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Lagos re-strategises to contain flooding

By Bertram Nwannekanma
22 July 2017   |   4:11 am
Following the forecast of further flooding in the state this rainy season, the Lagos State Government has evolved new strategies to contain the menace, which penultimate week wreaked...

Babatunde Adejare

Following the forecast of further flooding in the state this rainy season, the Lagos State Government has evolved new strategies to contain the menace, which penultimate week wreaked havocs in parts of the metropolis, especially highbrow areas of Lekki, Victoria Island and Ikoyi.

According to the state Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Babatunde Adejare, some stringent measures aimed at containing the menace have been mapped out and include building retention pond, more proactive and continuous campaign against dumping of refuse in canals and drains and the scaling up of the application of physical planning laws against the erection of building on canals, drainage channels and water ways, as well as consulting with various stakeholders and
communities on the flood scourge.

According Adejare, a retention pond is being built at Sangotedo area as a form of rainfall harvesting to serve as a reservoir for storm water at the peak of the rainy season for onward release into the Okota River after the rains subsided.

Adejare explained that the retention pond was part of government’s response to issue of flooding, in addition to the existence of about 202 primary channels that also serve as storage and drainage of storm water, which are constantly being desilted.
   
He cautioned against dumping refuse in the drainages, as such act blocks these channels and contributes to flooding with negative
consequences.
   
Also, apart from early warning signals for those living in prone area to relocate till the rains subside, the commissioner hinted
that the government had concluded plans to employ more of advocacy through the newly transformed Lagos State Environmental
Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) to ensure sanitation compliance in the state.
 
According to him, the use of advocacy and enlightenment would play a key role in containing flooding, saying the state was able to get 35 per cent compliance from residents, as regards noise pollution, through advocacy.

“We have been able to get closer to the people through our advocacy programmes and have recorded more compliance from the people compared to when we have used force,” he said.
 
Adejare stressed that the new integrated waste management services contract recently sealed by the state government with a leading
environmental utility group, Visionscape, is also targeted at ending the perennial flooding confronting the state and ensuring a clean and
livable environment.

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