‘Two million Lagosians risk being submerged by Atlantic ocean’
By Olalekan Adetayo with agency report
Wednesday, 6 Jul 2011


The Acting Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, Ibadan, Prof. Femi Olokesusi, on Tuesday warned that two million Lagos residents risked being submerged by the Atlantic ocean.

Olokesusi said this in Ibadan while presenting a paper entitled, ‘Lagos: The Challenges and Opportunities of an emerging African mega city.’

The NISER chief said the catastrophe could only be stopped if proper environmental checks were carried out.

“As a coastal city, vulnerability will increase in intensity of storms and storm surges will exacerbate infrastructure problems,” he said at the July edition of the NISER seminar series.

Olokesusi, whose disclosure was from a UN-Habitat sponsored study which spanned five years of data collection (2005 to 2010), said flooding was among the major environmental problems which had persisted in Lagos in spite of government’s efforts.

He said while Lagos was gradually emerging as a mega city, there were still some challenges to be overcome before the city could claim the title.

On the challenges of environmental degradation and climate change, he said there was rapid land conversion in the city which had been taking place on more vulnerable land.

The land, he said, included flood-prone areas and coastal locations.

Olokesusi further said that the pre-historic ecology of the city had been tremendously modified and was now human-dominated.

Apart from this, he said pollution was a menace, adding that there was the urgent need to control this through the application of proper technologies.

“The second dimension is that of acquiring the technology and developing appropriate legal framework, institutions and human capacity to bring the pollutants to acceptable levels that conform to international standards,’’ Olokesusi said.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110706449450

http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=36745

Oyo Assembly moves to check flooding

By Oladele Ogunsola Correspondent, Ibadan

Oyo State House of Assembly on Tuesday mandated the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources to conduct census of rivers and streams in the state to determine their levels of flooding threat to the residents.

This was with a view to seeking Federal government’s assistance in tackling the menace of flooding that seems perennial, especially in Ibadan, the state capital.

The directive was part of recommendations by members of the House Committee, which visited flooded areas in Ibadan after penultimate Sunday’s heavy downpour that claimed at least five lives and property.

Majority Leader,’ Kunle Oyeniran representing Oluyole State Constituency read the committee’s report which Adeniyi Michael Adeyemo (Ibarapa East) moved motion for its adoption.

Kehinde Subair (Ibadan South-West) in seconding the motion, explained that the committee had visited affected places including Ogbere and Foworogi bridges on Muslim/Egbeda Tuba Road, Ariyo bridges on Olorunsogo/Akanran road, Babanla bridge on Oremeji Agugu Airport road, Agugu bridge on Ode-Aje Agugu road, among others.

He said committee members discovered how people have been constructing buildings to obstruct free flow of water; structural defects of some of the bridges and roads, heavy pressure on both the roads and the bridges due to population growth which led to increase in the number of users of such bridges and roads as well as dumping of refuse on the waterways which in turn, have been affecting water passage. The committee subsequently recommended immediate rehabilitation of the identified roads and bridges damaged by the flood and provision of modern refuse dump for residents.

It also recommended that “the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources should commence without further delay, census of all notorious rivers and streams that had been giving residents sleepless nights, throughout the state with a view to drawing the attention of relevant Federal Government Agencies to their menace”.

It would be recalled that a ceaseless evening downpour penultimate Sunday in Ibadan left no fewer than three people dead and scores of property damaged.

Da Doctor:

Geologically this is very correct,
Let he who has ears hear what the studies say!!!

I no fit shout o!

lol

When is it going to happen? I hope it does only after Nigeria has separated and all the Igbos in LAGOS have sold off and moved

Na today we de hear this news?

What is more ironical is in the fact that places that are likely deemed more susceptible to submersion tend to be the most expensive to live.

Oshisko.

I suppose the UK would submerge first being an island country.

Awon ibo alakuko yii sha.

Desola:

Oshisko.

I suppose the UK would submerge first being an island country.

Awon ibo alakuko yii sha.

LMAO

I wonder if there's a connection between this akuko and the one usually posted by Eko-Ile. Is it a kind of mascot for them or something?

^^^
We hope the Lagos State Government will do something dractically to work ahead of this revelation.

Lucy001:

^^^
We hope the Lagos State Government will do something dractically to work ahead of this revelation.

I think they are working towards that already.

This is no joking matter, it will cost LASG billions of dollars to deal with issues. As it stands, I hope LASG is financially capable enough to deal with this issue because it won't be fun should this begin to happen.

manny4life:

This is no joking matter, it will cost LASG billions of dollars to deal with issues. As it stands, I hope LASG is financially capable enough to deal with this issue because it won't be fun should this begin to happen.

It is not a joking matter and it is not a Lagos problem alone. The FG through the ministry of environment should work with state governments to forestall any looming environmental disaster.