Eleven months after the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources cleared the Obalende Underbridge in the Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos, miscreants, squatters, and others are still causing a nuisance in the area.

This is because the government failed to return for further clearing four months after promising to do so. In February 2024, the Lagos Ministry of Environment and the Special Environmental Task Force cleared the underbridge and indicated a plan for the area, but its promise to keep the place neat remains elusive.

The ministry declared that clearing the Obalende Underbridge was a major achievement for security in the state, in addition to addressing numerous other environmental issues.

The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, assured the public that there was a plan for the space and that it would not be neglected. However, it is clear that the commissioner may have reneged on his promise and abandoned the place to miscreants.

Wahab had said: “All shanties, dwellers, traders, settlers, and abandoned vehicles currently under the Obalende bridge must vacate the area by Thursday afternoon, February 22, 2024, as enforcement would commence in the early hours of Friday, February 23, 2024.”

He added that the government was committed to sustaining a clean and safe environment and that, within a couple of months, the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK) would move in after the deadline to begin work on the beautification and landscaping of the Obalende, Apongbon, and Ebute Ero underbridges.

However, months later, The Guardian witnessed buying and selling having returned under the bridge. There are also gathering places for smokers, who are perceived to engage in robbery at night.

In August 2024, it was discovered that settlers had begun erecting structures under the bridge, while ram traders had also converted a portion of the space into a livestock market.

When The Guardian returned to the area yesterday, it was discovered that the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources had removed the structures. Months after the state announced that it had cleared the drainage, it is now filled with various forms of refuse.

On August 14, 2024, The Guardian contacted the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Environment, Gaji Tajudeen, who said that the ministry was gathering funds to begin work there.

He said: “It’s a work in progress. We are mobilising the funds and will begin work before the end of September 2024. When we move to the site, everyone under the bridge will move away. Lagosians can rest assured that they will leave there because they are not supposed to be there in the first place. But the truth is that when you leave something for a while, it will start creeping back. I am assuring you of that.”

However, four months after the promise, the work has yet to commence, and the drainage remains filled with dirt.
While there are no shanties under the bridge, miscreants are still sleeping and defecating in the area, despite the availability of a public toilet to discourage liquid and faecal pollutants.

When Tajudeen was contacted yesterday, he did not answer his phone and did not respond to the WhatsApp message sent to him. However, an official who pleaded anonymity said that the job was given to an inter-ministerial committee comprising the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, the Ministry of Transportation, and the Lagos State Task Force.

Also, the Director of Public Affairs, Lagos State Task Force, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, said that the agency would look into the issue of people still occupying the place.