(FULL LIST): 31 states to experience heavy floods as FG warns

Umar Mohammed, the Director General of NiHSA, emphasized the importance of vigilance in affected regions, urging residents to adhere to early warning protocols and to collaborate with emergency response agencies to ensure safety and preparedness.

“This alert is issued in line with our commitment to safeguarding lives and property.”

He also appealed to affected states and local governments to rise up to the occasion and safeguard the lives of their people.

“We call on state governments, local authorities, and the public to take proactive measures to mitigate risk and ensure community safety,” Mohammed said.

He assured that the agency will continue to monitor the hydrological situation and provide timely updates as necessary.

He also added that for further information and real-time flood updates, citizens are encouraged to follow NiHSA’s official channels or contact their respective State Emergency Management Agencies, SEMAs.

Lagos mulls intervention in affected communities

Torrential rainfall on Monday, which lasted for over 13 hours left some parts of Lagos State flooded, while residents continued to count their losses.

Speaking with newsmen after an inter-ministerial, extensive on-the-spot assessment tour on the Ikorodu drainage infrastructure construction, yesterday, Special Adviser on Environment, Engr. Olakunle Rotimi-Akodu, said when all the infrastructure construction are completed, it would address the perennial flooding issues in Ikorodu as a whole.

Rotimi-Akodu, explained that the intensity of the rainfall experienced in Lagos on Monday/Tuesday was the type whose magnitude does not occur regularly but can only be experienced in decades.

According to him, “What happened here is from nature, the effects of climate change is real, and that is why we’re all out to see that we ensure the optimal functioning of our resilient infrastructures to tackle these challenges.

“We are here to convey Mr. Governor’s message of sympathy to the people affected through dislocation as well as properties damaged and lost.

“We are here to also assess the level of damages and to check how far the on going drainage project has gone and what we can quickly put in place to mitigate the pains and alleviate the problems.”

Rotimi -Akodu, added that the government would ensure that the contractor handling the drainage project expedites work to address the immediate challenges in the areas affected whilst also sticking to the timeliness for the completion of the project, reminding residents that majority of the areas affected are flood plain areas.

The Special Adviser, also advised residents to always display positive attitude towards the environment especially waste disposal by ensuring that waste does not end up in drains.

“We must also ensure that we avoid encroachment on road Infrastructure especially Right of Way, We should be reminded that what goes round comes around. If problem arises from negative human elements, it is going to affect us.”

Also speaking, Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Mr. Gbenga Oyerinde, said he joined the inspection to the affected areas to carry out a preliminary assessment of what really happened and also gather the right information and statistics to enable government take appropriate humanitarian decisions

Among the places visited include the on-going construction of the Outfall Channel for the ongoing Gberigbe Road Project (One Fold) Outfall which cut across One Fold Community, Okeletu Road, Unity Estate, Gbopa Community, Abule-Eko Community, all in Ijede; ongoing construction of Palm Avenue Collector Drain, Oke-Eletu, Ijede and Igbogbo.

Rhodes-Vivour faults eviction order
Meanwhile, governorship candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 Lagos poll, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has faulted the Lagos State government’s advice to flood-affected residents of Ikorodu to vacate the area, describing it as a reflection of governance failure.

Rhodes-Vivour questioned the rationale behind the advice, arguing that asking people to leave without a plan for relocation, shelter, or support is not governance.

Media and Publicity aide to Rhodes-Vivour, Adewole Ireti, in a statement, noted that the erosion problem in Ikorodu is not new, lamenting that residents had complained for years and got no solution.

He said: “Just on Tuesday, tragedy struck again in Ikorodu as severe water erosion swept through homes, displacing families, damaging properties, and leaving many stranded without shelter or direction.

“What should have triggered immediate emergency response from the Lagos State Government was instead met with a shocking and dismissive comment from the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, who advised the affected residents to ‘vacate the area.’

“Instead of words of empathy and a rollout of emergency plans, what the public got was a callous order to leave. That is not leadership; that is abdication of duty.

“The lives of the poor matter. Development is not about bridges and flyovers alone; it is about people, the woman who lost her shop to erosion, the children who slept on wet floors, the families with nowhere to run.

“If government cannot protect the people from natural disasters, then the least it can do is show compassion, take responsibility, and provide clear, actionable solutions and not harsh ultimatums.”

Lagos fish farmers lament N150M loss, seek govt intervention

Also, the Lagos State Catfish and Allied Farmers Association, LASCAFAN, has lamented the loss of more than N150 million in the recent floods in the state.

The LASCAFAN Vice President and incoming President, Mr. Olatoye Fajimi, disclosed this in an interview with NAN, yesterday in Lagos.

Fajimi attributed the loss to the recent downpour witnessed in the state.

He said: “It has been a bad time for fish farmers in Ikorodu following the rains that fell on Monday.

“When fish farmers got to their farms at Ikorodu and other parts of Lagos State and discovered that most of their fish, if not all in some cases had been washed away by the torrential rain that fell overnight, it was a dismal experience.

“The rain fell heavily throughout the night such that by the time farmers got to their various fish ponds around the lowlands of the Ikorodu area, most of the farms had been overrun by flood water.”

“The fish had already been washed off into nearby gutters and canals. It has been a tale of woes from LASCAFAN Ikorodu zone,” Fajimi said.

According to him, an evaluation of the loss in the sector since Monday is estimated at N150 million.

“We have been doing an evaluation with fish farmers that are members of the association and others to see the extent of the damage and loss.

“As of today, August 7, the damage has been quite enormous. Over 50 fish farmers have been affected and the loss in monetary terms at the moment is well over N150 million.

“In fact areas and ponds that were never flooded in past have experienced flood this time.

“The downpour was heavy and consistent, and because it happened through the night did not give the farmers the opportunity to try and salvage their investment in any way.”