Press Releases

Rainy Season: Fashola Calls On Lagosians To Clear Drains
• Says EIU Report on Lagos has positive sides

Feb 22, 2010 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Monday called on Lagos residents to clear drains and flood channels in their environment in order to mitigate the effect of heavy flood expected to accompany the rains this year.

Governor Fashola, who made the call while fielding questions from the audience at the Blue Roof Hall, LTV 8 venue of a public forum to commemorate the 1000 days in office of the Babatunde Fashola-led Administration with the theme, “Repositioning the Public Service for Effective Service Delivery: Towards a Model Mega-City State”, said the global Climate Change is already manifesting in the country in the form of extreme weather conditions adding that just as extreme heat is being experienced in the country, extreme rain will follow shortly.

He explained that currently, the whole of Europe and America has been taken over by snow pointing out that the snow will eventually melt into the seas and oceans, including the Atlantic Ocean, causing a rise in water levels which will in turn overflow into creeks and drains causing flood.

Governor Fashola said on the part of Government, everything is being done to prepare for the rains pointing out that one of the steps being taken is the clearing of drains, canals and flood channels around the State as well as the on-going construction of more drains to de-flood the flood-prone areas across the State.

Citing Gbagada as an example of a previously flood-prone area that has been completely de-flooded, the Governor declared, “even the former River LUTH has completely disappeared”, adding that although Lagos State is a coastal State and flood-prone, with the cooperation of everyone, the effect of flood will be greatly mitigated in the State this rainy season.

“We are moving to other areas like Ijora, Ilasamaja, Mushin and other areas to construct more drains to mitigate the effect of flood. We call on all of you to join this army of drain cleaners and ensure that your refuse disposal is done in a proper manner”, the Governor said adding that with the cooperation of everyone, flooding would be effectively reduced in the State.

Affirming that that every member of the Lagos State Public Service is insured under the State’s Insurance Policy, the Governor said his administration is in the process of making entry and access to the State’s Insurance scheme easy to be utilized by every Public Servant.

“A lot of public enlightenment will be used where necessary to enlighten the public servants on how to access the Policy with the Lags State Insurance Company LASACO”, the Governor said.

On the issue of affordable Housing for workers, Governor Fashola said the cost of building houses has gone up from what it used to be in the past pointing out that the Government sees Mortgage Scheme as the only sure way to make house available to all categories of workers.

He explained that contrary to popular belief, the housing estates built by former Governor Lateef Jakande were on mortgage and not free adding that even then the nation’s currency, the Naira, was at par with the Pound and Dollar and building materials were cheaper and easily affordable.

The Governor, however, expressed the commitment of his administration to ensuring that every Lagosian will be able to afford a roof over his or her head under his administration’s Mortgage Scheme, adding that the only qualification is to have a job.

Governor Fashola, while responding to a question on the recent ranking of the State by the Economic Intelligence Unit, said 2010 EIU Report is a challenge to the State to do more to improve its ranking adding that the fact that Lagos was the only State in Nigeria mentioned in the report is a plus to the State.

According to Governor Fashola who said he took time to review the report for the previous two years, although Lagos ranked among the last countries, it is significant that it competed with cities in America, Canada, Australia and about nine African countries adding that Lagos can only do better by improving its ranking.

“First of all the report was about 140 cities across the world. There are clearly over 153 countries of the world and some countries have more than one city in the report. I think about 12 United States’ cities, three or four Canadian cities and three or four Australian cities featured in the report and I think there are nine African countries that were in the report. Lagos is the only city in Nigeria that featured in the report”, the Governor said.

According to him, “We are being ranked against about 140 cities out of many other cities across the world. We are in the first 140 cities. Ghana was not in the report. Accra was not ranked. Lagos was the only city in Nigeria that was ranked. Our challenge, therefore, is to come out of the ranking and do more purposeful things to improve our ranking. But I think it is a plus rather than a minus”.

The questions came from the members of the State’s Public Service, the fire service, and the media among others.