Lagos maps 3,700 hectares of informal spaces for regulation

The Lagos State Government has identified and mapped about 3,700 hectares of informal urban spaces spread across 1,700 locations as part of efforts to reclaim and regulate spaces being used for informal activities across the state.

The General Manager of the Lagos State Informal Space Management Authority, Daisi Oso, disclosed this during an appearance on “The Conversation”, a programme on Lagos Television, where he explained the government’s approach to managing informal urban spaces.

Oso said the exercise was being undertaken in partnership with the private sector to identify measure, reclaim, restore and designate critical spaces for temporary use, particularly for informal activities that could otherwise obstruct walkways, roadsides and other public corridors.

He said the initiative was intended to balance the need to accommodate informal businesses with the government’s responsibility to preserve public spaces, safety and physical order in a densely populated city where land was increasingly constrained.

“Planning is a process. We must plan for and with our people. We can create business locations that will not jeopardise our informal spaces,” Oso said.

He explained that the mapped spaces included setbacks, incidental open spaces and public corridors that had increasingly become points of informal commercial activity.

The general manager said the Lagos State Government’s policy was not aimed at preventing legitimate businesses from operating but at regulating activities occupying informal urban spaces and incidental open spaces in ways that obstructed movement, compromised safety or undermined the physical environment.

“You cannot clutter our walkways, roadsides and high-tension corridors. You cannot clutter lives,” he said.

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Oso said the Lagos State Government had also approved a partnership with Octagon to identify and map spaces considered critical to the management of informal activities.

According to him, the mapped spaces would be assessed and properly designated to determine appropriate temporary uses, with the broader objective of improving physical orderliness, urban aesthetics and the sustainable use of land.

He said the Lagos State Informal Space Management Authority had intensified public sensitisation and the issuance of contravention notices to prevent illegal occupation and encroachment on walkways, roadsides and high-tension corridors.

Oso added that bollards were being strategically installed to mark locations where commercial or other activities were prohibited, providing physical indicators to residents and operators.

He urged residents and informal sector operators seeking to use such spaces to consult LASISMA before commencing activities, saying the agency was responsible for determining permissible uses.

The authority said members of the public could make walk-in enquiries at its office at 18G Olutoye Crescent, Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, while technical officers could be contacted on 08023044911 and 07061005525 for further clarification.

The disclosure comes as Lagos continues to grapple with competing demands for limited urban space, particularly the use of walkways, setbacks, roadsides and other open areas for commercial activities.

LASISMA said its objective was to bring such activities within a regulatory framework while preserving public corridors and other spaces required for safe and orderly urban development.