Lagos State may go into extinction in the next 32 years if the devastation occasioned by erosion in the Lekki coastal community was not halted, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) has warned.
NCF, a non-governmental organization, said the Federal Government must, as a matter of national emergency, devise a programme of action to protect the shorelines.
Chairman, National Executive Council of the foundation, Chief Ede Dafinone and the Director-General, Dr. Muhtari Aminu-Kano as well as NCF Council member and renowned Environmentalist, Desmond Majekodunmi spoke at the weekend during a press conference on Lagos Beach Erosion.
The foundation also presented video evidence to show the speed at which the shoreline has been eroded.
The Victoria Island axis of the Lekki was protected following the construction of Eko Atlantic City which drives the erosion Eastward.
Daily Trust recalls that following the alarm raised by the NCF on the devastating erosion on the coastline, the Lagos State Government in 2013 constructed 15 groins that protected the coast for up to 14 kilometers.
NCF Executive Director, Technical Programmes, Dr. Joseph Onoja in a presentation said following the pause in the construction of groins, the beach is being eroded due to the East-West currents of the Atlantic Ocean.
He disclosed that between December 2017 and July, 2018, 47-meter length of the beach has been eroded.
According to him, based on experts’ prediction as the erosion threatens to break through, Lagos may be under water by 2030 and eventually vanish in 2050.
Onoja said: “The scary part of it is that once the beachhead is eroded, it goes to the lower part. You can imagine what would happen. It took 24 hours for a whole community to be wiped off in Kuramo beach. So a strong wave can do this.
“We have only 45 meters remaining for the beachhead to be eroded. If this happens, first the groundwater will be contaminated by salt water and livelihoods would be affected, biodiversity would be affected. Both humans and the environment would be seriously affected.”
Chief Dafinone called on the Federal Government to support the Lagos State Government in protecting the shorelines by deploying more groins up to Escravos in Delta State, saying, “Nobody can predict the actual speed of this erosion”.
On his part, Aminu-Kano called for a more holistic, long-range environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the coastline, saying, “Erecting groins is not the only solution but the only visible for now. It is less expensive and less technologically challenging. We need to plant more trees also”.
He advised that the ecological funds of the Federal Government should be channeled towards this initiative of protecting the shorelines.
Majekodunmi said hundreds and thousands of Coconut trees on the Lekki beach have been washed away due to the unceasing erosion. “Other countries are protecting their shorelines. We too must protect our shorelines. We can just be sitting and waiting for the worst to happen”, he said.
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