By Sam Abuya
Environmental experts are sounding a warning bell on Lagos, a city which stands out across the continent as the most populous City in Africa with a population of more than 24 million people, that it might soon be inhabitable due to the perennial floods and rising sea levels along its coastlines.
The coastal city in the most populous nation in Africa usually experiences heavy downpour from March through November. The floods, however, were worse this year in mid-July, especially in the Central Business District disrupting many things.
Photos as well as videos that residents shared on social media painted a picture of a city under threat with floods level rising as the rains continued to pound and paralyze economic activities in and around the Lagos.
According to the Institute of Development Studies, uncontrolled urban growths and poor drainage systems have been cited as major contributors to the floods that have rocked Lagos among other factors. NIHSA, Nigeria’s hydrological agency, has indicated that Lagos will experience more catastrophic floods in September, which, normally, marks the peak of the rainy period.
Lagos, a city partly in the mainland and with several islands, has seen its coastline get eroded with time making it even more vulnerable to the floods. According to environmentalists, human activities such as sand harvesting have also contributed a big deal to the eroding coastline.
Environmental experts have also pointed a finger at the construction of the new and affluent neighbourhood in Victoria Island called ‘Eko Atlantic City’ which is being built on a reclaimed land from the Atlantic Ocean. An eight-kilometre-long wall of concrete blocks will be bult around the Lagos neighbourhood to protect it from floods.
Environmental experts have warned that much as the project will address housing shortages in Lagos, reclaiming land from the sea is not a good idea and will add more pressure on an already-eroded coastline. Other critics of the projects have also claimed that other areas that will not be protected by the wall around the new housing project will be more vulnerable to the floods that have plaqued Lagos for a long time.
Regular floods in Nigeria, especially along the coastal areas, have claimed many lives and displaced many more. In 2020 alone, NEMA estimates that at least two million people were affected by the floods. The city of Lagos has since started clearing the sewer lines.
Lagos is among the low-lying coastal urban areas around the world that studies have indicated might be permanently submerged by the year 2100.
