By Abdullahi Lukman
The Lagos State Government has announced a comprehensive flood management plan that will integrate estate lakes, canals, and pumps into a citywide system over the next 24 months, targeting flood-prone areas and tide-locked zones.
Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, shared the details via his official X account, outlining a phased strategy aimed at reducing flood risks and increasing urban resilience.
The initiative will establish a Blue-Green Network to connect estate lakes, canals, and green corridors, which will temporarily store and gradually release rainwater, helping prevent drainage system overload during heavy rainfall.
As part of the medium-term goals, the government plans to install flap gates and pilot pumps at tide-sensitive outfalls, and will intensify enforcement of canal rights-of-way. This builds on ongoing canal restoration and drain maintenance work.
Between 2023 and 2025, Wahab noted that the state has maintained approximately 579 km of secondary collectors across 693 sites, along with 309 km of primary channels.
Emergency Flood Action Group (EFAG) teams have also cleared 444 km of drains, and 40.3 km of encroached channels have been restored.
A total of 218 new drainage channels are under construction, projected to add 1,500 km to the city’s network.
In the short term, the state is enhancing silt and trash removal at key choke points, installing debris screens on culverts, and piloting on-plot and estate lake detention systems for stormwater storage.
Long-term plans (over the next 2 to 8 years) include installing pumped drainage cells in low-lying areas, finalizing secondary-drain designs, locking in drainage easements, restoring key wetlands, and updating building codes to require on-site water retention systems in major developments.
Wahab emphasized that Lagos’ flat, coastal geography makes it especially vulnerable to flash flooding, and said the state’s phased approach—combining short-, medium-, and long-term measures—is designed to reduce disruptions while adapting to the growing impacts of climate change.
