The Lagos State Government has announced plans to take firm measures to regulate and administer informal spaces across the state in line with its physical planning mandate.

The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Olayinka Olumide, disclosed this on Tuesday while outlining the strategic direction of the ministry for the coming year.

Olumide explained that the ministry would invoke the powers granted under the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law, 2019, as amended, to promote orderly land use and sustainable urban development across the state.

He said the law empowered the ministry to oversee physical planning, land-use management, development coordination, and the regulation of spatial activities, including the administration of informal spaces.

According to him, “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.”

The commissioner described informal spaces as public open areas not designated for permanent use but which had increasingly been occupied without planning approval.

He added that the uncontrolled occupation of road setbacks, walkways, under-bridge areas, drainage corridors, and undeveloped government land posed serious risks to public safety, mobility, and the environment.

Olumide stated that the planned assumption of full administrative control over informal spaces was intended to strengthen land-use planning, ensure integrated urban development, and curb unregulated activities along key corridors, gateways, and transitional zones across Lagos State.

He disclosed that plans had already been concluded to embark on a sensitisation and engagement process involving both internal and external stakeholders.

According to him, the stakeholders include government agencies, market associations, transport unions, community leaders, and other interest groups, noting that such engagement would be crucial to achieving cooperation, compliance, and shared ownership of the initiative.

The commissioner stressed that the intervention was not only regulatory in nature but also strategic, as it aimed to promote orderliness at the frontiers of the state.

He explained that the initiative would enhance urban aesthetics, improve the functionality of public spaces, and safeguard the integrity of the physical environment.

Olumide further stated that effective control of informal spaces would lead to improved mobility, enhanced safety, better environmental quality, and greater overall liveability in Lagos.

He added that the initiative aligned with the state’s vision of building a resilient, inclusive, and well-planned megacity.

The commissioner reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to deploying professional planning tools, fostering inter-agency collaboration, and encouraging community participation to ensure that the exercise was implemented in a transparent, lawful, and sustainable manner.