Flooding in Lagosby | 07-09-2016 01:25 |
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![]() ![]() ![]() The month of August is a popular month among Nigerians not because there is a special celebration but rather it is a month with the highest rainfall especially in the Southern part of the country which includes Lagos state. Lagos state, known as the centre of excellence, is one of the largest cities in Africa with a population over 25 million people and currently one of the fastest growing developing cities in the world yet during raining season, they are a lot of floods in most part of the state. The government of Lagos always prove with achievements to be one of the best states in Nigeria working towards a sustainable environment like encouraging the planting of trees, investing in agriculture, establishing a state-owned waste recycling plant yet still has quite a lot of environmental challenges like flooding just like other states in the country. Some of the reasons why Lagos state still experience floods in most part of its territory include: 1. 1. Inadequate Maintenance: For more than 8 years now, the government noticed there is an exigent need to resolve the issue of flooding in the state and embarked on a lot to projects but in few years the project seemed to collapse because of lack of maintenance. African governments need to make maintenance of their projects a habit so that it can last for a very long time benefiting and positively impacting the citizens. With adequate maintenance, they can focus on new projects to resolve other environmental issues. 2. 2. Ineffective laws and policies: There are laws and policies guiding the citizens and protecting government projects but most of them are ineffective. The government should create strict and effective laws that will discourage citizens from dumping their wastes in the drainage and encourage the use of their waste bin
3. 3. Corruption: It is one of the major challenges Africa countries are currently facing. Most government projects are awarded to individuals or companies. Instead, 100% budgeted should be spent on the project, the contractor only uses about 50% making the project an inferior one and won?t served its purpose well. The government needs to establish an agency that will be monitoring projects awarded to solve environmental problems in the state. The agency should pay keen attention for them to do the right thing using the exact budget and finishing the project at the right time |