Hours after floods ravaged many communities in Lagos, the State Government has apologised to residents and commuters over the losses recorded after their religious houses, communities and markets were submerged by water in the state.
It said that the flooding recorded across the state were not totally manmade action but nature which placed Lagos in the geographical location and also taking its full course on the resident.
This apology came amid criticism from the Lagos chapter of the Labour Congress (LP) which described the flood scenes as clear evidence that the All Progressives Congress (APC) led administration in Lagos do not have the leadership qualities to resolve challenges confronting the state.
The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources Tokunbo Wahab, gave the apology on Thursday while responding the questions from journalist after floods took over communities in the state.
He said: “I will start by saying to Lagosians, ‘We are sorry for the inconvenience caused due to nature’s cause yesterday morning”.
Wahab, apparently responding to criticism from the opposition parties over the flooding, stated that floods recorded across Lagos were not due to the government’s lack of planning.
“It’s not for failure to plan that we had what happened yesterday. 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.”
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.”
During the rainfall yesterday, motorists were in gridlock and commuters were seen stranded as the torrential rains which lasted for hours halted economic activities in Nigeria’s commercial capital.
Many who had defied the downpour had left their homes hoping to get to work. But most of them were stuck at bus stops while trying to move around the city.
The Iyana-Oworo-Olopomeji area heading to the Third Mainland Bridge was among the areas heavily flooded, causing a gridlock that extended to Alapere in the coastal city.
In response, the Lagos State Government said it had deployed teams across the city to manage the floods and mitigate its impacts.
