Following the ravaging floods across the States of the federation, the Lagos State Government has warned residents in flood-prone areas to relocate at any given time.
Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello, while briefing newsmen at the end of a stakeholders’ meeting over the weekend, said the government came up with a resolution that while Lagos is not totally immune from flooding, the state will continue to effectively manage its situation without posing risk to lives and property of residents.
The commissioner therefore said that as a result of the latest development, residents of all identified areas like: Ketu, Alapere, Agric, Owode Onirin, Ajegunle, Alagbole, Kara, Isheri Olowora, Araromi Otun orisha community, Agiliti, Maidan, Mile 12, Odo Ogun, Owode Elede, Agboyi 1, Agboyi II, Agboyi III which are banks to the Ogun River, were alerted to be ready to relocate at any given time.
He stressed that residents fail to realize that the position and location of Lagos State on the map makes the state’s lagoon the convergence point of all water from the Ogun River, Ona Ibu River, Osun River, Sasha River that runs across many southwest states.
Bello explained that the state is also working in concert with the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority to ensure that rain water releases that pass through the Oyan Dam have a minimal negative impact on the residents.
The commissioner reiterated that the state, through the Office of Drainage Services and Water Resources, has embarked on massive dredging and cleaning of all primary and secondary collectors across the state.
“This is in addition to construction of new channels as well as deployment of the quick response Emergency Flood Abatement Gang to free up manholes and black spots; all to ensure that the drains perform at optimum capacity to be able to contain runoffs,” he stated.