Lagos Floods- He Said, She Said, We Should Say…
On Saturday, 8 July 2017, the city of Lagos experienced torrential rainfall; actually it had been raining for at least 5 days before that day but Saturday’s rain seemed like the climax. Consequently, many parts of Victoria Island and the Lekki- Ajah corridor experienced major flooding. Pictures and videos quickly circulated online of streets and roads flooded enough to have someone kayaking on one particular road; some other people swimming in (or is it on?) another road; flats and cars submerged with water, potholes and craters on major roads, etc.

I was convinced that the flooding was as a result of the dredging activities of the Eko Atlantic City project and I quickly penned a hypothesis on my Facebook page. Many people subsequently provided their own opinions either corroborating or disputing my hypothesis, and I did learn quite a lot. Now I have decided to summarise what I have learnt and hopefully get us all a bit more aware.
The first thing I learnt (or should I say I was reminded of) was that flooding on the island was not a new thing, even up to such epic proportions as experienced on Saturday. Most recently, it had happened before in 2011 and also 2004, and also at many other times before that. Flooding is also not exclusive to Lagos as many cities around the world have experienced it in high degrees.
So what could have caused the flooding? According to friends who commented on my Facebook post, this could be attributed to anyone of these issues;
- Climate change and global warming; the icebergs are melting, the sea level is rising as a result of this, and Lagos is already below sea level, so the slightest sustained rain will result in flooding.
- Problems with poor disposal of waste within the city, particularly plastics and other non- biodegradable materials.
- Bad, poor, or non- existent drainage system; clogged drains and canals as a result of poor waste disposal. In some parts of the city, lack of functional drainage systems or absence of canals.
- Undisciplined nature of the average person regarding waste disposal which has affected the drainage systems. The water had nowhere to go.
- Dredging of the Apapa ports which has always had a rebound action on the island.
- Abuse of city planning guidelines and in some cases, some parts of the city were never even planned.
- Dredging within The Eko Atlantic City; this has affected the island drainage system negatively. First because it now blocks the normal drainage system for the island and also because now that the sea is being dredged, the water that is displaced has nowhere else to go. Even with the great wall built around the city, it means that the water will be deflected to another part of Lagos and not necessarily deflected to the ocean; and finally the most hilarious addition
- A possible Mammy Water Association convention (a joke of course)!!!
Now remember these are all personal opinions so I won’t bother stating whether I agree or not, however the responses are quite enlightening.
Now that we know or at least have an idea of what the issues are, what should be done to eliminate or at least reduce the impact of future floods? (yes we will experience this again)
Obviously, government has a lot of work to do and some of these include;
- Ensuring that the appropriate agencies conduct research to study the rainfall patterns so we can be better prepared for future occurrences. Also equipping the relevant emergency response agencies with the materials they need to act in such situations.
- Investing in critical infrastructure that will ensure swift recovery from future occurrences.
- Clearing, constructing, and opening up drainage and canals.
- Enforcing city planning guidelines even if this means some buildings/ structures need to be taken down.
- Raising awareness about waste disposal and also ensuring that waste disposal agencies do the work they are set up to do.
- Ensuring that all dredging and construction work in the area undergo an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the EIA deemed satisfactory.
You and I also have work to do as well;
- It’s time we started disposing of waste properly, even actively recycling materials. I remember a song I heard on Sesame Street while growing up, encouraging kids to dispose of waste properly “Now if every kid did it, can’t you see what an ugly place it would be?” I can sing it to you next time we meet, lol.
- We need to start speaking up, demanding accountability from government and regulatory agencies.
What else do you think caused the floods and most importantly, how can we mitigate future occurrences?
