{"id":16357,"date":"2025-08-12T17:01:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T17:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/?p=16357"},"modified":"2025-08-12T17:03:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T17:03:00","slug":"alebiosu-set-to-address-social-impact-of-illegal-dredging-at-1st-waterfront-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/12\/alebiosu-set-to-address-social-impact-of-illegal-dredging-at-1st-waterfront-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"ALEBIOSU SET TO ADDRESS SOCIAL IMPACT OF ILLEGAL DREDGING AT 1ST WATERFRONT SUMMIT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Lagos State Government, through the Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure Development (MWID), has reiterated its commitment to tackling the growing menace of illegal dredging and its devastating impact on communities across the State.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-16359 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/bb3ed952-88d1-451d-a00b-5d7fe4f4a6e0-211x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/bb3ed952-88d1-451d-a00b-5d7fe4f4a6e0-211x300.jpeg 211w, https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/bb3ed952-88d1-451d-a00b-5d7fe4f4a6e0-722x1024.jpeg 722w, https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/bb3ed952-88d1-451d-a00b-5d7fe4f4a6e0-640x908.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/bb3ed952-88d1-451d-a00b-5d7fe4f4a6e0.jpeg 761w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Speaking to members of staff at the Ministry ahead of the 1st Waterfront Summit, scheduled for 12th September 2025, the Hon. Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Dayo Bush-Alebiosu, called for active community involvement in confronting the crisis. He warned that residents who encourage or participate in illegal dredging are \u201cengineering their own downfall,\u201d as the environmental, social, and economic consequences of their actions will ultimately harm their own lives and the lives of the entire populace.<\/p>\n<p>Alebiosu described illegal dredging as a \u201csilent destroyer\u201d of coastal and riverine communities, noting that it accelerates erosion, worsens flooding, disrupts aquatic life, and destroys livelihoods dependent on fishing and water-based commerce especially in areas like Makoko. He stressed that the persistent nature of this problem is what has made it one of the major topics for deliberation at the upcoming summit.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-16361 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/db5f1d83-a050-4c91-b0bd-103ed137020a-1-259x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"259\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/db5f1d83-a050-4c91-b0bd-103ed137020a-1-259x300.jpeg 259w, https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/db5f1d83-a050-4c91-b0bd-103ed137020a-1-886x1024.jpeg 886w, https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/db5f1d83-a050-4c91-b0bd-103ed137020a-1-768x888.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/db5f1d83-a050-4c91-b0bd-103ed137020a-1-640x740.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/db5f1d83-a050-4c91-b0bd-103ed137020a-1.jpeg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 259px) 100vw, 259px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cannot overemphasize the devastating impact these activities could have on our daily lives and on posterity. This is why we have made it a point of necessity to bring it to the global stage, where all stakeholders from riverine states in Nigeria, government agencies to community leaders, environmental experts, and private sector partners will deliberate and chart a lasting solution,\u201d Alebiosu said.<\/p>\n<p>He emphasized that the summit would serve as a collaborative platform to foster dialogue, share best practices, and develop actionable policies that safeguard Lagos\u2019 waterfronts for present and future generations.<\/p>\n<p>The Hon. Commissioner urged members of the public to register and participate in the summit through the official links available on all the Ministry\u2019s social media platforms, noting that collective action is key to ending the scourge of illegal dredging.<\/p>\n<p>Akodu Morenikeji (Mrs)<br \/>\nDirector, Public Affairs<br \/>\nMWID<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Lagos State Government, through the Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure Development (MWID), has reiterated its commitment to tackling the growing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-grassroots"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16357"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16363,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16357\/revisions\/16363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}