The Lagos state government has warned that more strong winds would accompany heavy rainfall this year as predicted by its in-house meteorologists.
The government therefore warns residents in the state to be more cautious and vigilant, as there were indications. The warning is coming a week after a heavy rainstorm destroyed properties across the state and killed a number of people.
The Commissioner for Environment, Mr Tunji Bello made this known on Wednesday, at a town hall meeting where he warned that the more violent rainstorm has been predicted for the year and he warned anyone who abuses the environment will be considered “an enemy of the state and would be treated as such.”
Noting the state was aware of the impending violent storm, Mr Bello enjoined the residents to join forces with the government to minimise the impact of the storm. “If we all work together, we can minimise the impact of weather change in our state. We are expecting heavy rain this year, with wild wind and storm. Our experts told us that the rain will be heavier than that of last year” he said.
He stated that the state government has acquired state of the art weather forecasting facility and will announce ahead if there will be a storm. “We will let you know if we are going to have storm” he said, adding that the entire world has become unsafe because of climate change. “Nowhere in the world is safe due to the climatic change, but we can minimise the impact if we all work together and make our environment clean especially by stopping the habit of indiscriminate dumping of refuse in water channels.”
He warned traders, marketers and different business that are in the state to desist from the habit of throwing wastes into canals and drains which in turn blocks the flow of water in the drainage. “Markets, which violated the environmental law of the state, would be closed for three months” he said affirmatively, adding that the state had been clearing drainages and building new ones.
The state government recently shut down the Mile 12 market for a number of days, for breaking the state’s environmental laws.
