Lagos State House of Assembly in its proactive stance, has again uncovered a cartel of indiscriminate dredgers fleecing the legitimate accruals of the state with flagrant disregard for laid down rules of dredging activities.
The three categories of dredgers cited to have flouted the said rules of the business includes;55 dredging companies indiscriminately operating along the shorelines of the state.
These sand miners allegedly exposed neighbouring communities where they operate to sudden flooding and ocean surge.
Among the 55 dredging companies stated earlier,three of them have valid operating license and only one is said to be up to date with regards to payment of dues and taxes to the coffers of the state government.
The other category cited ‘B’ has 66 dredging companies twelve of which were paying token to the state and many of whom were operating with licenses not permitting them to operate maximally.
The ‘stockpilers’ who in the last category has109 sand miners, 22 of which make payments to the state coffers and often outshoot permitted areas in their reclamation task,of which they later sell land properties for bogus sums to the tune of 120m naira and more.
Others have consistently defaulted in payment of dues and taxes while a number have not been paying anything at all as required by the law.
These were some of the findings disclosed by chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly 7 man ad-hoc committee set up to investigate activities of dredging companies in the state, Hon. Victor Akande while giving preliminary report of its investigation at plenary on Monday.
Akande said the dredgers were denying the state huge sums of revenue by defaulting in the payment of statutory dues and taxes to the state that would have boosted the internally generated revenue of the state.
The ad-hoc committee Chairman who noted that major players in the dredging business in Eti Osa like NIMCO and GNK Rive Back perfector
often rip-off the state of legitimate earnings are big time contractors executing major projects for the state,he also disclosed that all manner of people including foreigners, especially Chinese were engaged in dredging activities enriching themselves at the expense of the state.
Other lawmakers like Hons. Rasheed Makinde, Desmond Elliot and Rotimi Olowo who contributed to the debate said the activities of the dredgers was criminal and that they have blocked most channels by their activities.
While Olowo said the dredgers were operating indiscriminately as some with category C approvals would be operating in category A without regard to the laws.
Akande requested that the House give the committee additional two weeks to complete its work as it wants to embark on inspection tour of the dredging sites and that it would also need security to do so.
The committee which was given two weeks to submit its report when it was set up was given an additional two weeks as requested by Akande to complete its investigation.
The speaker, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa also directed the Clerk of the House, Mr. Azeez Sanni to write the governor and intimate him with the findings of the committee of the activities of dredgers in the state in its preliminary report.
Obasa also directed the Clerk to write to the state commissioner of police to provide security for the committee members when they embark on inspection of the dredging sites.
Earlier Mr. Azeez Sanni read four petitions from Eti Osa East Local Council Development Area (LCDA),all centred on the need to tighten noose on dredging activities along the coastlines of the state.
Two of the said petitions were written by the council, while the other two were written by Eti Osa Indigene Forum and the other by Concerned Residents of Ado,Langbasa,Okera Nla,Okera Kekere and Badore Towns.
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