Scavengers strip Lagos bridges, homes in widespread theft

For some metal scavengers, popularly known as ‘iron condemned’ pickers, Lagos bridges, old buildings, construction sites and even occupied homes have become sources of quick money. Armed with cutting tools, they break into concrete structures to remove reinforcement rods and strip roofing sheets, selling the materials as scrap while leaving buildings weakened and damaged. CHIJIOKE IREMEKA writes that they also steal electrical wiring, burn it to extract the copper and sell it for as much as N10,000 per kilogramme

For years, the theft of manhole covers, bridge railings, streetlight cables and other metal infrastructure has been a familiar form of vandalism in Lagos. Today, however, the scrap-metal trade appears to be taking a more dangerous turn.

After targeting manhole covers and other public infrastructure, scrap-metal scavengers are now going after reinforcement rods embedded in bridges, structural steel in residential buildings and electrical wiring, raising concerns about public safety and the growing black market for scrap metal.

While investigating the activities of these criminal elements, Sunday PUNCH located Lagos bridges, as well as unoccupied and occupied buildings, where scavengers, armed with hammers, chisels and cutting tools, dig into concrete to extract steel reinforcement rods and electrical wiring, while stripping roofing sheets for quick cash.

Findings showed that the scavengers are no longer merely removing exposed metal. They are now digging into concrete structures, cutting through reinforcement rods embedded in the pillars and foundations of bridges and buildings.

More troubling is the discovery that some homeowners live in their houses unaware that scavengers have been hacking into foundation reinforcements and supporting pillars to steal rods, potentially weakening the structures and creating the risk of disaster.

As society, government and homeowners count their losses, the scavengers smile to the bank.

Structural engineers, however, have warned of the dangers posed by the expanding scrap-metal trade, noting that weak security systems and poor enforcement are among the challenges Nigeria must confront if lives, property and the environment are to be protected.

FESTAC Town, in Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State, and its environs have become a theatre of theft of public and private infrastructure, according to Pastor Peter Asuquo, whose church on First Avenue has come under serious attack by scavengers.

According to him, the building had developed a partial crack, which the church promptly repaired without realising that scavengers were responsible for the damage to its structural integrity.

The pastor told our correspondent that the church building sits on the waterfront, with deep concrete reinforcement close to the Kirikiri Canal. Because the rear of the building is largely inaccessible and rarely visited, the vandals were able to operate undetected.

“The vandals cut into and removed the iron rods from the supporting pillars and decking at the rear of the building without anyone noticing,” Asuquo said.

At first, he noted, part of the structure collapsed, prompting the church to recast the affected section from the inside. They did not realise that the underlying problem was the removal of reinforcement rods at the back of the building until recently.

“After thieves burgled our church and made away with equipment worth over N6m, the pastor-in-charge told me and another member of the church to cut down the coconut tree behind the building to ensure that no thief gained access to the church through the tree. This was because the tree was close to the building and its leaves were touching the windows.

“It was when we entered there that we discovered that all the reinforcement rods had been stolen. I mean all of them that could be seen. The vandals even cut into the decking, the concrete reinforcement slab, and removed the rods inside it.

“These people are wicked because they do not care if the building collapses and kills people. I wonder how much they are making from this that they are willing to risk people’s lives like this. Yet, when you catch them, they will start begging for mercy,” the pastor said.

Angered and pained by the extent of the damage done to the building without regard for the safety of those who use it, Asuquo told our correspondent that, if he were the government, he would order security operatives to shoot on sight anyone caught cutting iron rods, electrical wires and roofing sheets or stealing manhole covers in the country because such acts amounted to economic sabotage.

“To understand how wicked these people are, when they steal the manhole covers and you get a welder to cover the manhole with rods to prevent children from falling into the hole or to prevent accidents, they will still return to cut the rods and take them away.

“These people do not deserve to live in a human environment; they are too backward. How much are they going to sell those rods? Go to Alakija-Festac Link Bridge and see how they are cutting into pillars to extract rods that they are going to sell for a peanut,” he added, visibly pained.

However, when Sunday PUNCH visited the building, it discovered that all the visible rods from the decking and foundational reinforcement had been removed. Not even one was left standing, as shown in photographs taken at the scene.

Also, on the same axis, a building once used by Standard Chartered Bank appeared to have suffered extensive vandalism.

Our correspondent observed that vandals had hacked into the walls and extracted the surface electrical wiring. They broke the conduit pipes and also pulled out the wires embedded in them.

Photographs taken at the building showed that both the ceiling and roofing sheets were also under attack.

Sunday PUNCH learnt that after extracting the electrical wiring, the scavengers descended on the aluminium roofing sheets. Our correspondent observed that the building was now little more than a skeleton and would require major work before it could be put to use again. The entire building would need to be rewired before it could become functional.

Our correspondent also discovered that the iron doors and aluminium windows that once made the building the envy of other banks in the area were long gone.

A 37-year-old occupant of the building, Malaki Musa, who lives there with more than 11 others, told Sunday PUNCH that the scavengers gained access through the rear fence.

