Climate Watch: Lagos special adviser on drainages apologises as flood ravages communities

Despite directly impacting our communities, health and livelihood, climate-related reports usually take a back seat to dominant news beats like politics and business. Climate Watch aims to kensure you never miss important stories on climate change and actions being taken towards limiting its impact.

Here is a round-up of last week’s climate stories:

• Following the heavy downpour and flooding being experienced in Lagos in the past days, Joe Igbokwe, special adviser on drainage and water resources to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, has apologised to Lagos residents. In a statement on Sunday, he said the state is aware of the loss residents have incurred as a result, apologised for the “pains and tears.” He, however, said residents of the state were building on flood plains and dumping refuse inside drainages. He added that efforts of the state government will yield results if residents do their part.

• In a related development, some persons have been declared missing following a recent flood in the Oyatoki area of Agege, Lagos state. Ibrahim Farinloye, zonal coordinator, south-west, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said the incident involved two vehicles — a Lexus jeep carrying three persons and a Toyota with three occupants. Farinloye said six persons were reported to have been swept away when rainwater overflowed an uncompleted canal in the area. He, however, said three of the victims were rescued. Read more here.

• Following the heavy depletion of Nigeria’s forests, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) said Nigeria needs to plant over 350 million trees annually to check deforestation. Muhtari Aminu-Kano, NCF director-general, said Nigeria loses 350,000 to 400,000 hectares of forest every year with a lot of consequences for climate change and rising temperature levels. He added that the NCF flagship project called ‘Green Recovery Nigeria’, aims to focus on reforestation.

• As part of its remediation efforts, the federal government has allocated the sum of N449,250,040.50 for the construction of a “centre of excellence” in the Niger Delta. Mohammed Abdullahi, minister of environment, said the project is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s objectives to fulfil his promise to the Ogoni people. He added that the environmental project will promote the availability of job opportunities in the area. Find out more here.

• Researchers in Finland say they have found a solution to green energy’s storage problem. Markku Ylönen and Tommi Erone have installed the world’s first fully working “sand battery”, which can reportedly store power from renewable energy sources. They said the innovation could solve the problem of year-round supply of renewable energy such as solar and wind. Read the report here.