Government issues quit notice to Lekki residents, others over flooding

As environmental experts have predicted intense flooding across the country this year, the Federal Government has directed residents of flood prone areas to relocate to safer places to avoid impending danger including loss of lives and property.

Recall that in recent weeks, the incessant rainfall in Lagos State left many houses flooded, leaving several properties and belongings destroyed in its wake particularly and mostly hit were residents of the Lekki axis of the state.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), in their rainfall prediction and flood outlook for 2017, had listed local council areas in almost all the states of the federation as likely to be affected by flooding.

Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari, who gave the advice, while speaking with newsmen, said residents of the states and councils listed should take it seriously by taking measures to move out of the areas in the first instance to safeguard assets and property in and around the area.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Multiple explosion hits Maiduguri

Abari also urged Nigerians to, “adopt simple environmental safeguards, including opening of waterways and stopping the dumping of refuse in gutters, among others.”

He further warned Nigerians to, “stop building houses along designated water channels to avoid blockage that could cause flooding and brace up to their responsibility of clearing drainages and possibly invoke environmental laws towards flood mitigation in the country.”

The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, had said that approximately 30 states and over 100 local government areas including coastal areas such as Lagos, Port Harcourt and Calabar were categorised as high flood risk areas and therefore should expect flooding.