Still smarting from the destruction and colossal losses caused by the recent flooding that brought Lagos down on its knees, the residents of the city are now looking beyond the chilling impact to the possible causes and solutions to that disaster which has become a yearly incident.
Apparently blaming the flooding incidents on sand-filling and land reclamation from the lagoons, and the distortion of the original regional drainage master plan of the city, the residents under the aegis of Concerned Citizens of Lekki Peninsula, Ikoyi and Victoria Island- a coalition of estates in the Lekki-Epe axis- are canvassing a stop and re-evaluation of the environmental impact assessments (EIAs) of those projects.
Due largely to its small land mass, growing population and fast paced urbanisation, Lagos has become one huge and perpetual construction site and the situation is such that the city is built-up, leading to scarcity of land and the resort to sand-filling of Lagoons and even the ocean to increase supply.
Lagos is a coastal and low-lying city where seasonal flooding is expected, but human activities such as the distortion of the natural balance of the ecosystem and indiscriminate waste disposal have made its case worse. The July 8 flooding in the city was the worst of its kind as many homes, mostly in the expensive areas of the city, were totally submerged.
The coalition is therefore, calling on the state government to ensure immediate removal of all obstructions to the natural watercourse in the area and uphold the sanctity of the Lekki Regional Master plan. The call was made at a press conference organised by the coalition recently.
“A number of issues were identified as remote causes of the flood. One is the a distortion of the Lekki drainage regional master plan caused by the indiscriminate sand filling of natural water ways, and the illegal construction of structures on drainages and canals that obstruct the flow of water so that flood water has nowhere to go.
“Another is the inability of the critical ministries- environment, waterfront, land and Physical Planning to work together which has resulted in infringement and breach of environmental laws by the ministries themselves and poor enforcement of environmental laws, building regulations and town planning guidelines”, said Olusegun Ladega, a representative of the coalition.
Ladega implored the Lagos State government to resolve these issues as they were not result of indiscriminate dumping of refuse and climate change. He proposed immediate actions needed to abate the flooding. “As tax-paying citizens of Lagos state, we ask the Lagos State government to stop all sand filling activities across the state until the Environmental Impact Assessments reports are made available.
“Lagos State Government should enforce the original drainage master plan. All distortions on the drainage master plan should be reversed and all construction activities hindering flow of water be removed immediately and there should be a restoration of all developments to comply with the Lagos State environmental laws,” he advised.
Continuing, he said: “An emergency plan should be put in place that will address the persistent flooding and attend to residents affected by flooding. Adequate measures must be put in place to inform the public of the emergency plan that will inform the public of the dangers, a plan for the rescue of anyone affected, and relocation of those whose properties are affected in case of another flood.”
He observed that damage to the infrastructure of the estates in the region including buildings, household items and vehicles due to the flooding was over a billion naira, hoping that the state government would act on these issues quickly to save lives and properties in that axis.
CHUKA UROKO
