The Lagos State Government has issued an apology to residents and commuters affected by the floods, which stranded millions and submerged many areas.
“I will start by saying to Lagosians, ‘We are sorry for the inconvenience caused due to nature’s cause yesterday morning’,” the Lagos State Commissioner of Environment and Water Resources Tokunbo Wahab said on Thursday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.
Motorists faced gridlock and commuters were stranded due to hours of torrential rains that disrupted economic activities in Nigeria’s commercial capital.
Critics pointed out the government’s failure to implement effective flood prevention measures, especially considering similar incidents in previous years.
However, the commissioner stated that the floods were not attributable to government planning failures.
“It’s not for failure to plan that we had what happened yesterday,” Tokunbo said. “No, it was nature taking its full course. And we are sorry for those whose lives were disrupted: they could not go to work, they could not go to their marketplaces, they couldn’t go to school.”
‘Mitigate Impact’
According to him, the Lagos State Government had prepared for the situation and had early in the day deployed a team to manage the floods.
“Emergency teams were on the ground since around 4 a.m. I’ve been up since around 4 a.m. yesterday,” the commissioner said.
He noted that the impacts of the floods were managed a few hours after and insisted that, “Nature will take its course. What we have to do is to mitigate the impact of nature on the environment. And that was what we did yesterday.”
Wednesday’s rainfall commenced early, catching residents off guard before they began their daily routines.
Despite braving the downpour, many had left their homes with the intention of commuting to work, only to find themselves stranded at bus stops across the city.
Areas like Iyana-Oworo-Olopomeji, leading to the Third Mainland Bridge, experienced significant flooding, resulting in extensive gridlock stretching to Alapere in the coastal city.
In response, the Lagos State Government announced it had dispatched teams throughout the city to address the floods and minimize their effects.