CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land (Wikipedia 2011a). Floods are among the most devastating natural disasters in the world, claiming more lives and causing more property damage than any other natural phenomena. In Lagos metropolis, though not leading in terms of claiming lives, flood affects and displaces more people than any other disaster it also causes more damage to properties. At least 20 per cent of the population is at risk from one form of flooding or another (Etuonovbe, 2011). When such floods occur in the cities it is referred to as Urban Flooding.
Generally, Flood is caused by two major factors which involve the human and man-made factors, these factors obviously are responsible for the generation and continuous occurrence of flooding in the environment, and at any point negatively affect the environment at large.
The impact of flooding may be a worldwide phenomenon, but the effects are more devastating in African cities stated (Niasse, 2004). Lagos is not an exception given their prevailing socio-economic problems in the area of housing in the urban areas. Urban areas will be faced with increases in the frequency and intensity of heavy rainstorms, ocean surges and other extreme weather events. The urban centers that will be more at risk are those where these events are already widespread.
Etuonovbe (2011) sited that flooding may occur when water in the river overflows its banks, or sometimes results from a torrential rainfall due to climate change. It happens without warning but with a surprise package that always delivers to unprepared community like the ones in the Lagos metropolis i.e Ikorodu, Victoria Island, kosofe Ajegunle, Bariga, Makoko, Ibafo-Mowe and so on. In Lagos metropolis, flood disaster has been perilous to people, communities and institutions. Recently, and other parts of the country have been affected by flooding, chasing the inhabitants away and retarding commercial activities. It has shattered both the built-environment and underdeveloped areas. It has claimed many lives, and thousands of properties got lost due to its occurrences. One prominent feature about it is that flooding does not discriminate, but marginalizes whosoever refuses to prepare for its occurrence (UNHabitat, 2008).
Wetlands, according to Carter (1981) are ‘land transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water level is usually at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water. Willard and Rezneat (1982) also defined wetlands as those areas, which are capable of supporting water related vegetation. Wetlands can be identified by the presence of those plants (hydrophytes) that are adapted to life in the soils that form under flooded or saturated conditions, According to Turner (1990) wetland ecosystems account for about six per cent of the global land area and are considered by many authorities to be among the most threatened of all environmental resources. Both the physical extent of wetlands and their quality (in terms of species diversity, etc.) have declined greatly over the past years (Turner, 1990). Most of the physical losses have been due to the conversion of wetlands to other land uses, for example residential and agricultural. However, the benefits derived from such conversion must be sustainable, environmentally friendly and tailored towards food security in the case of agricultural purposes.
The wetlands around the estuaries of Ogun River and its environs in Ikorodu/Kosofe areas of Lagos state remain unprotected. Thus, the Lower Ogun River Basin Wetlands are presently experiencing a lot of physical changes. Due to the increasing population pressure, increasing and urgent demand for food, high cost of land and the almost unavailability and unaffordable cost of land in Lagos metropolis, urban agricultural activities and other developmental processes are competing for land, especially wetlands around Ikorodu and Kosofe areas of Lagos state. McGranahan et al. (2007) noted that while economic activity and urban Development often increase the environmental pressures that lead to flooding, it is the low Income settlements and poor groups within all settlements that tend to be the most vulnerable.
Therefore, from the above observation, the vulnerability of wetlands in Lagos state to these threats from Flooding are very extensive and numerous, the fact that Lagos is an urban metropolis, in fact the Largest urban agglomeration in Africa and Africa’s most populated city with 18 million people and a Population growth rate of 6% per annum Projected at 25million people by 2015 (Odjogu, 2008). Lagos being the industrial and commercial nerve of Nigeria and the most populous nation in Africa contributes to the phenomena which makes it pertinent for all the stakeholders to bring to the fore the issue of Flooding and various mitigating and adaptive measures to cushion its effects on socio-economic activities in the Lagos State.
This research would be carried out so as to examine its extent to which the socio-economic impacts of flooding are determined in the Ikorodu/Kosofe area of Lagos state.
1.2 Statement of the Research Problem