Fresh comments from Lagos Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat on TVC News (14 September 2026) put a hard spotlight on Lagos flood plain approvals: officials who clear buildings on flood-prone land will be digitally tracked and face penalties as the state tightens flood control.
That matters if you are buying, developing or renovating anywhere near drains, wetlands, lagoons or known flood corridors in Lekki, Ajah, Ikorodu, the Island or the Mainland. It sits beside our earlier note on Lagos flood risk and wetland loss — and it raises the stakes for anyone who has been told a plot is “buildable” even when it is not legally approvable.
Why Lagos flood plain approvals are under the microscope
Speaking on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout on Monday, 14 September, Hamzat said the state is strengthening its Geographic Information System (GIS) so developments can be tracked electronically and the officials behind each approval identified.
“We are now making sure that it is now electronic and therefore we can track people and the moment you are able to track people, you know who is responsible for A and B and people will face penalties,” he said, according to TVC.
He rejected the familiar Lagos shortcut of “not approvable but buildable,” arguing that structures that cannot lawfully be approved should not go up at all — especially when they sit on drains and push flooding onto neighbours. He also tied heavier flooding to blocked channels, tidal locking when creeks and lagoons are full, and the city’s low-lying geography (he cited an average of about 2 metres below sea level).
On the operational side, Hamzat said about 1,000 people are already deployed on flood-management drainage clearing, dredging is underway on the Ikota River that receives much of Lagos Island’s water, drainage sensors are planned, and the drainage master plan — reviewed every five years — may move to a three-year cycle because of climate change.
What this means if you are buying or building
Enforcement talk is not abstract for property decisions. A home or estate that sits on a flood plain, blocks a drain, or sailed through a weak approval can become harder to insure, refinance, resell or even keep standing if the state follows through. That risk compounds the wetland and reclamation pressure we already covered when writing about flood risk as wetlands give way to building, and it sits next to the cost stack buyers already face on Lagos building approval costs.
If a listing or developer pitch leans on a soft “we’ll sort approvals later” line near water or historic flood zones:
- Ask for planning approval status in writing — not only a verbal “it is buildable.”
- Check elevation, natural drainage paths, and whether the plot sits on or beside a canal, wetland or reclaim.
- Walk the estate after heavy rain if you can; neighbours’ stories often beat marketing copy.
- Confirm title and consent paperwork separately from physical flood risk; both can kill a deal.
- Prefer corridors with clear drainage and documented approvals over cheap fringe plots that look dry only in the dry season.
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Sources: TVC News — Lagos Will Punish Officials Approving Buildings On Flood Plains – Hamzat (14 Sep 2026).
