₦airaland Forum

By Ayodele Olu Peters

From 8th Friday to Sunday 10th July, Lagos was hit by heavy and perennial rainfall that fell continuously for no less than 8- 10 hours over the weekend. One of the natural and inevitable consequences of such heavy down power was the flooding in many areas of the state and damage of property as well as loss of lives in a number of places. [/b]Cynically seizing on this occurrence as an opportunity to play politics, the media team of [b]the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Dr Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, also known as Jandor, issued a statement not only subtly blaming the state government for the flood but purportedly claimed that he was setting up a Disaster Recovery Team across the state to come to the aid of flood victims.

According to the statement, “Jandor has reached out to some of the victims earlier in the week, but the situation became worrisome today with the torrential rain that has lasted for about 7 hours. It is disheartening to see the good people of the state suffer such neglect and huge discomfort. This disaster is preventable and avoidable at least to the bearable minimum”.

What exactly does this mean? Does Jandor know the difference between flooding and flash flooding? Did he ask his team to undertake the.necessary research before issuing the statement that amounted to political grandstanding and a display of comical ignorance? surely, more more is expected from one who aspires to become the governor of Lagos State and must be known to be diligent, profound, meticulous and refraining at all from frivolity in his public discourse.

Jandor himself in his statement admits that there was “torrential rain that has lasted for about seven hours”. The question is, for how long did flood water remain on the streets and drains across the state when the rain eventually stopped? The flood water had subsided and cleared within 24 and at most 48 hours in heavily hit areas. This is a natural and routine occurrence in several especially low-lying areas across the world both in developed and underdeveloped countries.

What does Jandor really know about Lagos? Is he aware of the relationship between the geographical location of Lagos relative to the sea and the vulnerability of many parts of the state to flooding? Experts estimate that Lagos is less than two meters above sea level and that some parts of the state may well be below sea level. That means that flooding is a phenomenon that the state must continue to cope with even as it strives to continue to improve on the knowledge, skills and technology to mitigate its effects.

According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, “Over the last 30 years, urban flooding, a natural disaster in many parts of the world, has continued to rear its ugly head. Across both developed and developing countries, flooding has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced about 650 million”.

Wikipedia explains further that flash flooding occurs when heavy rainfall exceeds the ability of the ground to absorb it and that flooding is a longer term event that may last days or weeks while flash flooding, which is caused by heavy rainfall, lasts for a short period of time generally less than 6 hours. It also noted that “Flooding along rivers is a natural and inevitable part of life. Some floods occur seasonally when winter or spring rains, coupled with melting snows, fill river basins with too much water too quickly”.

So does Jandor intend to magically elevate Lagos much higher above the sea level if he is lucky to become governor? Or will he relocate the state away from the sea and the lagoon? Had the PDP candidate done his research as expected of a serious politician who aspires to occupy an office as critical as the governor of Lagos State, he would have discovered that the kind of flash floods experienced in Lagos and some other parts of Nigeria is a frequent phenomenon across the world.

Again, for instance, Wikipedia reports that “In July 2021, several European countries were affected by severe floods. Some were catastrophic, causing deaths and widespread damage. The floods started in the United Kingdom as flash floods causing some property damage and inconvenience. Later floods affected several river basins across Europe including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg,the Netherlands and Switzerland. At least 243 people died in the floods including 196 in Germany, 43 in Belgium, two in Romania, one in Italy and one in Austria”.

Other well documented incidents of flooding include a stormy weather which affected several areas of Poland including the cities of Warsaw, Krakow and Poznań and flash flooding in some parts of western Poland on June 22, 2021, after 60mm of rain fell in just one hour that day.

And in China, the country has this year experienced its heaviest rains since 1961 with downpours causing serious floods and landslides. In July 2022, London was hit by two serious flash floods just two weeks apart.Some parts of the city reportedly received more than twice the average monthly rainfall in just two hours with the floods causing massive disruption with homes and properties flooded by rainwater and sewage.