“We weren’t around when they entered and removed all the wires in the building. But they broke a portion of the fence and entered through the back. We are staying in it now, and nobody comes in again to steal anything,” he told our correspondent.

However, findings revealed that there was little left in the building to steal, except the roofing sheets and perhaps the roofing wood.

Caught stealing electrical wires

The investigation took another turn when our correspondent witnessed the capture of one of the alleged thieves, Ibrahim Yainua, who had reportedly been stealing electrical wires from houses, shops and business premises on First Avenue.

He was caught by a local security guard during one of his alleged escapades while cutting wires at a car wash at about 3 am.

Yainua confessed to the act but blamed his actions on Satan, whom he claimed had pushed him to commit the crime. He also claimed that he had never visited the area before.

He said he had only been picking up PET bottles when he was pushed to cut electrical wires. However, our correspondent saw him carrying the wires he had allegedly stolen at the scene.

Asked why he stole electrical wires and reinforcement rods, Yainua said, “We sell them at the scrap collection sites and get paid.”

Upon further questioning, he added, “We burn the wires to extract the copper in them and sell the copper for N10,000 per kilo. This is my first time coming to this location. Please forgive me; it’s hunger.”

When an angry mob threatened to burn him alive, Yainua pleaded, “Please forgive me; don’t kill me. Please take me to the police. I do not have any work I am doing. I survive by this scrap collection and sorting.”

He was thoroughly beaten and eventually released, with his hands tied behind his back, after the items he had allegedly stolen were recovered. Those who caught him ordered him to leave with his hands tied and warned him never to return to the estate.

However, the mob did not hand him over to the police because he had been severely beaten, with traces of blood visible on his body. They feared the police might not accept him because of the extent of his injuries.

The reality of dangerous scrap scavengers

Theft of public infrastructure and household equipment has long been a feature of the activities of scavengers, but Sunday PUNCH’s investigation has exposed the dangerous new face of criminality among these ‘iron condemned’ scavengers, who have taken scrap-metal theft to alarming levels.

They are no longer limited to stealing manhole covers, public infrastructure and household items; they now arm themselves with hammers, chisels and cutting tools to target buildings, hacking into concrete to extract reinforcement rods and stripping roofs for quick cash.

Before now, they stole household items left outside homes when no one was watching. The items they stole included aluminium pots, metal buckets and kettles, which they mashed to compress before putting them in bags. Gradually, they graduated to stealing power-generating sets and even live fowl, among other items for which they could find buyers.

Today, they have taken a more dangerous path. While putting the lives of Lagosians at risk, their activities are leaving buildings structurally weakened and defective, exposing families to serious safety risks and fuelling a thriving black market for stolen scrap metal.

Preliminary investigation indicates that they burn the wires they steal to extract the copper, which they sell for N10,000 per kilogramme at metal scrap and copper markets within Festac and Old Ojo Road, both in the Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State.

One of the scrap sellers at 7th Avenue, Festac, identified simply as Mustapha, confirmed that a kilogramme of copper sells for between N8,000 and N12,000.

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Recently, Nigerians witnessed a devastating situation where scavengers were caught cutting rods embedded in the concrete pillars supporting the Alakija-Festac Link Bridge, built a few years ago.

While motorists and other road users use the bridge, the homeless scavengers, who have turned the area under it into a shelter, had started cracking the pillars, extracting rods and selling them as scrap.

Sunday PUNCH’s investigation revealed that these people were among those who were chased away from the Agboju shanties along the Mile 2–Badagry Expressway by the Lagos State Task Force before settling under the bridge.

Officials had previously linked some occupants of the shanties to criminal activities. They alleged that the shanties were criminal hideouts, claiming that some incriminating items were found in one of the structures that was cleared.

Today, under the guise of seeking shelter there, the scavengers have unleashed terror on the supporting pillars and the bridge basement.

During a visit to the bridge, Sunday PUNCH observed that the scavengers had started digging out sand at the base of the bridge in search of hidden metals, while burning wires and other plastic or rubber materials to extract metals.

Our correspondent also discovered that the supporting pillars holding the bridge had been cracked with cutting equipment to extract the embedded rods. Some pillars had also been reduced in size as a result of the activities of the scavengers.

The investigation further revealed that the thieves had hacked into concrete drainage slabs and cut the embedded rods.

Sunday PUNCH reports that major restoration work needs to be carried out to protect the infrastructure, followed by strong action to end these anomalies and the economic sabotage hurting the state.

‘It’s devilish, wicked, unacceptable’ – Works Minister

Reacting to the vandalism of the bridge, the Minister of Works, David Umahi, described the destruction of road infrastructure across the country as “devilish,” “wicked” and unacceptable.

Umahi, during a programme on Channels TV, monitored and transcribed by our correspondent, said, “It’s devilish; it’s wickedness, and it’s unacceptable. The President cannot be everywhere; he is not a spirit.

“The minister cannot be everywhere; governors cannot be everywhere, so we have to come together to protect our national assets.

“When these roads are built, they will last for 100 years. But when the roads are excavated and removed, we will be back to square one, and God will not allow it.”

