Environment and development in coastal regions and in small islands

NIOMR Identifies Environmental Hazards

Flooding and erosion have been identified as the two major environmental hazards plaguing the Nigerian coastal area.

The revelation was made on Tuesday by the Director of the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), Lagos, Dr. T. O. Ajayi at Media and Public Forum on Drainage Channel and Flooding Problems in Lagos: A Case Study of the Victoria and Ikoyi Islands

Ajayi said that, flooding had caused severe environmental problems in low-lying coastal areas, including the Victoria and Ikoyi Islands. He explained that one of the research prioritis of the institute's mandate was focused on the Nigerian coastal zone.

The Director stated that the institute had been monitoring the coastal areas since it was created, targeting the physical, chemical, biological as well as the geological process that impact on the environment.

According to him, in the year 2003, Africa would have the largest population increase and that a greater percentage of the population would be living in the coast line.

Adding his voice, Dr. Baral of the Coast and Small Islands (CSI) United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisations (UNESCO), revealed that about two third of the world's urban population were situated within 500 km of the coastal regions and that a majority of them had been developed as port cities.

The UNESCO representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. Emmanuel Apea, in his presentation, reminded the media on the need to sensitise the masses on reasonable drainage habit. Said he, "the idea of public campaign is very important because if we do not carry our people along in whatever plans we have for the environment we are not likely to succeed".

In his own remark, the Lagos State Commissioner for Works, Mr. R. Aregbosola, said that the government was determined to make Lagos flood free.

Also speaking, the Lagos State Commissioner for Environmental and Physical Planning, Mr. I. K. Anibaba blamed the problem of drainage in the state on Lagosians who "are fond of erecting illegal structures in unauthorised places and those who have formed the habit of emptying their refuse into the drainage whenever it rains in Lagos".

Zebulon Agomuo, Chief Sub-Editor, Post Express - 8 June 2000