Micheal
- Our actions for public good – Lagos Govt
- Obi displaying hypocrisy – Omokri
In recent years, Lagos State has faced persistent threats from flooding and building collapses, causing widespread devastation, property loss, and fatalities. To address these issues, the state government has implemented several long-term measures, such as dredging canals and demolishing structures built on drainage systems. Although these actions have met with objections from some residents, property owners, and stakeholders, but the state maintains that they are necessary for the greater good of the people of Lagos. IBRAHIM ADAM reports.
Since 2023, the Lagos State government has intensified efforts to clear illegal structures encroaching on waterways. These demolitions aimed at reducing flooding risks, improving water flow, and protecting lives and property. However, the process has faced resistance from affected residents and property owners, who cite inadequate compensation and a lack of alternative housing solutions.
Areas like Marina, Lekki, Agege, Victoria Island, Oshodi, Amuwo Odofin, Ilupeju, Ogudu, Maryland, Gbagada have been affected in Lagos, extending as far as Magboro, Mowe, and Ibafo in Ogun State. Consequently, residents and property owners have expressed regret over losing properties valued at billions of naira.
Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev, had warned that 148 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across 31 states are at high risk of flooding this year during the official unveiling of the 2024 Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) in Abuja, emphasising the importance of proactive measures and community engagement to minimise possible damage.
The identified states include Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, and Yobe.
Director General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Charles Anosike, highlighted the critical role of the partnership with the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) in enhancing the nation’s disaster preparedness.
This collaboration, he explained as essential in addressing the increasing frequency and severity of flooding incidents across the country. Anosike noted that this partnership has significantly improved efforts to mitigate flooding impacts through early warning systems.
Early rain disaster
According to Ibrahim Farinloye, the Lagos Territorial Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the early morning flood of Tuesday, February 20 (2024) in the Command/Ipaja area of Lagos, affected approximately 151 houses. Preliminary assessments showed that residents were evacuated from 23 houses in Oke Ishagun, 35 houses in Isale Aboru, 29 in the Ikola community and 15 in Olubodun Majiyagbe-Ajayi. Additionally, 12 houses on Makinde Street, 16 on Olokowo Street, and 21 on Adeola Street were impacted.
Farinloye indicated that the excessive downpour was a strong indicator of the rainfall expected in 2024.
He explained that heavy rains between May 1 and 15, 2023, displaced about 436 families in Lagos State. This period also saw around 228 houses either partially or completely destroyed, and 13 electricity poles affected.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, Tokunbo Wahab, revealed that the government issued demolition orders to residents of the impacted areas, including Mende Villa Estate, which received two notices in 2021 and 2023. He insisted the demolition of buildings was legal.
While inspecting the drainage and canals at Obalende, Dodan Barracks, Oniru, and Lekki Phase II, Wahab said: “There are man-made challenges everywhere. We have to check the canal path and the water path for the waste water. Developers have built to block water paths and water will always find its level,”
At Dodan Barracks, Wahab said there were ongoing discussions with the General Officer Commanding (GOC) on how to resolve the challenges with their drainage channels.
“We have served them notices that will last for seven days. We have to carry out demolition to create and open up the path for the water to enter the primary channel created by the state government.”
At Obalende, the commissioner said on-the-spot inspection showed that everywhere under the bridge had been converted to ‘motor parks’.
“People have forgotten that the environment is the master of man. We have this petition for the past few weeks that people are building on the canal. So we just came to verify and what we saw is not encouraging at all. From the beginning down to the other end of it, they have blocked part of the canal. So, virtually all the houses on this side of the state are always flooded.”
The commissioner’s statement followed claims made by a property developer in Mende Villa that sufficient notice was not provided before the start of the demolition exercise.
Wahab stated that his predecessor, Tunji Bello, issued violation notices in 2021 to properties encroaching on the setback of the System One drainage channel in Mende Villa, Maryland. He added that the latest notifications were sent to the developers in November 2023.
The commissioner queried: “If there were no notices, how come the Developer has been engaging us with documents and correspondences for the past month?”
He also highlighted Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s generosity in redistributing the right-of-way more equitably, allocating it 60/40 (60% to Mende and 40% to Ogudu) instead of the original 140 meters exclusively on the Mende side.
“I went there myself. If I was mischievous, I wouldn’t be there with them. I would have given the order from the office but I said no, I owe them a duty to explain to them that even the governor had approved that we reduced the width from 140 to 100.”
He advised those who believe their rights have been violated to seek redress in the courts.
