Lagos State Partners World Bank On Emergency, Risk Management

Lagos State Government on Wednesday announced its partnership with the World Bank to enhance emergency and risk management in the state.

The state’s Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Hon. Tokunbo Wahab, who disclosed this during a strategic business meeting with a team on Nigeria Disaster Risk Management from the World Bank at Alausa, Ikeja, stated that the collaboration underscores the government’s commitment to building resilience and reducing vulnerability to disasters and risks.

According to him, the Lagos State government is continually taking concrete steps to put infrastructure in place, both physical infrastructure and human resources, with the hindsight that Lagos is a coastal state prone to flash flooding.

He added that the state is bounded in the south by 486 kilometres of the Atlantic and about 25 per cent of Lagos’ land is water, saying these are natural realities that expose the state to flash flooding.

Wahab said that the state government usually send out early warning signals regarding some risk issues in the state, adding that these warning signs help to plan for the issue of sea level rise, and communicate to the neighbouring communities that may be affected.

He said that later this month, with respect to the NiMeT’s rainfall forecast, the government would communicate the early warning signs to residents and some other agencies, including LASEMA, as well as the state command and control centre.

Wahab said that what the ministry had done differently was not just to ramp up the infrastructure but also ensure the continuous cleaning/dredging of the primary, secondary, and tertiary manholes across the state all year round.

He added that Lagos State chose to ban single-use plastics some time ago, even when some countries in Europe had not banned it, but the state had to do it because of its peculiarities, saying that the state is willing, ready and open to work with the World Bank.

Also speaking, Commissioner for Economy Planning and Budget, Mosope George, expressed appreciation to the World Bank for the partnership, saying that the collaboration is expected to bring together experts from both organisations to identify areas of high risk and develop strategies to mitigate them.

He said that the initiative would involve the development of early warning systems, emergency response plans, and public awareness campaigns to educate residents on disaster risk reduction and management.

The Team Lead and Senior Disaster Management Specialist, World Bank, Francis Nkonka, who spoke earlier, said part of the engagement is on emergency preparedness and response, adding that the World Bank is set to effectively align with the state through technical and investment support on risk management.

He said the team had earlier visited government agencies in the fire and rescue unit, where their needs in terms of facilities, equipment, personnel, information systems, data collection, among others, were highlighted.