Our mega-city is drowning in systemic negligence
By Sofiyyah Layole
As the seasonal rains intensify across Nigeria, the resulting floods and environmental degradation serve as a painful, annual mirror reflecting our collective failure—from both government agencies and the citizenry—to prepare for nature’s most predictable pattern.
Year after year, the flooding crisis deepens, claiming lives, homes, and properties in major states like Lagos, Niger, Rivers, and Anambra. This is no longer merely an issue of climate change or shifting weather patterns; it is a profound crisis of accountability, policy inaction, and environmental governance.
The impact of heavy downpours is exponentially worsened by a confluence of human and structural factors. Failing drainage systems, indiscriminate waste disposal, weakly enforced environmental policies, and unregulated urban development continue to transform a natural event into a national disaster.
Lagos, celebrated as a vibrant mega-city and one of Africa’s largest economies, is ironically drowning in its own refuse. Given its economic status, one would expect the city to be moving toward a “circular economy,” where waste is minimized and actively converted into wealth. Instead, our aesthetic is defined by overflowing dumpsites, gutters choked with plastic, and heaps of rotting refuse at every major junction. This glaring disconnect between our developmental ambitions and our environmental consciousness is suffocating the city.
A lifestyle change is imperative, but it cannot be placed solely on the citizens. While individual responsibility conscious waste disposal and community clean-ups is the starting line, the government must move past annual flood warnings to sustained, consistent action. This includes rigorous, year-round drainage maintenance, strict enforcement of environmental laws, and the creation of viable, large-scale waste-to-wealth systems that make recycling and responsible disposal the economic norm, not an inconvenient option.
Beyond poor waste management, the most striking reflection of our environmental negligence is the persistent, politically sanctioned habit of building on natural waterways and coastlines. In Lagos, the aggressive drive for urban expansion and luxury real estate has come at a devastating ecological cost. Vast areas designated as natural drainage channels have been recklessly reclaimed for construction, leaving rainwater with nowhere to go but back into streets and homes.
The urbanization of Lagos has reached an unprecedented scale, with recent sandfilling projects stretching the city’s landmass from roughly 3,577 square kilometers to over 4,050 square kilometers. While these statistics may signal economic development on paper, they represent a growing environmental imbalance in reality. Natural wetlands and coastal buffers that once acted as the city’s sponges absorbing excess water have been buried under concrete, disrupting the delicate hydrological system that keeps the city stable.
From Lekki to Victoria Island, and the ambitious Eko Atlantic project, these land reclamation efforts expand the coastline but critically shrink the city’s natural resilience. By replacing lagoons and wetlands with concrete, we are actively tampering with the very system that has protected us for generations. The inevitable result is increased surface runoff, higher flood intensity, and threatening saltwater intrusion.
The government has not been entirely silent, occasionally announcing the stoppage or demolition of illegal structures. Recently, buildings in Iyana Oworo were demolished due to the environmental threat they posed.
However, this raises the critical question that environmental leaders refuse to answer: How were such massive structures allowed to stand in the first place? Permits are not granted overnight, and environmental impact assessments are mandated to precede every approval. The presence and eventual demolition of these structures suggest a profound systemic failure not just of law enforcement, but of environmental governance itself. Policies exist robustly in principle, but they vanish when faced with the practice of corruption and short-term financial gain.
The bitter truth is that flooding in our city is no longer a natural disaster; it is a man-made crisis born from chronic neglect and poor, often corrupt, planning. Until we collectively choose to act, demanding accountability from those who issue permits and prioritizing our environment as much as we pursue economic growth, the cycle will continue. And the rains will keep washing away more than just dirt; they will wash away our progress.