Lagos and the challenge of flooding

Lagos State, Nigeria’s economic capital and West Africa’s commercial hub, is a city as interesting as it is difficult to live in. It is a land of opportunities, but most times, these opportunities are diminished significantly by the high stress level that defines life and living for many residents of the city.

Recently, the city was ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as the second worst city to live in the world. Analysts reason that whatever qualified the city for that ranking must have direct bearing with its challenging environment.

Besides an extremely high cost of living, Lagos is defined by bad and inadequate road infrastructure, traffic congestion, poor and largely unorganised public transportation system. All these are made worse by furious flooding events, which, on yearly basis, bring the city on its knees.

According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), floods are without doubt the most devastating natural disasters striking numerous regions in the world each year. Since the last decade, the trend in flood damages has been growing exponentially.

Besides an extremely high cost of living, Lagos is defined by bad and inadequate road infrastructure, traffic congestion, poor and largely unorganised public transportation system. All these are made worse by furious flooding events, which, on yearly basis, bring the city on its knees

Flooding is a direct consequence of increasing frequency of heavy rain, changes in upstream land-use and a continuously increasing concentration of population and assets in flood prone areas. In general, less developed countries such as Nigeria are the most vulnerable to floods.

Flood events that Lagos has seen in the last few days of rainfall seem to suggest that the 2022 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) fall shorts of these events.

Lagos has seen increase in frequency and severity of flood events as several hours of rainfall have swept aside many homeless and caused devastation in several parts of the state, which also highlighted the question of the impact of flooding on the value of property.

Frequently, mostly from government circles, arguments are made that Lagos is a coastal city and the smallest of the 36 states in Nigeria, land mass wise. The city is about 3,577 square kilometres, which is 0.4 percent of Nigeria’s land area estimated at 923,768sqkm. Within this small area exists an estimated 20 million people, projected to hit 30 million in the next decade.

These are cited as the major causes of flooding in the state. Other reasons are also listed and blamed on the residents. These include bad waste disposal habits of the residents and building of houses on flood plains or flood prone areas. In this particular instance, government and its officials tend to make residents both victims and culprits at the same time.

That, however, is not the concern of most residents of the city at the moment. The question frequently asked in several circles is why has Lagos remained incapacitated to deal with this seasonal challenge?

By all standards, Lagos is a rich state. It is adjudged the most successful economy in Nigeria. Available record shows that the state is Africa’s fifth largest economy. As at 2017, when Akinwunmi Ambode was the governor, Lagos GDP was estimated at $136 billion. By now, it should be much more.

The city accounts for over 90 percent of Nigeria’s foreign trade inflow, contributes 30 percent to the country’s GDP and also accounts for 65 percent of its manufacturing activity just as it houses the headquarters of most conglomerates and commercial banks in Nigeria.

All these, coupled with its large-size market provided by the large population, make Lagos a preferred destination for investment in small, medium and large-scale industries, employment of all descriptions, trade and commerce of all specifications, etc.

We are, therefore, surprised that, despite all these endowments, Lagos environment remains very stressful for most of its residents. Bad roads, traffic congestion and flooding are, indeed, major environmental challenges, but we believe they are not insurmountable for a city like Lagos.

Toyin Ayinde, the national president, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), noted recently that town planners were pained and concerned about the resilience of Lagos to future floods.

He is of the view that resilience to floods is not about town planners, but about the capacity of a system or a people, to recognise the need for preparing the requisite plans and readiness to fund the preparation. That is the case of Lagos and we cannot agree more.

Read also: Lagos flood claims 7 lives – NEMA

In Lagos, all kinds of estates are springing up without consideration for the preparation of building plans. Estates are developed on land meant for agriculture, conservation and government is doing very little control. It’s happening everywhere and that, in our view, is a time bomb ticking and waiting to explode into more floods and disasters.

We are deeply concerned because here’s a city where flooding means paralysis of all social and economic activities. It also means all movements grinding to a halt as all vehicles come to a standstill. Flooding here also means hunger and family dislocation as homes and whole communities are often submerged. Indeed, flooding in Lagos means loss of properties and, in extreme cases, loss of lives.

We are all the more concerned because this is a state that dreams of building a 21st Century economy. We share in that dream. But we believe there is much work to do to make that dream a reality. Finding a lasting solution to flooding, in our opinion, is one aspect of that work.

Flooding incidents of the past few days should have told the state and its managers that they have more to fear than they know. For us, it is not enough to tell people living in flood-prone, low-lying areas to relocate because they would have many times to do that if the problem is not solved.

Whether the argument is about building a smart city, where technology replaces much of human effort, or growing a 21st Century economy where residents and government function seamless, working for shared prosperity, our advice is that Lagos should be fluid. It must not be slowed down. To allow this to happen is to slow economic growth and delay the dream.

Any cosmopolitan city, especially one that is dreaming of becoming a great economy, should be flood-free by taking seriously issues of masterplans and layout designs that take into cognizance the topography and natural drainage routes for water.