₦airaland Forum

Lagos is not flooding because of climate change. Lekki is flooding because of unchecked greed, engineering apathy, and real estate gluttony.

Every rainy season, Lekki residents drag their SUVs through rivers disguised as roads. Behind the flooded streets is a web of deliberate failure, privatized profits, and public suffering. The story isn’t about nature—it’s about bad governance wrapped in glossy cement and high-rise delusion.

1. Lekki’s Terrain is Naturally Rebellious

Lekki is a low-lying, coastal peninsula built on wetlands, marshes, and mangroves. In urban planning terms, it was never meant to host high-density development without deep hydrological planning.

Originally, this land served as Lagos’ flood basin, absorbing excess water during storms and acting as a natural sponge. But developers saw profit where planners saw peril.


2. Real Estate Developers Butchered the Ecosystem

Between 2003 and 2023, the Nigerian elite turned Lekki into an investment zoo.
• Mangroves were bulldozed.
• Natural water retention zones were sand-filled.
• Drainage channels were built like afterthoughts.
• Buildings sprang up with zero compliance with drainage regulations.

Want proof? Visit Lekki Phase 1 or Osapa London. Massive malls and estates are sitting directly on water catchment areas. They not only block water—they reroute it to your living room.

3. Urban Flooding is the Price of Corruption

Nigerian urban development is mafia-coded:
• Developers bribe municipal officers to bypass environmental impact assessments.
• Dredging companies illegally block drainage paths, especially around Ajah and Sangotedo.
• Political cronies get waterfront land allocations, and the Lagos State government does little to enforce planning laws.

The result? Stormwater has nowhere to go but up.

4. Drainage Systems Are Cosmetic – Not Functional

Most Lekki “drains” are:
• Too shallow,
• Silted,
• Incomplete,
• Or blocked by waste from unregulated building sites.

Even the vaunted Lekki Conservation Centre is surrounded by inadequate storm channels. When it rains, the water sits. And waits. And drowns.

5. Lekki’s Roads Act Like Dams

Lekki Expressway and major connecting roads act like flood walls, not arteries.
They divide the land into “wet islands” and “dry corridors”, making floodwater pool in residential zones like Ikate, Chevron Drive, and the perennially flooded Jakande Roundabout.

The roads are tarred without sufficient culverts or water passage systems, essentially caging the floods inside human habitats.

6. The Developers Don’t Live There

Most property in Lekki is owned by:
• Diaspora Nigerians,
• Politicians,
• CEOs parking cash,
• Not the average Lagosian.

They don’t live in the mess they’ve created. And the people who do live there? They pay the price—year after year.

7. Lekki is a Snake Eating Its Tail

As long as:
• Sand-filling continues unchecked,
• Mangroves are viewed as “undeveloped plots,”
• Municipal authorities ignore enforcement,
• And the Lagos elite sees urban planning as a joke…

Lekki will continue to drown in its own ambition.

The irony? The more expensive the house, the higher the flood risk.

Water doesn’t respect price tags.

I like the way you write Malili.
You're intelligent.

Lagos State Government abdicated its responsibilities in that axis starting from the 1990s when it had the opportunity to take charge and put proper infrastructure and planning in place.

It didn't then, and it isn't doing so now.

Terrible.

EbereGod:
I like the way you write Malili.
You're intelligent.

are you sure he is the original content owner because I don't think an APC apologetic will write like this

The City Boy effectively tackled that issue with Lekki.
Btw, those things look like amphibious vehicles.

In Summary, Lekki is an overpriced below Sea Level properties, sold by greedy individuals for wannabe buyers.

Just ask the op which state he's from and if they have all what he listed in accusing Lagos

Wondering why some people just like to be chewing hypocrisy raw.

There own solutions can never be applicable to their own problems

helinues:
Just ask the op which state he's from and if they have all what he listed in accusing Lagos

Wondering why some people just like to be chewing hypocrisy raw.

There own solutions can never be applicable to their own problems

Oga hypocrisy, leave tribalism and face facts.

Shallow minded people.

We the real Lagos Boys will never ever go and live at Maroko. Those who know, know

DonEd:
Oga hypocrisy, leave tribalism and face facts.

Shallow minded people.

Define hypocrisy.

Why are you lots making use of words you don't understand self

Makoko will be another Lekki..And the cycle will continue..

This is a good development. You can't cheat nature the same way you'll cheat ordinary citizens and escape NEMESIS

Lekki go sink one day... Na me know wetin I dey talk.

But didn't they tell us that Tinubu built Lagos,fought back Atlantic ocean and created the 'almighty'Lekki and that he was divinely assigned by oduduwa,to carryout these works for the benefit of mankind,his cronies and political allies.That whatever future consequences of his actions are,must not been seen as though he committed an ecological blunder but rather the wrath of 'Sango'the yoruba god of thunder and lightning,whom may have been jealous of the city boy.

malali:
Lagos is not flooding because of climate change. Lekki is flooding because of unchecked greed, engineering apathy, and real estate gluttony.

Every rainy season, Lekki residents drag their SUVs through rivers disguised as roads. Behind the flooded streets is a web of deliberate failure, privatized profits, and public suffering. The story isn’t about nature—it’s about bad governance wrapped in glossy cement and high-rise delusion.

1. Lekki’s Terrain is Naturally Rebellious

Lekki is a low-lying, coastal peninsula built on wetlands, marshes, and mangroves. In urban planning terms, it was never meant to host high-density development without deep hydrological planning.

Originally, this land served as Lagos’ flood basin, absorbing excess water during storms and acting as a natural sponge. But developers saw profit where planners saw peril.


