received complaints months earlier about illegal reclamation activities aimed at narrowing the river’s natural flow path.

“We stopped them then, but we were alerted again recently that the encroachment had resumed aggressively, with attempts to sell to unsuspecting buyers,” he said.

According to him, the latest demolition became necessary to restore the river’s flow and prevent further environmental degradation. He vowed that individuals behind the illegal reclamation and sales would be identified and prosecuted.

The commissioner warned residents against building on waterways or wetlands, stressing that such actions worsen flooding in Lagos, which is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, lagoons, and several rivers.

Wahab noted that it is impossible to completely prevent flooding in a coastal state like Lagos, adding that “what we can do is mitigate its impact through resilient infrastructure, which Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has continued to provide and maintain”.

He lamented that despite the government’s daily maintenance of drainage systems, some individuals continued to block natural water channels for personal gain.

He clarified that demolition is not always the state’s first option, noting that the government sometimes asks developers to design and fund stormwater discharge systems themselves.

During an inspection tour of the Lekki-Epe corridor, Wahab also decried the large-scale encroachment on wetlands originally meant to absorb excess rainwater.

He said drone surveillance revealed extensive damage to the wetland corridor, including the destruction of coconut trees previously planted for ecosystem balance.

He disclosed that violators had been served notices on September 26 ahead of planned transport infrastructure projects on the same route.

The inspection, he said, was to align environmental protection with the Ministry of Transport’s upcoming Green Line Rail project.

Oluwaseun Osiyemi, commissioner for transport, who joined the inspection, said the Green Line project — which will run from Marina to Epe — is expected to begin in December after stakeholder consultations and feasibility studies.