Flooding: Lagos urges residents to remain calm, vigilant

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.

Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Babatunde Adejare, made the call after inspecting areas affected by the flood in the state, allaying fears of residents and assuring them that the government had activated its emergency response system to respond efficiently where necessary.

Adejare said most of the flooding would recede after a period of time, noting that the cause was due to the high tide of the lagoon, slowing down the flow of rain water to 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.

The commissioner more importantly 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.

According to Adejare, 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 engaged in such act.

The commissioner 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, even as he 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.