Gboyega Akinsanmi and Nkiru Okoh

The Lagos State Government yesterday put the cost of finding a permanent solution to the frequent scourge of ocean surge along the state's shoreline at N26 billion.

Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) gave the figure at the fifth Climate Change Summit, which the state's Ministry of the Environment under the leadership of Mr. Tunji Bello organised in Lagos.

Speaking at the summit that attracted participants in and outside the country, Fashola said the state will require about N26billion in the next three years in order to provide lasting solution to the frequent ocean surge and protect the state’s shoreline.

According to the governor, “it is a project that is going to cost us N26 billion over the next three years. We are not getting any money from anywhere. But we have commited about N6 billion to this project.

He shared his experience on the ocean surge which hit Kuramo Beach just last year, stating that the state government was taken unawares by the surge because there was no budget provision to mitigate its consequences in the 2012 fiscal budget.

He said: “In the implementation of last year’s budget, we did not conceive that the uncompleted part of the Eko Atlantic City would be overrun by the ocean. The Kuramo surge late last year came and took away walls of properties from the end of Ahmadu Bello Way right down to Alpha Beach.”

“We did not budget for that. We did not see it coming. But what did we do? In the last quarter of the year, we called all the departments together that everybody must contribute some capital votes so that we can start an urgent protection of all of the properties on the road, right down to Alpha Beach.”

Already, the governor noted that the efforts of the state government "has seen about N6 billion committed to the protection of the shoreline so far. But the state government is yet to receive any assistance from any other source.

[b]“But it gladdened my heart. I am sure I speak the minds of my colleagues when we went there last week and we saw that the shoreline that was already on the fence of those properties is now residing and giving residents a breather”.

He added that the Eko Atlantic City project had contributed immensely to the protection of properties within the Victoria Island axis from being overtaken by the ocean.

He said: “If that project had not been started, we would not have been here today. Many of the houses that were abandoned and real estate have come back, jobs have returned to that coastline”.

He therefore said the Climate Change Summit "is not another talk shop, but a sincere call for all to begin to adapt to the threats of climate change saying that natural disaster was fast killing more people than war.”

He said the focus has shifted from talking climate change to understanding the dangers and threats it poses, noting that man’s quest for survival has distorted the course of nature and planet earth was gradually reaping the consequences.

“We are in a constant battle and nature will continue to fight back, we need to slow down and change the way we do some things, that’s the heart of the adaptability and what this Summit addresses. Once we agree to slow down on some things, nature will also pull back.”[/b]

Also speaking at the summit, the state Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, said the previous summits had clearly shown the state's commitment to the development and evolvement of a climate change conscious society so as to lay the foundations necessary to counteract the prospective global threat.

He said the theme of the 2013 edition: "Vulnerability and Adaptability to Climate Change in Nigeria with particular focus on Transportation, Housing and Infrastructural Sectors of Lagos State," was apt for the present time.

According to the commissioner, the objectives of the summit is to promote and sustain an infrastructural system that is environmentally friendly and geared towards reduction in carbon emission.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/lagos-unveils-n26bn-plan-to-stop-ocean-surge/142096/

He's on top of the situation not just be mouth

Once beaten twice shy!

A wise man make a future plan gathering the experiences of the past and utilizing them with todays available resources.

Fashola ride on!