The Lagos government has issued a suspension order on all approvals regarding land extensions into the Lagoon at Banana Island and Osborne Foreshore, Ikoyi.

On Sunday, in a joint statement, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Idris Salako, and the Commissioner for Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Kabiru Ahmed Abdullahi, noted that there was increasing degradation of the Lagos shoreline as a result of indiscriminate illegal dredging, reclamation and land extensions into the Lagos Lagoon.

The commissioners said, “Of particular concern to the state government are the extensions being illegally carried out at Banana Island and Osborne Foreshore, Ikoyi.”

They pointed out that the land reclamation and extension activities had resulted in gross violation of the state’s physical planning laws and impinged on the entire area’s ecosystem.

The commissioners further maintained that the indiscriminate and illegal proliferation of dredging and reclamation had caused severe distortion in the shoreline’s aesthetics with high potential for causing environmental degradation capable of “producing dire consequences if unchecked.”

The government did not say if it would prosecute the violators but vowed to punish future offenders.

“The government, hereby, suspends all existing, pending, and subsequent approvals in respect of all land extensions into the lagoon at Banana Island and Osborne Foreshore, Ikoyi,”, said the statement.

It also ordered all “ongoing works, construction, reclamation, and other similar activities” regarding extension approvals granted or being processed at Banana Island and Osborne Foreshore, Ikoyi.

The commissioners added, “Members of the public have been advised to comply forthwith with the ‘Stop Work/Suspension Orders’ or risk facing criminal charges and the confiscation of their dredging equipment by the government.”