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the government would deal ruthlessly with those responsible for the acts.

“This is a shame and a total embarrassment, and it is something we will not condone. The full weight of the law will be brought to bear on anyone caught engaging in these acts, as well as the buyers and sellers of the stolen materials.

“In Festac, people have been breaking drainage systems and removing iron from the First and Seventh Avenues, breaking slabs and taking away iron rods. The full force of the law will catch up with them. We cannot continue to use taxpayers’ money to provide infrastructure while unscrupulous individuals sabotage the efforts of the government,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu, however, assured residents and motorists that the integrity of the bridge remained intact despite the activities of the scavengers.

“The integrity of the bridge is intact, and the work that has been done here is in order. But it is unfair and a shame that citizens of a country would deliberately seek to destroy public assets,” he added.

Reacting further, the state Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, said the government had arrested 27 suspected hoodlums in connection with the vandalism.

According to him, investigations revealed that the suspects allegedly removed iron rods, steel reinforcements, cables and other components critical to the bridge’s structural integrity.

He warned that the destruction of the bridge’s components posed a major safety risk, adding that the suspects “will be prosecuted in accordance with the extant laws of Lagos State.”

Motion to regulate scavengers’ activities

Earlier, The PUNCH reported in January 2025 that the Lagos State House of Assembly had advised the state executive to take action to regulate the activities of scavengers and curb manhole theft in Lagos.

In a motion moved by the lawmaker representing Eti-Osa II Constituency, Gbolahan Yishawu, at plenary, the House noted that it had enacted various laws, including the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Ch. C17, 2015, and the Environmental Management Protection Law, 2017, to protect and maintain infrastructure provided by the government across the state.

The House stated that the infrastructure, including roads with underground ducts, iron-cast manhole covers and bridges with steel safety rails, among others, was designed to enhance the quality of life for residents.

Yishawu, however, expressed concerns about “the growing menace of scavengers and criminally-minded individuals who, through their activities, vandalise and steal critical infrastructure, such as manhole covers, pedestrian bridge railings, streetlight cables, and other essential road furniture.”

The motion was backed by the majority of the lawmakers, who warned that if the trend was not swiftly curtailed, the destruction of critical road infrastructure would cause significant setbacks to the state’s infrastructural development.

The House, presided over by the Speaker, Mojisola Meranda, therefore resolved to call on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to direct the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, to enforce the provisions of the Environmental Management Protection Law, 2017.

The House also said the government should “as a matter of urgency, replace all the manhole covers that have been removed to ensure the safety of Lagos residents,” and called on the Commissioner for Information and Strategy to educate the public about the dangers of manhole theft and encourage the reporting of suspicious activities.

Law prohibits destruction of public property

Nigeria’s Miscellaneous Offences Act, 1984, an Act created to address several miscellaneous offences, prescribes stiff penalties and provides for the trial of offenders, while prohibiting the destruction of public property.

Section 3(a)–(b) of the Act, titled “Willful Destruction of Public Property,” provides that: “Any person who unlawfully or with intent to destroy or damage any public property removes, defaces or damages any public property shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction—

(a) if the property in question is a building, structure, vehicle or thing whatsoever owned or occupied by the Government of the Federation, or of a State, local government, a department or statutory corporation of the Government of the Federation or of a State, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years without the option of a fine.”

(b) if the property in question is a railway line, electric power line, telephone line or a demarcation line on a public highway and the property is damaged or rendered dangerous, impassable or non-functional, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 21 years without the option of a fine.”

Meanwhile, legal professionals have called for a ban on scavenging activities in Lagos, following growing concerns over the destruction of public infrastructure and the removal of construction materials from bridges, drainage systems and other facilities.

Barr Emeka Ndukwe of Lawrence Ndukwe and Co. told our correspondent that scavengers who damage public assets for scrap metal pose serious risks to infrastructure and public safety.

He urged the government to prohibit indiscriminate scavenging and, where necessary, establish a registration and licensing system for legitimate operators.

The lawyer also called for tougher enforcement against those who buy and sell materials removed from public infrastructure, stressing that the government must protect taxpayers’ investments and prevent criminal activities disguised as scrap-metal collection.

Removing reinforcement can compromise structural integrity, engineers warn

A structural engineer, Lawrence Mbaunsi, warned that scavengers who break concrete structures and remove reinforcement bars could compromise the structural integrity of buildings and other infrastructure, particularly where load-bearing elements are affected.

He said structures that had suffered such attacks should be properly assessed by qualified structural engineers before their safety could be confirmed, to prevent any form of disaster.

“Tampering with structures like bridges and buildings is a great offence that leads to loss of property, lives and economic gains, and should not be tolerated by the government,” Mbaunsi said.

“Anyone who is found to be culpable in this horrendous, shameful and condemnable incident will surely face the law.

Lagos has no place for such barbarism and acts of violence against our critical infrastructure and other facilities. Lagosians are enjoined to keep an eye on public facilities to protect them against senseless attacks,” the Lagos Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, declared.