“Are one or two persons hurt? I’ll tell you maybe yes, maybe no. But I can tell you we served them notices since 2021 and the honourable member representing them is aware of it. We’ve had meetings upon meetings but the rains have started and the government needs to do what they have to do,”
Renewal of urban efforts
The city of Lagos is known for its rapid urbanisation and population growth. With this growth comes the need for more infrastructure and housing, leading to the construction of numerous buildings. However, due to poor planning and lack of regulation, many of these buildings are constructed without proper permits or adherence to building codes. Consequently, the city has witnessed an increase in the number of collapsed buildings, posing a significant threat to the safety and well-being of Lagosians and necessitating the need for the demolition of these structures.
The demolition of these buildings, particularly the dilapidated ones, has been a key focus of the government’s urban renewal initiatives. These structures, frequently abandoned or inadequately maintained, present substantial safety risks to both occupants and surrounding communities.
According to the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), between January 1 and November 30, 2023, Lagos recorded 23 building collapses. The Building Collapse Prevention Guild, in a report recently, revealed that 553 buildings collapsed in Nigeria between 1974 and April 2023, with Lagos State accounting for about 326 in the last 49 years. The Lagos figure represents about 59.05 percent of the 553 recorded cases.
The Guild also recorded that there were at least 62 crumbles in 2022, resulting in 84 deaths and injuring 113 persons, with Lagos recording the highest – 20 cases. Lagos was trailed by Kano and Anambra states with five cases each, while Delta and Jigawa recorded four each.
However, the statistics from the LASEMA on building collapse in Lagos in 2022 put the cases of building crumbling in 2022 at more than double the figure presented by the Guild – 46.
Expressing concern, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu accused real estate practitioners of complicity in the development, stating that they do not build according to the property laws of the state.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Visland Engineering Limited and former Vice Chairman, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Victoria Island Branch, Christian Okwori, agreed that lessons were not taken from the past incidents of building collapse, especially that of the 21-story building at Gerald Road, Ikoyi on November 1, 2021. At least 44 people died in that unfortunate incident, including the developer Femi Osibona.
“In all honesty, no lesson has been learned; that is why we keep repeating the evil cycle of setting up committees all the time and shoving suggested measures aside. As I stated at the last stakeholders’ meeting in Ikoyi, building collapses in Lagos will be a recurrent decimal if we keep ignoring already proffered solutions.”
Some of the buildings that crumbled in 2023 included the two incidents in January – the one-storey building in Ikeja and an abandoned two-story building on Olokodana Street, Okokomaiko.
In August 2023, some construction workers escaped death when the two-story building they were working on in Ikeja collapsed. In September 2023, at least two persons were hospitalised while others escaped with minor injuries when a building comprising over 500 rooms at Oduntan Street, Kosofe Local Council collapsed. The collapse was attributed to a downpour.
Similarly, in November 2023, a woman said to be in her 80s, died during a partial collapse of a two-storey building along Borno Way, near Oyingbo. There was also another incident in November, following the collapse of a three-storey building at Ikpoh Street, Surulere.
80% of buildings in Lekki have no government approval
Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development in Lagos, Oluyinka Olumide, disclosed that 80 percent of the buildings in the Ibeju Lekki-Epe corridor do not have official approval.
Olumide explained that despite the stringent procedures involved in obtaining government approval, property developers and owners continue to evade due process.
“My team and I were in the Ibeju Lekki and Epe axis and you would agree that anybody passing through that corridor would see a lot of estates marked. We went there, and I can tell you that from what we saw, over 80 percent of them do not have approval. The procedure to get approval is first to get the planning information as to what those areas have been zoned for. In this case, what we have is agricultural land, and people now go to their families to buy agricultural land.
“Of course, those lands would be sold because those families do not know the use such land would be put to. The next thing to do is the fence permit. If you missed the earlier information on not knowing the area zoning, at the point of getting the fence permit, you would be able to detect what the area is zoned for. After that, the layout permits a large expanse of land. So, you can see all these layers. But people still go ahead to start advertising.
“Some have even gone to the extent of displaying the sizes they want to sell. Imagine someone in the diaspora who wants to send money without any knowledge. Then, no approval is eventually gotten. Even if they pass the assignment and the survey to them, we would not grant the individual permit, because that area is not zoned for that purpose.”
UN warning and World Bank report
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published a climate and mobility case study on Lagos in January, revealing that if nothing is done, the metropolis may sink by 2050.
