AVERTING ANOTHER FLOOD DISASTER IN LAGOS

Lagos State should use all resources within its command to prevent another period of pain and anguish, writes Sonnie Ekwowusi

Lagos has always been under the threat of ferocious flooding. Remember the Bar Beach over-flowing and the resultant flooding of Ahmadu Bello Way and other parts of Victoria Island, Lagos in the years past? But yesteryears’ flooding is a child’s play compared to today’s flooding in Lagos. Where is rest in this age of anxiety? One gathers one’s life-savings and proceeds to purchase plots of land at Lekki Peninsula, Lagos. After erecting a magnificent house therein, whenever it rains, the whole house is flooded, holding one and children in false imprisonment inside the house. As if that is not enough, one and one’s children spend endless hours every day in chaotic vehicular traffic trying to leave the house or come into the house. So I repeat: where is rest in this age of anxiety? Is it not true as we have told, that fullest rest and peace cannot be found here below but only in the life hereafter?

Anyway the challenge at the moment is to find solution to the ferocious ocean and rains which have been holding Lagos residents hostage for decades. Environmentalists predict flooding Armageddon in Lagos. Everybody is scared stiff. The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Lagos branch, is particularly disturbed. It wants the Lagos State Government to immediately relocate the residents in flood-prone areas of Lagos to safer areas. Last week the NSE organised a big conference in Lagos precisely on Lagos flooding. At the conference the NSE stated that finding shows that nine local government areas in Lagos, namely, Epe, Eti-Osa, AmuwoOdofin, Ojo, Kosofe, Lagos Island, Apapa, Ibeju-Lekki and Ikorodu are seriously under the risk of being submerged by flood in a few years if effective flood management were not adopted in the aforesaid areas. Consequently the NSE advises the Lagos State Government to relocate Lagos residents residing in the aforesaid areas to safer areas before the looming flood disaster occurs.

The NSE warning, to my mind, is worth heeding. It is no rocket environmentalism. It is a truth that can be accessed by the average Lagos resident. In any case, the NSE finding is corroborated by the last flooding which ravaged the entire Lagos especially the Lagos Island about one month ago. Following heavy downpour said to be the heaviest in Lagos this year, most streets in Lagos were flooded. Many residential apartments were sacked and valuable property destroyed. Some residents were held hostage inside their respective houses by the flooding. Some residents were seen paddling to safety with canoes. A crocodile probably washed ashore from the ocean was seen along one of the Expressways after the flooding. A few days after the flooding, social and commercial activities in Lagos were still paralysed. Some staffers of certain offices spent a good part of their working hours draining water out their respective offices.

Consequently it is high time the Lagos State Government woke up to the looming flooding disaster in Lagos. It is high time the government stopped putting economic gains above safety of lives and property in Lagos. Good feelings and thoughts are not substitute for action. Unless the government takes some concrete action in the coming months to at least curtail the Lagos flooding it will continue to pose a big threat to lives and property. The free flow of rain water in Lagos is hampered by the failure of the local governments to tackle the “tertiary drainages” which empty into the “primary drainages” which eventually empty into the Lagos Lagoon. Therefore the gutters and drainages in Lagos should be constantly cleaned. The primary function of local governments in Nigeria is cleaning of gutters. But what is the new function of local governments and local government chairmen in Nigeria at the moment? Running after politicians and collecting money from them to do dirty political jobs. The scandalous aspect is that the drainage channels or flood channels in Lagos especially in Ikoyi, Lekki, Victoria Island, have been sold out to some wealthy Lagosians who have now erected their houses on them. Therefore the government should be courageous enough to reclaim those drainage channels or flood channels from those wealthy individuals. Government should reduce the pressure on excessive land reclamation. Excessive land reclamation has serious ecological consequences. For example, it directly changes the local coastal morphology, causing the potential ecological consequences. Ditto for deforestation. Forests play an important part of climatic regulation. When the trees are cut down, there is nothing to prevent erosion. There will be loss of topsoil. The land becomes useless. Rainwater which cannot drain sufficiently on the land swells the rivers and flooding occurs frequently.

Lagos State Physical Planning and Permit Authority (LASPPPA) previously known as Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning Board (LASURPB) ought to be monitoring and supervising the physical development plans in Lagos. But given the total confusion in Lagos especially in Lekki, Eti-Osa and Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Areas were houses are higgledy-piggledy erected on all the available little spaces, it is obvious that the said body is not living up to expectation. Imagine LASPPPA allowing people to be building houses on any available space? No planning. No lands reserved for public parks, stadia, markets, churches, mosques, sporting and recreational activities. Complete confusion in Lagos. And as you know very well, unplanned and disorderly parts of a city are always prone to flooding. Therefore Governor Akinwunmi Ambode should consider reforming LASPPPA to make the body a bit responsible. The governor should also ensure that the Lagos canals and drainages are routinely cleared of their debris. As Governor, Babatunde Fashola constantly ensured that the canals and drainages were constantly cleaned. Governor Ambode should emulate Fashola in this matter. More importantly, Lagos State should set up a disaster management team to formulate strategies on how to prevent a flooding disaster or mitigate the effects of flooding in Lagos.

IT IS HIGH TIME THE GOVERNMENT STOPPED PUTTING ECONOMIC GAINS ABOVE SAFETY OF LIVES AND PROPERTY IN LAGOS