80% of flooding in Lagos are man-made, says govt

Lagos State Government has said that 80 percent of flood disasters in the state are man-made.

Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, stated this, yesterday, when he met with representatives of some local councils in Lagos as part of the agency’s flood mitigation and adaptation awareness campaign, with the theme, “A Flood Free Lagos 2023: Building Flood Resilience is our Collective Responsibility.”

He said LASEMA had conducted analysis of flooding in all the local councils in the senatorial district with the aim of sensitising the local authority and exposing them to ways to check the menace.

He, therefore, advised them to establish a chain of command in each of the councils, warning against nonchalant attitude to refuse disposal.

Oke-Osanyintolu said the state government’s huge investment in emergency management would not yield the desired result without effective commitment and support from the councils as well as residents.

Vice Chairman of Ijede Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Femi Kabir, who spoke at the event, identified poor drainage system as responsible for flooding, promising that LASEMA’s advice on necessary intervention would be duly implemented.

He said:”We are going back home to strengthen the advocacy on flood prevention. We will meet with the Community Development Council (CDC) and Community Development Associations (CDAs) to curb indiscriminate dumping of refuse. We have been designing and clearing the gutters. We will go back to our communities and tell the people what LASEMA has shown us and what everyone should do in preventing disasters caused by flooding.”