2. Real Estate Developers Butchered the Ecosystem

Between 2003 and 2023, the Nigerian elite turned Lekki into an investment zoo.
• Mangroves were bulldozed.
• Natural water retention zones were sand-filled.
• Drainage channels were built like afterthoughts.
• Buildings sprang up with zero compliance with drainage regulations.

Want proof? Visit Lekki Phase 1 or Osapa London. Massive malls and estates are sitting directly on water catchment areas. They not only block water—they reroute it to your living room.

3. Urban Flooding is the Price of Corruption

Nigerian urban development is mafia-coded:
• Developers bribe municipal officers to bypass environmental impact assessments.
• Dredging companies illegally block drainage paths, especially around Ajah and Sangotedo.
• Political cronies get waterfront land allocations, and the Lagos State government does little to enforce planning laws.

The result? Stormwater has nowhere to go but up.

4. Drainage Systems Are Cosmetic – Not Functional

Most Lekki “drains” are:
• Too shallow,
• Silted,
• Incomplete,
• Or blocked by waste from unregulated building sites.

Even the vaunted Lekki Conservation Centre is surrounded by inadequate storm channels. When it rains, the water sits. And waits. And drowns.

5. Lekki’s Roads Act Like Dams

Lekki Expressway and major connecting roads act like flood walls, not arteries.
They divide the land into “wet islands” and “dry corridors”, making floodwater pool in residential zones like Ikate, Chevron Drive, and the perennially flooded Jakande Roundabout.

The roads are tarred without sufficient culverts or water passage systems, essentially caging the floods inside human habitats.

6. The Developers Don’t Live There

Most property in Lekki is owned by:
• Diaspora Nigerians,
• Politicians,
• CEOs parking cash,
• Not the average Lagosian.

They don’t live in the mess they’ve created. And the people who do live there? They pay the price—year after year.

7. Lekki is a Snake Eating Its Tail

As long as:
• Sand-filling continues unchecked,
• Mangroves are viewed as “undeveloped plots,”
• Municipal authorities ignore enforcement,
• And the Lagos elite sees urban planning as a joke…

Lekki will continue to drown in its own ambition.

The irony? The more expensive the house, the higher the flood risk.

Water doesn’t respect price tags.

I prefer my mainland anyday any time...

Lagos smells!




Come and beat me... After it will be comparing itself to Accra or even Dakar.

The pace at which Lekki and ikorodu develop between 2005 and 2025 is scary. I wish I could have seen the future.

I expect the Lagos state government or the FG to take over or buy the empty lands in Lekki that are located along the Lagos Calabar highway so as to protect the greenery. Even if there will be development, it should be a well planned development.

Lagos State Government lack proper planning. In next 20 years, Lekki will be worse than Festac town. Currently, the people swim in their feaces when it rains.

helinues:
Just ask the op which state he's from and if they have all what he listed in accusing Lagos

Wondering why some people just like to be chewing hypocrisy raw.

There own solutions can never be applicable to their own problems

Everything to you is about Igbo and Yoruba. You refuse to face facts because you are so shallow

helinues:
Just ask the op which state he's from and if they have all what he listed in accusing Lagos

Wondering why some people just like to be chewing hypocrisy raw.

There own solutions can never be applicable to their own problems

helinus, it is important not to view everything solely through the lens of ethnicity and tribe. I encourage you to engage with logic and reason

Lagos state is one of the cities that might submerge.

@OP.

First time you have delivered a factually relevant post. The garish bolded red font has to go though. Those who live in Lekki and truly love Lagos, as I do, know you are correct.

I dabble in property development and I can only say the property development supervisory regulation for the Lekki area is highly irresponsible, dangerous and compromised by inhuman greed.

There is no respect at all for the ecological and geographical challenges of Lekki that strict planning permission must always move uncompromisingly to effectively supervise so as to plan for the long-term safety of the land and people of the area.

Many man-made problems currently trouble Lekki from issues related to negligent human practices leading to avoidable flooding, irresponsible conduct raising the risk of coastal erosion, poor disposal of waste and even disease proliferation from human consumption, accidental or otherwise, of contaminated water. Plus much more.

The area is a huge and unsupervised mess with greed been the grand commander of the Orchestra.

The best place to live in Lagos, for many reasons, is Ikeja GRA if one can afford it.

helinues:
Define hypocrisy.

Why are you lots making use of words you don't understand self

What's wrong with the article that you are bringing bigotry which happens to be your trade mark to this discuss? Make una dey use unaa frontal lobe well na, na beg weyy dey beg. Make here sane for every onnw

Rogue officials of Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and their top ogas have been busy collecting bribes, allowing wrong constructions to go on.

I confirm it... You're right

Mindlog:
Rogue officials of Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and their top ogas have been busy collecting bribes, allowing wrong constructions to go on.

Of course. Like the collapsed tower in Ikoyi that had original planning permission for15 floors or so yet the developer bribed his way to securing approval for 21 floors.

Is anyone therefore surprised at the collapse of the tower leading to the death of many and, as fate would have it, the developer himself?

AustineE1:
But didn't they tell us that Tinubu built Lagos,fought back Atlantic ocean and created the 'almighty'Lekki and that he was divinely assigned by oduduwa,to carryout these works for the benefit of mankind,his cronies and political allies.That whatever future consequences of his actions are,must not been seen as though he committed an ecological blunder but rather the wrath of 'Sango'the yoruba god of thunder and lightning,whom may have been jealous of the city boy.

what did your Messiah build?

christejames:
Lagos smells!




Come and beat me... After it will be comparing itself to Accra or even Dakar.

if we ask u where u are from now, war go start

Though interesting; I always struggle to connect with your write-up because of the font style you mostly use

RichBoy247:
We the real Lagos Boys will never ever go and live at Maroko. Those who know, know

Abi oooo... Old Shanti town..