A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Adebayo Balogun, has accused the Dangote Refinery and another firm; Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprises of failing to adopt standard and effective Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), before commencing sea dredging in the Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos State.
He said because of that, the activities of the companies have created challenging environmental degradation hampering the economic activities of the natives, whose main source of livelihood is fishing.
“The way we handle our EIA is not good enough. If the EIA carried out by the two companies was okay, the effect we are seeing now must have been foreseen. There is no way there wouldn’t be accident, but what is happening now, is what they can handle if the right thing was done, and if they have handled it well, it wouldn’t have come to the House. It is part of the responsibilities of government to ensure that people do the right thing,” the lawmaker stated.
Balogun who had initially indicated, and penned down a motion on the matter, to be presented before the House during Monday’s special plenary of the House but was not offered the opportunity told journalists that if the environmental damage continue unabated, the residents may be forced to revolt, saying the area was already badly affected by the #EndSARS protests.
Describing the Ibeju Lekki local government as the fastest growing economic hub of Nigeria due largely to the establishment of the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lekki Deep Sea Port and the siting of Dangote Refinery and Dangote Greenfield Port and Quays, the lawmaker noted that the companies were expected to have designed modalities for the mitigation of the environmental damage.
“Dangote Group and Lekki Port LFTZ have engaged in unprecedented dredging of the sea causing unquantifiable erosion of the seashore leading to destruction of building and fishing equipment and also making fishing almost impossible. This wanton dredging of the ocean has distorted the coastal ecosystem leading to massive loss of land, destruction of access roads and trees of economic value.
“Communities like Tiye, Idotun, Idasho, Okunraye, Lekki, Oshoroko and environs are seriously under threat of extinction if nothing is urgently done,” he said, explaining that he had intended to secure a resolution of the House for its Committee on Environment to visit the area for an on-the-spot assessment, and report back its findings within four weeks.
