Flooding: Lagos to review, reengineer canals and drainage systems

As state partners Israel in water technology, management

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Monday said his government will do everything possible to ensure the review and reengineering of canals and drainage systems in the state.

This is coming against the backdrop of huge flooding recorded in parts of Lagos in the last couple of days, occasioned by the heavy downpour; even as the State partners with the State of Israel in water management and technology.

Governor Ambode, who made this assertion during the Water Technology and Environmental Control Exhibition & Conference, which held at the Renaissance Hotel in GRA, Ikeja, said access to and management of water resources, as well as environmental control, remains one of the greatest challenges facing most parts of the developing world.

“For the past few days, the State, and indeed most parts of Nigeria, have witnessed torrential rainfalls which are quite unprecedented. We have witnessed our most prime estates flooded with water, we have seen our roads taken over by floods, and we have painfully watched how many homesteads have literally become pools.

“These indeed are trying times for any government, especially our own administration which has determinedly pursued massive infrastructural development to improve standards of living of our citizenry.

“However, if we have leant anything in the on-going flooding of some parts of the State, it is that there is an immediate, even urgent need for us to embark upon a review and reengineering of our canals and drainage systems.

“This must be pursued hand-in-hand with a clear and crystal re-envisioning of our water management system. So, in effect, what we should immediately pursue is a holistic solution to what is certain to be a recurring problem. It must be a sincere collaboration between government and the citizenry,” he said.

Governor Ambode said Israel, which Lagos State had decided to partner with in developing water technology and environmental control, is one of the first countries to successfully overcome its limitations in water resources.

“Our intention is to explore a wide array of technological advancements and possibilities to ensure that we obtain the best solution to a rather nagging problem.”

He stressed that the incidence of flooding is not circumscribed to Nigeria alone, nor is it a peculiarity of the Third World. He recalled that the United Kingdom was heavily flooded this year and, indeed, witnessed some of its worst flooding since records started in 1901.

He added that Japan, a country that is equally technologically savvy had also not been spared heavy flooding this year.

According to him, “No matter how well a society may be prepared, we can never rule out the element of the natural or if you like, the supernatural. This is why Lagos state, and indeed Nigeria fully subscribes to the tenets of Climate Change Solutions by the United Nations.”

He said the aforementioned examples enjoins government to put the experience and pains into perspective, and that they also impress on the State and learn from all these examples in order to better prepare for the future.

He said to that extent, government will reinvigorate its campaign against the dumping of refuse by citizens into canals. He said they will be stronger in enforcing physical planning laws especially those building illegally on canals and blocking the free flow of water across the state.

Earlier in his Welcome address, Special Adviser to the governor on Overseas Affairs and Investment, Ademola Abass, said the sensitization Programme is a prelude to WATEC Israel 2017 Conference taking place from 12 to 14 September, where key stakeholders will come together to deliberate on some critical issues on Water Technology and Environmental Control.

Israel’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Guy Feldman noted that every challenge faced creates room for planning and solutions, saying floods cause the second highest damage of all natural disasters.”Nigeria can leapfrog from that humble earning to substantially higher revenues within a year, and overtake Ghana in the short-term and retaining that lead thereafter. To position Nigeria for a leading role in yam export, the government’s intervention will be addressing issues of storage facilities to minimize post-harvest losses and deployment of mechanized methods of production in addition to quality assuranc

Benjamin Omoike