The survey found that much of the coastal city was less than 6 meters above sea level: “Lagos and the Niger Delta region are particularly low, with an easily flooded network of estuaries, rivers, creeks, and streams.”
The UN report noted that rising sea levels and ocean surges were understood to be the most pressing climate-related risks to the state but that rain-induced flooding and salt water intrusion occur more frequently, especially in communities adjacent to the coast and lagoons.
“Although the number of rainy days has decreased, the overall intensity of rainfall has increased, adding pressure on drainage systems.”
A World Bank research in 2020 showed that flood damage in Lagos State costs $3.992 billion per year, accounting for 4.1 percent of the state’s GDP and 10% nationally.
The research, published in Nature Communications journal, shows that 300 million people worldwide currently live in areas that become flooded at least once a year, and that half of such places would be below the high tide line by mid-century.
NCF red alert and LERSA react
The Director-General of the Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), Joseph Onoja, warned that if measures are not quickly put in place, the Atlantic Ocean will soon affect the Lekki-Epe Expressway.
Onoja gave the warning at a meeting on ocean encroachment between Lekki Estates Residents and Stakeholders Association which was attended by the Senator representing the Lagos Central Senatorial District, Wasiu Eshinlokun, and the Eti-Osa East Local Council Development Authority.
Onoja explained that over 130 meters of land had been encroached upon by the Atlantic Ocean in four years, and in 2024, a projection of another 50 meters would be gone if no immediate intervention was made.
Concerned by the situation, Senator Eshinlokun assured that long-term solution to the areas affected by the ocean surge would be his priority. He also asked the NCF and the LERSA Infrastructure Committee to come up with solutions for review and possible implementation.
LERSA President, Sulyman Bello, said no one would be happy seeing their property demolished but that the association would not stand for illegality.
He advised residents and prospective ones to use the check-in platforms in the state to be sure their property had all the approvals before buying any property in the area or any part of the state.
“LERSA will never stand for illegal demolition of property but we are also aware that this environment is suffering from a lot of flooding and a lot of other environmental challenges on account of abuse of water channels, canals, and contravention of water guidelines.
“We also know there are people who would have genuine cases of having got approval from the government and such should be entitled to compensation. However, those who built on canals and waterways have no case. The Lagos State government has to do what it has to do. We all have been begging the government not to turn its eyes away from the Lekki area because of the many challenges that we are facing.
Ethnicity, religion not considered, says Sanwo-Olu
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has criticised the use of ethnicity and religion in the recent demolition of buildings in the state.
Sanwo-Olu said only buildings that contravene the laws of the state are demolished.
“We only remove the structures of those that contravened the State’s building and development laws. We don’t consider the ethnic or religious background of those defaulting our laws. We cannot compromise the laws; we need to rescue the city.”
Demolition not targeted at any group
Oluyinka Olumide refuted claims that the demolitions are aimed at South-Easterners in the state, asserting that the structures in question were hastily erected during the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020.
“Anybody can own a building in Lagos so long as you go along with the laid-down rules. It’s unfortunate that maybe what we have of recently happens to concern those from certain parts of the country.
Olumide challenged the owners of the demolished structures to provide their construction approvals.
“Those buildings causing this uproar are buildings rushed during the COVID period when activities of enforcement officers were at the low ebb because of restriction of movement and you could see that when those buildings were demolished, nobody has come forward to say they were demolished under approval.”
Peter Obi displaying hypocrisy – Reno Omokri
A former presidential spokesman, Reno Omokri, has said former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi is displaying hypocrisy over the demolition of illegal buildings in Lagos State.
Obi had condemned the demolition of buildings in Lagos and other parts of the country, saying the government should know that there is hardship in the country and should carry out enforcement with a human face.
“Why is Peter Obi condemning the demolition of illegal properties in Lagos when he has not condemned the burning of Chinedu and Omama in his hometown of Onitsha, like he condemned the burning of Deborah Samuels on May 12, 2022?
“He says the demolition exercise by the Lagos State Government is ill-timed, yet he did not say anything when the Anambra State Government demolished illegal properties this year.
“Peter Obi claims he is speaking for “the poor in our midst. Now, this is very confusing. Because it was the houses of the poor that were demolished in Anambra and he did not speak. But, the homes being demolished in Lagos are primarily owned by multimillionaires.
“One of them even gave an interview and boasted that he spent ₦300 million on his mansion. Why did Peter not speak for the poor when Anambra was demolishing properties? Is Peter Obi now saying crime is not okay in Anambra but okay in Lagos?”
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