Lagos State House of Assembly has accused most of the dredging companies operating in the state of non- payment of taxes and other dues to the state government.
The assembly revealed this during plenary on Monday 18th May, 2020 that only one out of 66 dredging companies operating on Lagos waters were up to date in the payment of required dues and taxes to the state government.
Others were said to have consistently defaulted in payment of dues and taxes while a number of them were accused of not paying any dues at all against the requirements of the law.
These were some of the findings of the Lagos State House of Assembly ad-hoc committee set up to investigate the activities of dredging companies in the state headed by Victor Akande who gave a preliminary report of its investigation at plenary on Monday.
Akande said that the dredgers were denying the state huge sums of revenue by defaulting in the payment of statutory dues and taxes to the state that would have boosted the internally generated revenue of the state.
The Lawmaker further disclosed that all manner of people including foreigners, especially Chinese were engaged in dredging activities enriching themselves at the expense of the state.
Other lawmakers like, Rasheed Makinde, Desmond Elliot and Rotimi Olowo who contributed to the debate said the activities of the dredgers was criminal and that they have blocked most channels by their activities.
While Olowo said the dredgers were operating indiscriminately as some with category C approvals would be operating in category A without regard to the laws.
Akande requested that the House give the committee additional two weeks to complete its work as it wants to embark on inspection tour of the dredging sites and that it would need security to do so.
The committee which was given two weeks to submit its report when it was set up was given an additional two weeks as requested by Akande to complete its investigation.
The speaker, Mudashiru Obasa also directed the Clerk of the House, Azeez Sanni to write the Governor and intimate him with the findings of the committee of the activities of dredgers in the state in its preliminary report.
Obasa also directed the Clerk to write to the state Commissioner of Police to provide security for the committee members when they embark on inspection of the dredging sites.
