A press statement by the spokesman of the Lagos State Environment Commission, Kunle Adesina, said residents of areas like Ketu, Alapere, Agric, Owode onirin, Ajegunle, Alagbole, Kara, Isheri olowora, Araromi Otun orisha community, Agiliti, Maidan, Mile 12, Odo Ogun, Owode elede, Agboyi 1, Agboyi II, Agboyi III, located on the banks of Ogun River need to relocate to higher ground.

The AAC party condemns and rebukes the press statement issued by Kunle Adesina. The statement was written and signed by incomprehensible people who have no idea of the government’s responsibility in times like this. How can a warning about environmental hazard be announced to the people without taking mitigation and compensatory measures?

Where does Sanwo-Olu intend to relocate the poor working people living in the above areas? Has the Sanwo-Olu government made arrangements for their relocation? Is there a plan to deal with the economic hardships that the floods will bring to these people?

One expects such statements from Nigeria’s ruling elite without plans to stop the threat. A few days ago, we heard Bola Amed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the APC, aka the Architect of Lagos, aka Sanwo-Olu Landlord, refer to the problem of climate change, which is the main cause of the floods we are currently experiencing across Nigeria, as “preventing a church rat from eating the poisoned holy communion.” They do not care about mitigating climate change, nor do they care about the damage and economic hardship it is causing to ordinary and poor people.

The incompetent misrulers of APC are bereft of the simple idea that Climate change can affect the intensity and frequency of precipitation. Warmer oceans increase the amount of water that evaporates into the air. When more humid air moves over land or converges into a storm system, it can produce more intense precipitation, which becomes the heavier rain and storms causing the flood in Lagos!

In Lagos State, lack of intra city trains has caused lagosians to use more cars, which increases heat and makes the ocean warmer than usual. Failure of the Sanwo Olu led regime to collect, manage and recycle waste for economic purposes is directly responsible for blockage of the few and inadequate drainages in Lagos state. It is also important to also note that the lagos state government allowed their cronies to sell lands indiscriminately without the state having to first build roads and drainages before the lands are being approved for sale. The areas of Lagos in proximity to the ocean and rivers in Lagos are Etiosa and Ibeju Lekki LGA, it covers over 648km of land and almost a million residents yet the state government is yet to build one single drainage to control the floods.

Flooding is nothing new in Lagos. The Eko Atlantic project grew out of the “Great Wall of Lagos,” which was intended to protect the coastline of Victoria Island from erosion. However, the project only served to protect the properties and businesses of Nigeria’s ruling elite, while causing further environmental crises in working-class neighborhoods.

It is a shame that after eight years of rule by the so-called architect and landlord of Lagos, which he claims to be, and fourteen years of his puppets, there are still no policies and measures to protect the vulnerable residents of Lagos from flooding. They have left the poor working class of Lagos to the whims and caprices of bourdillon godfathers and their housemaids. Well, the irresponsibility of Sanwo-Olu is to be expected as his government is only there to serve the needs of his landlord and the 1% ruling class in Lagos.

That is why the AAC party, which is the only party today that stands up for the people, is calling on the people of Lagos and Nigeria to break away from the fascist neoliberals who put profit above our lives and welfare. The upcoming elections are another opportunity to pay them back in kind for all the misfortune and hardship they have brought upon us. It is time we take Lagos back from those who believe that Lagos belongs to them.

Osatohamen Ebhohon
PRO
African Action Congress Party, Lagos.