Fear returns to Lagos with every downpour. And for the Allied Peoples Movement, the state’s recurring floods are no longer an act of nature, but the price residents are paying for years of official neglect.
The party, in a strongly worded statement on Monday, accused the Lagos State Government of a “glaring failure” to protect the lives and property of residents, as floodwaters once again swept through communities from one end of the state to the other.
Signed by its State Publicity Secretary, Ayodele Kazeem, the statement said it was unacceptable that every rainfall throws Lagos communities into fear and uncertainty.
“From Alimosho to Ikorodu, Agege to Oshodi, Lekki to Epe, Badagry to Surulere, roads become impassable, homes are submerged, businesses are shut down, vehicles are damaged, and families are displaced,” the party said.
It lamented that hardworking Lagosians had continued to count heavy losses to a disaster that has become an annual occurrence.
According to APM, the persistent flooding can no longer be blamed on the weather alone. The party traced the crisis to years of poor urban planning, inadequate drainage infrastructure, weak environmental enforcement, and what it called the government’s failure to act despite repeated warnings from experts.
As the state’s main opposition voice, the party demanded that the government move beyond seasonal warnings to immediate and sustainable action. It called for drainage channels to be comprehensively cleared and expanded, ongoing flood control projects to be completed without delay, and planning rules to be enforced to stop the obstruction of waterways.
The party also pressed the government to provide urgent relief to families and business owners whose homes, shops and properties had been destroyed.
“The economic hardship facing Nigerians is already severe, and the additional burden imposed by preventable flooding is unbearable,” it said.
While holding the government responsible, APM appealed to residents to stop dumping refuse in drains and canals, describing environmental sanitation as a shared responsibility. The party stressed, however, that citizens could not be blamed for institutional failures, insisting that the duty of providing functional infrastructure rests squarely with the government.
It said Lagosians deserved a government that plans ahead rather than one that reacts with “sympathy visits and media statements” after lives and property have been lost.
The party vowed to keep speaking truth to power and demanding accountability, declaring that “the time for excuses has passed.”
“Lagos deserves better, and the people must no longer be subjected to avoidable suffering each time the rains come,” the statement concluded.
