Prof. Clement Akhosile, the President of Nigeria Meteorologist Society (NMetS), on Thursday called on the Lagos State Government to give priority attention to the damaging effects of climate change in the state.
Akhosile gave the advice following excessive flooding in some parts of Lagos during this raining season, especially in Lekki and Ajah.
According to him, water does not have boundaries and will always find its level no matter what is on its part.
“Lagos is on the plain. There are the Lagoons, the ocean and other water surrounding the areas.
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“To stop excessive flooding during the rains requires absolute obedience to town planning regulations which the people and government are violating continuously.
“The climate change is really affecting the amount of water in many areas and Lagos is no exemption.
“The continuous violation of town planning regulations by government and individuals can be dangerous when increase in water level destroys the highways, houses, commercial buildings and even overtakes the airports,” he said.
Akoshile said that legal and illegal land reclamation, the ocean surge and individual’s bad habits of blocking the drainage channels all contributed to flooding in the state.
He said that when structures were built to displace original vegetation and grassland, town planning in that area should automatically change.
The NMetS President said that the right thing would then be to build functional drainage channels for the water to pass through.
He said that flooding had never demarcated between houses, offices and vehicles of the rich and the poor, but always swept away everything on its part.
Akoshile said it was unfortunate that many parts of Aja area in Lagos were flooded, adding that not much could be done this raining season.
According to him, there is no short cut to solving the flooding problem once the rains set in.
He said that Lagos State Government had always been known to be the effective in planning against flooding ahead of the raining season.
Akoshile said that government must work ahead to open up all the drainage channels as well as ensure that as land were being reclaimed avenues were being created for water to pass.
He said that with the pace of construction in Aja, the building patterns should change to create drains for water to pass. (NAN)
