Lagos begins planting boundary signposts along borders with neighbouring states
- Lagos has started installing signposts to mark its boundaries with neighbouring states and between communities.
- The permanent secretary Kikelomo Bolarinwa said the markers follow the Surveyor-General's official boundary specifications.
- She warned that anyone who pulls down a signpost will be punished.
Lagos State has started planting signposts along its borders with neighbouring states and between communities inside the state, in a push to settle boundary quarrels before they grow.
The work is being handled by the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Rural Development. The ministry announced the exercise in a Facebook statement on Monday, and the permanent secretary, Kikelomo Bolarinwa, spoke at the start of the installation.
According to Bolarinwa, the markers will show exactly where boundaries run, based on the official maps of the Office of the Surveyor-General. She said the state has decided to stand by those specifications.
Why border communities should care
The government's stated aim is to stop neighbouring states from pushing into Lagos land, and to make sure people living in border communities are counted when welfare and infrastructure are shared out.
Bolarinwa said clearer boundaries would help the state plan roads and other projects for those communities, support local trade, improve living conditions and slow the movement of young people from villages to the city.
Signposts have so far gone up at Eredo-Epe, around Mojoda, on the Itokin-Ijebu Ode Road, the Ikorodu-Shagamu Road, the Ojodu-Alagbole Road, the Owode-Apa Road and at the Seme border. Seme is Nigeria's main land crossing into Benin Republic.
Boundary rows are a familiar problem in Nigeria, where communities and states often disagree over where one ends and the other begins. Such fights can sour relations between neighbours and, at worst, turn violent.
Warning against vandalism
Bolarinwa asked residents of border areas to leave the signposts alone. She warned that anyone caught pulling one down would be sanctioned, adding that the state would not go soft on anyone who disturbs public order or the peace.
She also said the government would keep taking its T.H.E.M.E.S Plus Agenda to communities across the state, especially rural ones, as part of its plan to build what it calls a 21st Century Economy and a Greater Lagos.
What happens next: The ministry has not said how many signposts will be planted in total or when the exercise will be completed. Residents in the listed areas can expect to see more markers going up, and the state says it will act against anyone who damages them.
