The Lagos state government has released a
statement on the flood that ravaged some
parts of the state particularly Lekki, VI and
Lagos Island. According to the statement,
blocked drainages caused by indiscriminate
dumping of refuse is a major cause of the
flood. The statement also adds that the
Lagoon which is supposed to receive all the
rain water is currently swollen. Read the
statement after the cut…
Lagos State Government on Sunday urged
residents to remain calm and vigilant in the
wake of the torrential rain experienced in
the State in the last few days. State’s
Commissioner for the Environment, Dr.
Babatunde Adejare, who spoke after
inspecting areas affected by the flood in
the State, allayed fears of residents,
assuring that the Government has activated
its emergency response system to respond
efficiently where necessary. He said most of
the flooding would recede after a period of
time, attributing the cause to the high tide
of the lagoon, slowing down the flow of
rainfall water from drainage channels.
“We are on top of the situation. The
Government is concerned by the recent
occurrence of flooding in some parts of
Victoria Island, Lekki, Oniru and its environs
and our emergency lines 112 and 767 are
open 24/7 for residents to report any
emergency situation,” he said.
But more importantly, the Commissioner
urged residents in the habit of dumping
refuse indiscriminately especially in
drainage channels to stop forthwith, saying
that engaging in such does not only
portend health hazards, but could also lead
to loss of lives and property. He said
dumping refuse in drainages meant to take
flood water to the lagoon, blocks such
channels and as such had dire
consequences that could lead to loss of
lives and properties.
Adejare also expressed concerns that
despite the vigorous campaign by the
Government on the dangers of dumping
refuse indiscriminately, some people still
engage in such act.
“The lagoon is swollen up, there is high
tide, so it would lock on our outfalls, the
water would not recede or go into the
lagoon as fast as it used to be, so that’s one
of the main reason why we are having
flooding all over the place and coupled with
our own man made problems such as
people blocking the drainage channels,
people even building on drainage channels,
that’s what has also been causing all these
problems.
“That is a criminal thing to do, it is not
good, their actions can lead to loss of lives
and definitely to damage of properties, so
they should stop it because it would affect
some people adversely. You do not need to
dump refuse in drainages, eventually we
would come to pick them up and with our
improved services through the reforms that
we are carrying out, there would not be
anything like that, we would be evacuating
solid waste faster than we have done,”
Adejare said. He said that the Government
was concerned about the safety of
residents, hence the continuous call on
those living in flood-prone areas to relocate
temporarily pending when the rain
recedes.
“Like we have been telling them, if the rain
still persist, please don’t go out of your
homes, except you are living by the coast or
by the low line. If you are one of those, you
have to move upland, move away from the
coast until the rain recedes. But if you are
living upland and it’s raining persistently
and it’s not necessary or compulsory for
you to go out, please stay indoors. If you
also have contact with flood water, wash
your hands always, whatever has been
touched by the flood water should not be
eaten, it’s important,” Adejare said.
The Commissioner also assured residents
that the ongoing reforms in the
environment sector through the Cleaner
Lagos Initiative would evolve a viable solid
waste management system which would
make the State cleaner and healthy for
residents.
“This is a transition period, most
importantly it’s not that the reforms have
taken so long, you need to plan very well so
that you don’t plan to fail. We are making
sure that when we start, we don’t hope to
fail, we hope to give our people a world
class service in solid waste management,
that’s what we are planning for and we
need to take our time to do that and give
Lagosians good service. It would
commence, it would succeed and it would
give us a better way of managing our solid
waste here”, he said. He however urged
residents to continue to maintain a high
level of cleanliness, especially in disposing
their refuse, while assuring that the
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led
administration would not relent in its
efforts until it achieves a cleaner Lagos.
“I want to tell our people, no pain, no gain.
