The Lagos State governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has criticised the state government over its threat to seal facilities and prosecute residents who drill boreholes or extract groundwater without regulatory approval.
Rhodes-Vivour accused the government of prioritising the enforcement of regulations over its responsibility to provide residents with clean, safe and potable water.
His criticism followed a warning by the Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission (LASWARCO) against unauthorised borehole drilling and groundwater abstraction across the state.
In a statement, LASWARCO said indiscriminate drilling and groundwater extraction without the requisite permits could pose serious public health risks, cause groundwater contamination, contribute to land subsidence and threaten the long-term water security of millions of residents.
The Commission, through its Executive Secretary, Oluwabukola Adeyemo, said it was empowered under the Lagos State Environmental Management and Protection Law, 2017, to regulate borehole drilling, groundwater abstraction and water supply services.
Adeyemo warned that drilling boreholes or extracting groundwater without authorisation was illegal and punishable under the law.
She added that the Commission would seal facilities found violating the regulations and prosecute offenders.
However, reacting to the development in a statement, Rhodes-Vivour argued that the government had failed to provide adequate access to potable water despite receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and grants.
He described it as unjustifiable for the government to criminalise residents’ efforts to access water when it had failed to meet their basic needs.
According to him, successive administrations under different political party names have consistently failed to prioritise access to drinking water.
Rhodes-Vivour also questioned the progress of the Adiyan Water Works Phase II project, which he said was already 80 per cent complete when the All Progressives Congress (APC) took over government in Lagos.
He claimed that the government reported in December 2025 that the project was 85 per cent complete, but it was still not operational.
The ADC candidate further alleged that even the offices of the Lagos State Water Corporation lacked access to water.
“Lagosians are surrounded by water, yet they have no access to government provided potable water,” he said.
He accused the government of being more interested in collecting money from residents through regulations than delivering essential public services.
“They are never passionate about service delivery , their passion is only activated when they can take more money from people that are barely getting by, inspite of their failures to deliver services that justify the taxes and IGR they generate,” Rhodes-Vivour added.
Meanwhile, LASWARCO has urged residents, community leaders and other stakeholders to report unauthorised borehole drilling and groundwater abstraction in their neighbourhoods.
The Commission advised intending borehole drillers and groundwater abstractors to obtain the necessary permits before commencing operations.
