Lagos Has ₦236 Billion for Environment, Yet Residents Are Swimming to Work

The Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources has a budget of ₦236 billion for 2026. Yet as torrential rainfall continues to batter the state, residents are wading through knee-deep floodwaters, schoolchildren are being ferried by boats, and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport has shut down a terminal.

On Sunday, hours of heavy rainfall submerged major roads across Gbagada, Lekki, Oshodi, Agege, Mushin, Surulere, Ikeja, and Alimosho. Flooding extended to sections of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and Lekki-Epe Expressway. Parts of the Gbagada Expressway were rendered impassable, leaving motorists stranded for hours. A two-storey building collapsed in Mushin. In Oshodi, passengers scrambled for safety as roads and sections of the bus terminal were inundated. Canals across the state were choked with plastic waste, old tyres and debris.

Residents are furious. A young woman lamented that her apartment, for which she pays ₦10 million in annual rent, was surrounded by floodwater. In Lekki, residents used boats to navigate streets, with schoolchildren ferried through floodwaters. X user #Morris_Monye wrote: “I’ve never ever seen Gbagada flooded in my life. And I was born and raised there. This is shocking”. Nollywood actress Cossy Orjiakor shared videos of floodwater around her residence, saying: “It looks like a place where a crocodile stays. I cried all night”. Social activist Scot Iguma described the flooding as “an existential threat” requiring emergency intervention. Another resident, #DavidLinus18, directly criticised the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, writing: “Tokunbo Wahab, can you just shut up and admit you and your masters’ failure?”

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Commissioner Tokunbo Wahab has responded by urging residents not to panic, describing the incident as temporary flash flooding that would recede within a few hours. He attributed the flooding to high tidal movements preventing drainage channels from discharging stormwater into the lagoon. He appealed to residents to avoid indiscriminate waste disposal, illegal land reclamation, and encroachment on drainage channels. He also ordered the demolition of illegal structures blocking drainage channels in Agungi, Ajiran, and Ikota, blaming a land-owning family for blocking a primary drainage outlet. In an interview with ARISE NEWS, he blamed “years of illegal development on wetlands and floodplains” for the worsening flooding. He insisted that flooding incidents had reduced compared with previous years.

But the numbers tell a different story. Lagos, a low-lying coastal city, is slowly sinking. A 2022 study published in the Journal of African Earth Sciences found that 89 percent of Lagos state’s coastline receded by an average of 2.8 metres per year between 1973 and 2019. Rising sea levels are eroding the coast along the Gulf of Guinea. The state has taken out a $7.5 million flood insurance policy to cover millions of people at risk. Yet with a ₦236 billion environment budget, Lagosians are still swimming to work.

For a government that can allocate billions to a ministry, the flooding continues unabated. The budget has not translated into functioning drainage systems, proper waste management, or long-term solutions to a city that is sinking. The roads remain submerged, the canals remain choked, and the residents remain trapped in their homes while the commissioner blames illegal structures and tidal movements. That is the reality Lagosians are left to live with.

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