By Perpetua Egesimba
Immediate past chairman of Apapa-Iganmu Local Council Development Area, Lagos, Mr. Olumide Olayomi, has called on the Lagos State government to quickly clear drainage channels in the area.
At a recent event, he noted that clearing a certain popular drainage facility called System Five Canal would be of particular benefit to the residents of the council as it posed greater danger to the people residing in the area. Olayomi feared that, if nothing was done, the area was likely to suffer immense flooding.
He made the call during the kick-off of the 10th annual Lagos Tree Planting campaign in Apapa, adding that, owing to the recent flooding in some parts of Lagos and other states across the country, residents of the council would like the state government to urgently clear the System Five Canal in Apapa.
“I know that the state government has started a flooding (prevention) programme, but we want this to be on the front burner, a priority project for the government because we have close to a million people living within this small space.”
He said,while the people waited on the state government to address the issue of the canal, the council would carry out intensive enlightenment to get the people to be part of the removal of the silt in all the inner street drainage channels, which leads to flooding of the area whenever it rained.
Olayomi stated that the LCDA faced another challenge in the Sari axis, as physical development along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway had raised the topography of the area higher than the Sari community, thereby making floodwater from the expressway to flow back into the community which had low elevation.
“We are in a riverine area here, there are lots of environmental challenges as a result, even to the life of the residents.
“We have people living in a certified, UN-designated urban slum in Badia and Sari-Iganmu, who give us a lot of challenges. So, we try to tell people that there is danger if they continue to be nonchalant to environmental issues like indiscriminate dumping of refuse, particularly in the System Five Canal, which traverses the whole of the local government, starting from Malu Road going through the National Theatre. The canal carries all the waste and floodwater in this area,” he said.
While commenting on the tree planting initiative, Olayomi stressed that government recognised the importance of the exercise in the life of Lagosians, and that was why his administration embarked on public enlightenment programmes to sensitise the people on its benefits to their wellbeing.
Earlier in his speech, representative of Governor Akinwumi Ambode and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Tairu Ogunleye, said to mark this year’s Tree Planting Day, 500,000 trees would be planted simultaneously in 78 locations across the state. He noted that a total of 6,834,938 trees had been planted in the state so far.
According to Ogunleye, in the state government’s determination to sustain the tempo of “Greener Lagos,” ensure the sustainability of the “Greening Initiative” and create more avenues for relaxation and family bonding, the governor had directed that the Parks and Gardens Unit should be resuscitated in all the 20 local government areas and the 37 local council development areas to complement the efforts of the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK).
Also, the Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Samuel Adejare, said that government remained committed to placing Lagos on the map as one of the environment champions of the world.
He regretted that the state lost its bio-diversity to infrastructure development and urbanisation, claiming that wetland forest reserves had depreciated due to growing population and city expansion, while felling of trees and destruction of the ecosystem thrived for socio-economic reasons.
“The continued exploitation and destruction of our natural resources have left us with dire consequences such as global warming, ocean and sea-level rise and extinction of exotic flora and fauna,” he said.