The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) has warned that the Lekki-Epe corridor, including the Lekki Conservation Centre (LCC) and the estates surrounding it, may be washed away by 2024 if nothing is done to check ocean encroachment there.
The Director General (DG) of NCF, Dr. Joseph Onoja, gave the warning recently in Lagos, at an event to mark the 40th anniversary of the foundation and award night.
Onoja said about 128 metres of land had been lost to the ocean between 2018 and 2022.
He noted that ocean encroachment if left unchecked, was an existential threat to the collective existence of the Lekki-Epe corridor.
While taking his audience through his presentation, Onoja said the foundation had been painstakingly tracking the ocean’s movement since 2018, using its active drone images, comparing it with google images.
He further explained that they have started taking active drone images in 2018, especially the Lafiaji axis, adding that a redline (marked position) as at August 25, 2022, was gradually becoming part of the ocean.
According to him, “We continued to track the movement between 2020 and 2021. By July, 2021, our reference house had gotten close to the ocean. By August 25, 2022, the ocean could just be seen beside the house. Now, from our projection and from what is happening, if everything remains constant, our referenced redline will remain just by the ocean in 2026.
“However, things are not equal, we have already been beaten by the beachhead. By our projection, if nothing is done, by 2024, the ocean would have reached the lower part of the terrain and the ocean will flow freely and meet us on the Lekki-Epe expressway. That is the reality we are facing.”
Onoja, who noted that LCC had more built up houses and estates around it, added that the tendency for the ocean to wipe all of the houses was very high if nothing was done.
He, therefore, appealed to the Lagos State Government (LASG) for assistance to forestall the occurrence.
Ugo Aliogo
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