According to the National Weather Service of the United States, South East Alaska experienced flooding and landslides in December 2020, which destroyed four houses, killed two people and damaged property worth nearly $30 million. Other flooding reports in the United States occurred In Nashville in March, 2021, Hawaii in March 2021, Alabama and the South East United States in May 2021, Louisiana in May 2021, South East Michigan in June 2021, South East Pennsylvania including Bucks County, Bensalem, Croydon and Bristol Township on July 12, 2021, in Coconino County, Arizona, on 14 July, 2021, in Middle Tennessee across the Counties of Stewart, Houston, Dickson, Humphrey and Hickman on August 21, 2021. And in June 2022, large areas of Montana including Yellowstone National Park was affected by heavy flooding.

The Lagos State government must be commended for constructing and maintaining what is perhaps the most expansive and modern network of drainage channels across the state especially since 1999. At the assumption to office of governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in 2019, the gains made in the area of waste disposal since 1999 had been allowed to dissipate by the previous administration and the state was once again confronted by mountains of refuse a lot of which blocked drainage channels and created flooding problems. The administration had however remedied the situation within six months and refuse no longer remains a significant cause of flooding.

In a commendably proactive move, the Lagos State Ministry of Environment had as far back as March 2022, alerted residents about the predicted high rainfalls this year and the socio-economic implications for the people. To mitigate the extent of flooding, the Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, said the Ministry had put in place an all-year-round drainage maintenance mechanism for effective flood control as well as a functional and efficient solid waste management system.

As if Mr Bello had a premonition of the kind of antics mischievous politicians like Jandor could be up to, he had in March urged the media to help educate the public that “sometimes when it rains heavily, it is natural to have flash floods which will percolate or drain off quickly, as is the case in different parts of the world. It is only when flood remains several hours after the cessation of the rains that one can report that flooding has occurred. I therefore wish to plead with the media to be more circumspect in the manner they report issue of flash flooding with banner headlines that could create panic”.

Jandor’s claim that he has set up a Disaster Recovery Team across the 20 LGAs to assist victims of floods is also most laughable. Suffice it to say that Local Government Councils across the state routinely address such issues in their areas of jurisdiction and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) is one of the best equipped, staffed and motivated in the country to perform such functions which it has been doing exemplarily to the admiration of all. As Mr Bello said in March, “All emergency agencies, responders and Traffic Management outfits are also on standby to assist in reducing the negative impact of thunderstorm associated with rainfall in the state”.


-Olu Peters, a Public Affairs Analyst writes from Ikeja

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sunnewsonline.com/jandors-comical-ignorance-on-lagos-floods/&ved=2ahUKEwjP06mx5ff4AhVJzIUKHYWuDpQQFnoECAoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1MvWllQYJ-fmAuDZKnJoWy

A paid post.

He knows Sanwo Olu will win at the end of the day

Any post from lanrelagboi is propaganda for APC Lagos.

Know this and Know peace - OBIDATTI2023

:The Lagos Tinubu “built”

Abeg, APC campaign team, how far with Tinubu and APC’s promise to Nigerians in 2014?

Nigeria is swimming in crude oil and fuel ba?
Shebi light is now steady 247…
Everybody is now gainfully employed abi?

Fahdiga:
A paid post.

You know what's up boss. Paid cyber agberos and touts peddling fake data and propaganda.
Thiefnuibu that has wrecked Lagos with his boy boys should not be allowed to ruin the state anymore.
Why is Lagos flooding yearly despite the huge revenue, loans, allocation, PPP projects etc?

itubaba001:
Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria, has been ranking as one of the worst places to live in the world for the nine straight years, a BusinessDay analysis shows.

Data from the 2019 Global Liveability Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the world’s leader in global business intelligence, shows the city has been within the range of 137th-139th position out of a total of 140 cities in the world from year 2011-2019.

https://businessday.ng/uncategorized/article/lagos-ranks-amongst-worst-cities-to-live-in-for-nine-straight-years/

Findings by Daily Trust Saturday revealed that many traders in different markets across the state defecate in polythene bags or a four-litre paint bucket with cover, which they stuck under slabs along the roads while those who use bucket empty their faeces into nearby gutters, water channels or canals at the close of the day.

