By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
The Lagos State Informal Space Management Authority, LASISMA, has given traders and other illegal occupants around the newly constructed Ojo General Hospital seven days to vacate road setbacks and spaces reserved for public infrastructure, warning that enforcement will commence after the deadline.
The ultimatum was issued on Monday, 24 August, 2026 during a sensitisation and enforcement exercise around the hospital perimeter along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, near the LASU-Iba Road Junction, as part of the Lagos State Government’s wider campaign to reclaim road setbacks and statutory corridors from unauthorised occupation.
Speaking after the exercise, LASISMA General Manager, TPL Daisi Oso, said the intervention followed the extent of encroachment on spaces meant to support the hospital’s accessibility, operation and security.
According to a statement, the exercise was aimed at reclaiming setbacks around government institutions and restoring them to their designated purposes.
Oso said the area around the hospital had been taken over by illegal activities, including indiscriminate refuse dumping, an unauthorised fruit market, public toilets, a planks market and shanties.
He described the activities as incompatible with the status and purpose of the health facility, warning that continued occupation of the setback could pose serious risks to physical planning, public health and security.
“The encroachment will adversely affect physical orderliness, public health, and security around the hospital,” he said.
The LASISMA boss stressed the need to maintain unobstructed access to the hospital, noting that blocked routes could become critical during emergencies when ambulances and other emergency vehicles need to reach patients.
He said the state government had directed the relevant ministry, through LASISMA, to reclaim the affected spaces and restore them to their intended purposes.
Rather than commence immediate demolition, LASISMA officials initially adopted a sensitisation and enforcement approach, educating occupants and serving contravention notices on structures and persons found to be occupying the spaces illegally.
Oso said the notices gave the affected occupants seven days to comply, after which further enforcement action would commence.
“Today’s exercise focused primarily on sensitisation and serving contravention notices, giving affected occupants seven days to vacate the encroached areas, after which further enforcement action would commence,” he said.
He disclosed that the encroachment was not confined to isolated sections of the hospital frontage, stressing that the entire perimeter of the Ojo General Hospital had been affected.
According to him, notices were being served on all identified illegal occupants within the affected areas.
The intervention also underscores the state government’s effort to prevent newly developed public infrastructure from being overwhelmed by informal commercial and residential activities capable of undermining its functionality.
Oso said the government planned to redevelop and properly manage the spaces around the hospital after the illegal occupations had been cleared, with complementary uses expected to improve the facility’s surroundings and functionality.
He urged traders and other occupants to comply with the notices, stressing that setbacks and spaces reserved for public institutions could not be converted to private commercial use.
The authority said the Ojo operation formed part of a state-wide campaign to protect public setbacks and statutory corridors from informal occupation.
The exercise was supported by town planners from the Technical Services Department of the ministry, the Office of Physical Planning and LASISMA officials.
LASISMA is responsible for regulating, coordinating and managing informal urban and incidental open spaces across Lagos, including ensuring that spaces designated for public infrastructure remain available for their intended purposes.
