Residents of Baiyeku in Igbogbo, Ikorodu area of Lagos State, on Thursday protested against the alleged illegal dredging activities by Renecon Company on the waterways.
The protesters urged the Federal Government to stop the company from any further dredging activities on the waterways.
They were armed with placards of various inscriptions, some of which read: “We don’t want illegal dredger. Government should come to our aids before it gets out hands.
“We say no to Renecon; Baiyeku and Oreta are different communities.”
Reacting, Chief Saheed Ajibode, the Baale of Baiyeku, urged the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, intervene and resolve the matter before it leads to violence among the leaders and youths in the community .
Ajibode said: “Baiyeku residents make their livelihood from the waterway such as fish farming and dredging business.
“Renecon Company imposed itself on people of Baiyeku Community, and told us that he got Cadastral from the Federal Government, while Mining Act says operators should get the consent of the community before Cadastral.
Wikipaedia says, “Cadastral surveying is the sub-field of cadastre and surveying that specialises in the establishment and re-establishment of real property boundaries.
“It is an important component of the legal creation of properties.”
“After series of findings, we discovered that the company used Baiyeku Oreta on its document, whereas the communities stand on their own with different Baales.
“We wrote a petition to the Ministry of Solid Minerals after which we discovered the document.
“We are calling on the Federal Government to revoke the licence of Renecon, because we are peaceful people and we don’t want violence in our community.
“Most times, we were intimidated by officers from the Nigerian Police because of our resistance to illegal activities of the company.
“We are calling on the government to come to our aid,” Ajibode pleaded.
Also, Mr Karimu Tijani, a 90-year-old member of the Elders Council call on Federal Government to intervene and solve the matter to avert future killings.
Also reacting, another member of the Elders Council, Mr Kadiri Bello (87 years), said that since the company started its operation, people of the community had been experiencing one problem or the other.
Bello said that the company should move to another cadastral.
In his reactions, Mr Tunde Adigun, the Chairman, Dredgers Association of Nigeria, Ikorodu chapter, condemned in totality the illegal operations of the company.
Adigun said that their operations had successfully destroyed their means of livelihood and the market.
He advised the illegal operators to stay away from the community’s waterways, saying that those with licences should stay on the portions allocated to them as their cadastral.
“The association’s position is that we don’t want illegal dredgers, because they have crumbled our businesses and destroy our markets.
“Most dredgers in Baiyeku, don’t have licences, and those who have should stay on the portion given to them as their cadastral to avoid conflict.
“Our price today is terrible, because they don’t pay the required royalties and taxes to the state government.
“We are working assiduously to regulate the industry,” he said.
When contacted, Mr Ademola Owolabi, the Legal Adviser to Renecon Company, said any party that feels aggrieved or unfairly treated, should approach the court for justification, instead of protest.