Daily Trust Saturday reporter once sighted a full-grown sane man defecating on the Ikeja bridge leading to Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way at about 9am. He was seen bending close to other dry excreta in the full glare of motorists who drove past him.

Aside from open defecation, another common practice is public urination, which takes place virtually everywhere and practiced by all classes of people residing in the state including elite, illiterates, male, female, young and old.

The guiltiest are the men (young and old) as they empty their bladders in the full glare of the public, at any time and anywhere with total disregard for the law against such practice. Commercial bus drivers and conductors while stuck in traffic normally alight to pass urine right on the tarred road by their buses, without considering that the smell of urine can be offensive.

Hoodlums, street urchins and people who are homeless and sleep in open places like under bridges, roadside, shops, markets etc are also guilty of this practice as they freely defecate and urinate anywhere they deem fit.

https://dailytrust.com/open-defecation-urination-defacing-lagos-city

LoneWolf212:
He knows Sanwo Olu will win at the end of the day

Let's hope INEC shocks APC ..........

LoneWolf212:
He knows Sanwo Olu will win at the end of the day

Because Sanwo-Olu has done in four years what Jakande did in the same period

eluquenson:
REVISITING SOME OF THE LATEEF JAKANDE'S GOVERNMENT ACHIEVEMENTS FROM OCTOBER 1979 TO DECEMBER 1983 (FOUR YEARS AND 3 MONTHS) IN LAGOS STATE

* His government built the current Lagos State Secretariat which houses all the state ministries as well as the popular round house hitherto occupied by all subsequent governors of the state.

* His government built the Lagos State House of Assembly complex.

* His government built the Lagos State Television

* His government built the Lagos Radio

* His government built Lagos State University

* His government established General Hospital in zones all over the state with assurance of free health care.

* His government established Teacher Training College and the College of Education.

* His government built low cost houses in Ijaiye, Dolphin, Oke-Afa, Ije, Abesan, Iponri, Ipaja, Abule Nla, Epe, Amuwo-Odofin, Anikantamo, Surulere, Iba, Ikorodu, Badagry, Isheri/Olowu, Orisigun etc.

* His government established the Water Management Board and Waste Disposal Board on the 18th of August, 1980.

* His government constructed the Adiyan Water Works to increase water supply in the state to 18.16 million litres per day.

* His government modernized and expanded the Iju Water Works which was first commissioned in 1915. This increased daily capacity from 159 million to 204 million litres per day.

* His government purchased and commissioned the giant car crusher equipment. The equipment was designed specifically to crush derelict vehicles in Lagos State. It had the capacity to crush 45 vehicles per day.

* His government constructed, rehabilitated and resurfaced Epe/Ijebu-Ode Road, Oba Akran Avenue, Toyin Street, Town Planning Way, Alimosho-Idimu-Egbe Road, Idimu-Iba-LASU Road, the new secretariat road and several others.

* His government constructed Victoria Island/Epe Road and thereby creating an ‘oil rig’ for Lagos State.

* His government established Asphalt Plant for the Department of Public Works.

* His government established Electricity Board for Rural Electrification with provision of street lights.

* His government modernized, expanded and commissioned Onikan Stadium in 1982.

* His government established a singular school system and ensured genuine free education in Lagos State and the beneficiaries of this policy are in different positions of eminence in the country and around the world.

* His government raised the primary schools in Lagos State to 812 with 533,001 pupils (against 605 primary schools with 434,545 pupils he met in 1979) and secondary schools to 223 with 167,629 students (against 105 schools with 107,835 students in 1979).

* His government constructed 11, 729 classrooms with the maximum of 40 children per class between March and August 1980, by 1983, he had constructed over 22,000 classrooms.

* In July 1983, two commercial passenger boats christened "Baba Kekere and Itafaji" to run the Mile 2 - Marina (CMS) route via the lagoons were inaugurated by his government to mark the official launch of the Lagos State ferry services.

* His government took over the ownership and financing of Lagos State Printing Corporation in July 1980

* His government established the first State Traffic Management Authority (Road Marshals).

* His government established small scale Industries Credit Scheme which preceded the EKO bank.

*His government established LASACO Insurance.

*His government expanded existing market and built new ones.

