•”We pay N250,000 yearly for room, Squatter claims
• Lagos victim of its success, Omotoso says

Lagos State government has started a manhunt for the presumed landlord of 86 rooms built under the Dolphin Estate Bridge, Ikoyi, on Lagos Island.
This followed allegations that he collected N250,000 yearly for 12×10 rooms from occupants.

This came 24 hours after the Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab circulated the videos of eviction of occupants makeshift structures.

In the video circulated on Wednesday, it was revealed that there were 86 rooms under the bridge with the tenant paying N250,000 yearly for a 10×10 and 12×10 rooms.

The enforcement team of Lagos State’s Ministry of Environment and Water Resources on Wednesday May 1, 2024 removed all structures, including a container utilised for various illegal activities, from beneath the Dolphin Estate bridge.

While sharing the videos, Wahab said: “A total number of 86 rooms, partitioned into 10×10 and 12×10, and a container used for different illegal activities were discovered under the Dolphin Estate Bridge.

“They have all been removed by the enforcement team of the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources.”
Speaking on the situation, the state’s Commissioner of Information, Gbenga Omotoso said several arrests were made during the exercise and they are being investigated.

“We are looking for the so-called landlord who collected money from these people and gave them there,” he said.
Omotosho said the place was discovered by a mobile police officer who was jogging in the area and heard noise and decided to check under.

He said: “We always tell people to expose such things. The government builds a project and after a while, people started vandalising it.
“Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu always encourages people to own the project because it’s for them and report people vandalising it. As a Ministry, we go about to inform residents that they should let the government know if they find anything untidy.”

Asked about lack of affordable houses in the state and its implication on residents, the commissioner said: “Lagos is a victim of its own success; Lagos is the smallest state in Nigeria in term of landmass but it’s the most populated with 25 million inhabitants and that is why we are telling Lagosians to obtain Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) so that we will have the data and cater for them in terms of education, housing and others.

“Since Mr. Sanwo-Olu came in, he has commissioned more housing projects for thousands of people, but no matter what we do, the challenge will be there.

“The Ministry of Housing is doing a lot and one of them is to ensure no landlord takes more than one year’s rent and we are trying to organise stakeholders to ensure that people don’t get unduly punished while searching for accommodation in Lagos and ensure that their rights are protected.”

Also reacting on why it took so long to discover the place, spokesperson for Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, said: “If we go and arrest drug barons today, the question you will now ask is why we didn’t discover them before now. The important thing is that we have dislodged them. You can’t discover everything in one day, so, it doesn’t matter.”

Meanwhile, Head, Public Affairs and Advocacy Unit, the Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), Ajayi Lukman, said the agency will sustain the enforcement and drive out those living under Lagos bridges.