Presidency, Lagos disagree over relocation of sawmillers
By Tunde Alao
ANY moment from now, the humming of machines, the grating noise of equipment, the coming and going of lorries loaded with planks and the timber houses dotting the Lagos Lagoon amid beds of tree trunks may cease.
But so will the heavy pall of smoke, the flurry of activities by hundreds of hawkers, food vendors and artisans, whose place of activities is the sawmill located in the eastern part of the metropolis called Okobaba, which has become the latest element in the controversy between the Federal and the Lagos State governments over the ownership of land bordering the nation's coastal shores.
Courtesy of an exercise being contemplated by the Lagos State Government, the popular Okobaba sawmill will be moving soon in another relocation exercise, akin to that of the Owode Onirin iron dealers who were moved from Idumagbo, Lagos Island, almost 24 years ago.
The Lagos State Government has concluded the plan to relocate the sawmill to Ejinrin in the Old Epe local council area of the state.
But the sawmillers are worried by the decision of the Federal Inland Waterways Authority not to allow the relocation to Ejinrin for "logistic reasons."
The Inland Waterways Authority reportedly told the representatives of the sawmillers that because of the narrowness of Ejinrin waterways, which serves as the only link between Lagos and South West axis, it could not accommodate thousands of the Okobaba Sawmillers without constituting an hindrance to other users.
But from pronouncements by Lagos State officials and their readiness to meet the conditions laid down by the sawmillers, the relocation seems imminent.
Sources disclosed that Governor Bola Tinubu has ordered the Ministry of Physical Planning, in conjunction with the Ministry of Commerce, to embark on relocation of the sawmillers.
The first activity to be carried out at Ejinrin is the clearing, which, according to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Physical Planning, Mr. Taofeek Adebayo, will begin this week, to be followed by the dredging of the area.
Thereafter, there will be sand-filling of the vast land to facilitate installation of machines.
After this, an inspection of the location where the machines will be installed will follow, after which the appropriate ministries and departments will begin activities required by them.
For instance, while the Ministry of Rural Development will be involve in the electrification, the Ministry of Housing, will be expected to embark on the provision of accommodation for the settlers. In the same vein, the Ministry of Works will embark on road construction and other sundry needs.
Committee members were drawn from the Commerce and Physical Planning ministries, and representatives of Okobaba sawmillers.
When The Guardian visited the Okobaba office of the association, the sawmillers through their President, Alhaji Yahaya Adepitan and Secretary-General, Chief G.A.O. Onikeku said they have accepted the offer by the state government for relocating them, provided their terms of agreement would be complied with.
"These are the minimum conditions, which government must meet before we can agree to go to Ejinrin," they said.
But the National Inland Waterways Authority, (NIWA) has insisted on the ownership of the Coastal area, particularly the 100 metres extending either towards the sea or Lagoon.
At the NIWA office in Marina, an official who spoke with The Guardian on the condition of anonymity confirmed the development.
According to the source, NIWA is waiting for Lagos State government to intimate it with details of the proposed relocation.
"Ordinarily, officials from Lagos government must be aware of the existing laws guiding coastal areas, though we are not disputing the right of the state to have certain control over certain issues, there are some areas where the state and Federal Government need to collaborate. We are expecting the state government to inform us of what it intends to do. But certainly, Ejinrin is not suitable for the kind of the exercise which it (state) is contemplating."
