Lagos State may face the risk of being submerged by rising sea levels if urgent measures are not taken, according to Obafemi Hamzat, the state Deputy Governor.
Hamzat made this statement at the opening of a Strategic Stakeholders Meeting held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, GRA, Ikeja, on Wednesday.
He expressed concerns about the city’s vulnerability due to its geography, population density, and proximity to water.
“Lagos State, because of our geography, because of our population, because of our size—we are 22 million; we occupy only 0.4% or less than 0.38% of the landmass of Nigeria, and we are responsible for 10% of the people—so there is a mismatch, and we have a 180-kilometer shoreline, so we are surrounded by water,” Hamzat said.
The Deputy Governor also cited the United Kingdom and New York City as places where people are already moving away to safer areas because of climate change, noting that, “Today, Lagos, New York City, they are sinking.”
He stressed that Lagos is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns.
These factors, Hamzat warned, could lead to severe flooding in the coming decades, pleading that “in the next 20–25 years, our priorities must change. So I should be able to say this and that estate must go. So how do we make the laws? If not, our state is threatened.
“So how do we come together as a people to look at this existential threat to our survival, to protect our state, and change our laws? Our lawyers must know it, and our judges must know it for us to survive. In the city of New York now, they’ve stopped high-rise approval for the next few years because the city is sinking. They are smart!”
Hamzat added that poor land management exacerbates the state’s vulnerability, saying, “So the biggest challenge is how do we manage our laws? So when you say the land-owning family, what does that mean? Should we not define it?
“To build the red line, we paid compensation of N9bn without doing anything—we’ve not bought anything, just to move people away—and that’s why most states cannot do it. It’s not possible. So, Lagos is the only state in the world that has done something like that—like a rail on our balance sheet. Others require Federal involvement.
“In the UK, 14 per cent of London city belongs to the city government, while the rest is managed by the Federal Government. New York’s underground system is the same. So how do we manage our lands? If our Ministry of Justice, our lawyers, and our judges don’t have a proper understanding that the future of our children is threatened when these cases come to court, then we are missing the point.”
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