*His government established Traditional Medicine Board.

WHO SAYS 4 YEARS IN OFFICE IS NOT ENOUGH FOR MEANINGFUL ACHIEVEMENTS?

IT'S A FACT THAT 90% OF GOVERNORS IN NIGERIA SINCE 1999 WITH REVENUES AT THEIR DISPOSAL CANNOT BOAST OF A QUARTER OF THESE ACHIEVEMENTS EVEN WITHIN THEIR EIGHT YEARS IN OFFICE.

Another hack writer

Is he the stupid governor

Either paid or genuine, this is the kind of response I appreciate when reacting to criticism and not all these quack media writers that form Voltron on public affairs.

The guy was detailed, got at the point and did not forget to make obvious the foul effort of the critic or probably, the opposition.

That's why I always think PDP needs to step up their media game, they have alot of quacks in their team

Fahdiga:
A paid post.

i agree with you

No be lie

Jandor...let me go and research who he is first.

I'm not resident in Lagos, not a fan of APC and definitely not a fan of tinubu but this guy doesn't seem serious In my eyes. I still prefer Sanwo olu. I believe in people and not parties

By the way, I'm obidently visiting Lagos for the weekend and Just enjoying the scenery

Why are some people having spasm because someone's ignorance was exposed?

Fahdiga:
A paid post.

Firstly, show us receipt of the payment.

Secondly, Point out the lie in the post.

This is how most PDP candidates promise heaven and earth even when they have zero plan and clue on how to deliver.

That's why I like Oyetola of Osun. He's a realist. In all his debates and manifesto, the man never promised heaven and earth. Unfortunately, people only like to hear lies.

Thugs on the beat!

Jandor picking Akindele, same time she got divorced. perfect timing, na honey moon una wan use state house do

Just become OBI-dient and YUS-ful to your life by getting your PVC, vote on election day & also protect your vote from BATS or else A ti Ku o!

Okay.

anonimi:
You know what's up boss. Paid cyber agberos and touts peddling fake data and propaganda.
Thiefnuibu that has wrecked Lagos with his boy boys should not be allowed to ruin the state anymore.
Why is Lagos flooding yearly despite the huge revenue, loans, allocation, PPP projects etc?

I'm telling you. Tinubu is a criminal.

He’s Just a clown. Imagine relying on Saraki to win lagos. The same Saraki that was beaten black and blue and retired in his home state ?

At least Jandor did his best as gubernatorial candidate in the state by showing sympathy. What has your paymaster, the finger pointer done either as a proactive step or preventive measure concerning the flood in the state?
Whenever you're paid to do any job ensure you do it perfectly because, you just did this as if your still an amateur.

Lagos government way no serious. People eyes don open

Fahdiga:
A paid post.

A very paid post and the author displayed more ignorance than jandor. He used his own write up to show how emptied headed he is. All jandor said was that people of Lagos needed relief during the flood and The author was explaining geography

1

At least Jandor did his best as gubernatorial candidate in the state by showing sympathy. What has your paymaster, the finger pointer done either as a proactive step or preventive measure concerning the flood in the state?
Whenever you're paid to do any job ensure you do it perfectly because, you just did this as if your still an amateur.

OkCornel:
:The Lagos Tinubu “built”

Abeg, APC campaign team, how far with Tinubu and APC’s promise to Nigerians in 2014?

Nigeria is swimming in crude oil and fuel ba?
Shebi light is now steady 247…
Everybody is now gainfully employed abi?

Because he think that would be BUHARI ACHIEVEMENT
BUT HE DIDN'T KNOW BUHARI AND OSIBANJO MIND

ANYTHING TINUBU PROMISE NIGERIANS NOW THAT HE WANTS TO BECOME THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA..JUST DONT DOUBT HIM BECAUSE HE IS MAN OF HIS WORDS

UNLIKE PETER OBI....I NO GO LEAVE APGA
DONT FORGET OBI IS IN THE 3RD PARTY NOW ONLY GOD KNOWS THE PARTY HE WOULD BE IN BEFORE 2030
BECAUSE IGBO'S CAN'T RULE THIS COUNTRY