Lagos State Government has said that it will take decisive steps in regulating and administering informal spaces across the state, in line with its physical planning mandate.

The state’s Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Oluyinka Olumide, disclosed this yesterday, while outlining the ministry’s strategic direction for the coming year.

Olumide said that the ministry would invoke the powers conferred on it by the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law, 2019 (as amended), to ensure orderly use of land and sustainable urban growth.

“The Law vests the ministry with the statutory responsibility for physical planning, land-use management, development coordination, and the regulation of spatial activities across the state, mandates that clearly encompass the administration of informal spaces,” he said.

The commissioner said that informal spaces were public open areas not designated for permanent use but increasingly occupied without planning approval, adding that the uncontrolled use of road setbacks, walkways, under-bridge areas, drainage corridors, and undeveloped government land posed risks to safety, mobility, and the environment.

According to him, the planned assumption of full administrative control over informal spaces was aimed at strengthening land-use planning, achieving integrated urban development, and curbing unregulated activities in key corridors, gateways, and transitional zones across the state.

The commissioner also disclosed that plans had been concluded to embark on extensive sensitisation and engagement of internal and external stakeholders, including government agencies, market associations, transport unions, community leaders, and other interest groups, as such engagement would be critical to ensuring cooperation, compliance, and shared ownership of the initiative.

He emphasised that the intervention was not merely regulatory but strategic, as it sought to promote orderliness at the frontiers of the state, enhance urban aesthetics, improve functionality of public spaces, and protect the integrity of the physical environment.

He further said that effective control of informal spaces would contribute to improved mobility, safety, environmental quality, and the overall liveability of Lagos State, while aligning with the state’s vision for a resilient, inclusive, and well-planned megacity.

The commissioner, however, reaffirmed the commitment of the ministry to deploy professional planning tools, inter-agency collaboration, and community participation to ensure that the exercise was carried out in a transparent, lawful, and sustainable manner. (The Guardian)

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