An environmental activist for climate justice, Sulaimon Arigbabu, has called for an improvement in waste management practices in Lagos State to avert flooding.

Mr Arigbabu, who is also the executive secretary of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre), gave the advice in Lagos.

“Environmental sanitation in Lagos State is very poor. This has to do a lot with citizens’ behaviour, which has to be changed and of course, service delivery from the side of the government. But I think if we have been experiencing flooding with significant impact on us, then we as citizens have to do a lot more  in terms of environmental sanitation practices before we ask the government to come and do its part,” Mr Arigbabu said.

He noted that dropping waste on the roads by tenements was inimical to good environmental and waste management practices.

Mr Arigbabu said, “Our waste management practice is poor. You see that a lot of our waterways are clogged with pet bottles and other waste. As cosmopolitan as Lagos is, you still find communities that empty their waste bins into the gutter when the rain falls, believing that the rainwater will take the waste away.’’

He said the need for enhanced waste management enlightenment was both by residents and government.

“As we speak now, you still find many areas in Lagos State where people are keeping their waste in the median, on the streets and if any major rain falls, all of that goes into the drainage system and becomes a nuisance for us. But the most critical is how do we stop our waste, plastic bottles, among others, from ending up in waterways or even getting to dumpsites? We know that a lot of the waste can be repurposed, recycled, or reused in ways that are more beneficial, instead of ending up in our waterways,” Mr Arigbabu stated.

He noted that flooding, especially in Lagos State, could be as a result of heavy rainfall or poor environmental management practices.

He explained that Lagos State has a large coastal front, making it open to coastal flooding due to rising sea levels.

He added, “But Lagos also suffers urban flooding; this is largely because the carrying capacity of most of our drainage is inadequate and the maintenance also is inadequate. So, many of the gutter ways are silted and they are not regularly desilted, and sometimes when it is done, it is a bit late.’’

He noted that the recent forecast for Lagos showed that the state would experience both coastal and urban flooding.

“Not only are we going to experience coastal flooding, which we cannot do much about, but we can help the people to reduce the impact on them. But the biggest challenge for Lagos has to do with urban flooding, a lot of which is due to flash flooding from poor waste management that has clogged our water drainage systems.  We need to pay more attention; we need to increase the carrying capacity of our drainage system; the network needs to improve. We need to improve on the management and these are the responsibilities for LGAs, state government and resident associations as well,” Mr Arigbabu said.

He said the recent flood outlook followed a trajectory that had recurred in the last decade.

“What we must be able to acknowledge is that Nigeria is improving in terms of its ability to forecast climate events. What has, however, not improved is our response. How is it that year in, year out, flooding is predicted? how come it continues to have the same impact on people?” Mr Arigbabu said.

(NAN)