{"id":45025,"date":"2026-04-08T19:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=45025"},"modified":"2026-04-08T19:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:12:11","slug":"the-water-is-no-longer-our-friend-how-dredging-is-pushing-lagos-lagoon-towards-ecosystem-collapse-photo-essay-global-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=45025","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The water is no longer our friend\u2019: how dredging is pushing Lagos Lagoon towards ecosystem collapse \u2013\u00a0photo essay | Global development"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

B<\/span>efore dawn, when the noise of Lagos\u2019s danfo<\/a><\/em> <\/a><\/em>buses<\/a> <\/em>fills the air and generators rumble to life, the city\u2019s lagoon is already stirring. Not from fish splashing or canoes gliding, but from the long suction pipes of the dredging machines, pulling up the lagoon bed and spitting out wet sand that will be used in the construction of high-rise blocks, housing estates and flyovers.<\/p>\n

Sand dredging is regulated by the Lagos <\/a> state government and the waterways authority<\/a> but in a city of more than 20 million people, where sharp sand has never been in higher demand, not all dredging is being done by the book<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unregulated dredging and mining have eroded the seabed by nearly 6 metres between the reclaimed Banana Island and the nearby Third Mainland Bridge, according to a study<\/a> from the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine<\/a> Research (NIOMR). <\/strong>That area is a roughly 5km stretch of central Lagos\u2019s main lagoon channel linking the city\u2019s island districts to the mainland.<\/p>\n

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen you dredge sand at that scale without a proper assessment of its environmental impacts, it destroys or wipes out certain species, which harms fisheries and, ultimately, everyone who depends on them,\u201d says Dr Nnimmo Bassey, director of the ecological thinktank, Health of Mother Earth Foundation<\/a> (Homef).<\/p>\n

The effects of dredging extend far beyond the immediate area, causing significant ecological damage and harming local fisheries, <\/a>marine life, and the coastal communities that depend on them.<\/p>\n

This is the reality for Lagos coastal communities such as Epe, Oto-Awori, Era Town, Makoko, and many others.<\/p>\n

Fasasi Adekunle pushes his canoe into the dark waters off Epe before daylight. For more than 30 years, this routine has been his life: mend the nets, check the tide, read the wind. Now, the low, grinding hum of dredgers defines his mornings.<\/p>\n

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe used to cast our nets at 7pm and return before midday the next day with enough tilapia to earn at least 30,000 naira (\u00a316),\u201d says Adekunle, 55. \u201cNow we go farther, spend more on fuel, and sometimes return almost empty handed.\u201d<\/p>\n