By Femi Akinola
”Over the years, our coastal communities have been challenged and devastated by ocean surge, especially the Okunde and OkunAjah areas in Lekki, with several houses destroyed, and communities going into extinction,” so said Lagos State Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Yacoob Alebiosu.
The Commissioner disclosed that coastal erosion was a serious issue in Lagos State that could lead to loss of lives and property if not properly put into check now.
He made the statement at weekend when he played host to a trade delegation from Netherlands (Holland), led by the Consular Genearl of the Netherlands Embassy in Lagos, Michel Deleen.
According to the Commissioner, the depletion of these coastal communities has continue unabated owing to ocean surge triggered by several activities along the coastline.
Prior to the visit by the Netherland’s trade delegation, Alebiosu has briefed the media that the state government planned using groynes, a low wall built out into the sea to prevent the shore’s sand and stones being washed away from the beach.
Going by the Commissioner’s explanation on what need to be done quickly to safe the threatened communities such as Idotun, Origanrigan, Olomowewe, Itoke, and Asoroko in Ibeju-Lekki area of the state, the state government has adopted the latest cheap grone technology to protect and preserve these coastline communities from going into extinction.
” We are looking at reclamation and also protecting what is left of these villages. We have some groynes at the moment around Okunde; that is the Great Wall. We want to block the groynes to relieve the pressure in that area.
”We want to move from Alpha Beach to Ibeju-Lekki, and that is about a 42-kilometre stretch that will require about 105 groynes to put in place. More than a year ago, precisely in February, to put up a groyne is about N12 billion. The total stretch of the coastline in Lagos is about 180km, which is huge. But have to continue to work at it because we need to protect the ancestral land of these people,” Alebiosu explained.
The Commissioner noted that the plan work is an expensive venture for which the state would need the assistance of the Federal Government and the private sector.
He said the state is not looking at using groynes alone noting that Lagos aims at control the sea surge in the areas listed, as it was done in Netherlands that ws a low land area like Lagos.
In the mean time, the Dutch Consular General has pledged supporting Lagos State in checking coastal erosion, especially around Makoko and the Atlantic Ocean. The diplomat expressed his concerns about the se surge causing environmenta crisis in Lagos.