The Lagos State Government has announced plans to regulate and manage unauthorized spaces across the state as part of its mandate to ensure orderly urban development and sustainable land use.
The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Oluyinka Olumide, stated that assuming full administrative control over these spaces aims to strengthen land-use planning, achieve integrated urban development, and curb unregulated activities in key corridors, gateways, and transitional zones across Lagos State.
He explained 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.
Olumide, while outlining the Ministry’s strategic direction for the coming year on Tuesday, noted that the law vests the Ministry with statutory responsibility for physical planning, land-use management, development coordination, and the regulation of spatial activities across the state, mandates that clearly include the administration of unauthorized spaces.
“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 described unauthorized spaces as public areas not designated for permanent use but increasingly occupied without planning approval, including road setbacks, walkways, under-bridge areas, drainage corridors, and undeveloped government land. The uncontrolled use of such spaces, he said, poses risks to safety, mobility, and the environment.
He 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. Such engagement, he said, would be critical to ensuring cooperation, compliance, and shared ownership of the initiative.
Olumide emphasised that the intervention is not merely regulatory but strategic, seeking to promote orderliness at the state’s frontiers, enhance urban aesthetics, improve the functionality of public spaces, and protect the integrity of the physical environment.
He added that effective control of unauthorized spaces would contribute to improved mobility, safety, environmental quality, and the overall liveability of Lagos, aligning with the State’s vision for a resilient, inclusive, and well-planned megacity.
The Commissioner further reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to deploying professional planning tools, fostering inter-agency collaboration, and involving communities to ensure the exercise is carried out in a transparent, lawful, and sustainable manner.
