Researchers have called for the urgent need to address the increasing flooding challenges in Ajegunle, Lagos State, through community-driven solutions and sustainable practices to protect vulnerable neighborhoods.

This was the high point of a kick-off meeting between residents of the Ajegunle and researchers from the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, University of Lagos, held in the community yesterday.

The project, championed by the African Cities and Research Consortium (ACRC) at the University of Manchester in Manchester, United Kingdom (UK), is to find lasting solutions through collaborative research to urban climate vulnerabilities, particularly in coastal informal settlements through an inclusive and community-based approach.

Co-Director, Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, University of Lagos, Prof. Peter Elias, while addressing the community, lamented that flood hazards in Lagos coastal informal settlements are increasing due to climate change, unplanned urban development, and weak infrastructural systems.

He stressed that the project, under the Action Research for Climate Resilience (AR4CR) of the partnering group, is to tackle flooding in the area through collaborative research with the stakeholders in the community.

Elias stressed the need for a multidisciplinary approach and multi-stakeholders’ engagement for reform coalitions towards climate resilience, to improve lives and livelihoods in the Ajegunle-Ikorodu community.

He noted that the flood hazards in the community are the result of river flooding caused by the proximity of the settlement to the Ogun River and the Lagos Lagoon, which are prone to overflow during the peak of the rainy season, the opening of the dams in Ogun and Cameroon, and storm surges.

In her remark, Lagos City Manager for the Africa Cities Research Consortium, Temilade Sesan, said that the project is a multistakeholder initiative that seeks to gather thoughts and ideas from critical people to address flooding in the community.

She said that the choice of flood as a focus is because of the disaster it causes, which includes loss of assets, deaths, among others.

Also, the President of the Nigerian Slum/ Informal Settlement Federation, Bimbo Oshobe, said that for the community, rain is not the sole cause of flooding, but also when the dam is opened.

She said that climate change plays a huge role in determining flooding in the area.

She, therefore, urged the government to assist the community by providing embankments along the coast to prevent flooding in the neighborhood.