The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) has warned that the Lekki-Epe corridor and the estates surrounding it may be washed away by 2024 if nothing is done to check the ocean encroachment.
The warning was given at an event to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the foundation and award night held on Saturday, November 19, 2022, in Lagos by Dr Joseph Onoja, Director-General of NCF.
According to Onoja, about 128 metres of land have been lost to the ocean between 2018 and 2022 and the ocean encroachment, if left unchecked, is an existential threat to the collective existence of the Lekki-Epe corridor.
Onoja said the foundation had been painstakingly tracking the ocean movement since 2018, using its active drone images and comparing them with google images.
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“We started taking active drone images in 2018, especially the Lafiaji axis,” Onoja said.
Speaking further, Onoja said that as of August 25, 2022, the house that was marked as a reference point in 2018 was gradually becoming part of the ocean.
“Now from our projection and from what is happening, if everything remains constant, our referenced redline will remain just by the ocean in 2026,” he said. “However, things are not equal, we have already been beaten by the beachhead.
He further said that “by our projection, if nothing is done, by 2024 the ocean will have reached the lower part of the terrain and the ocean will flow freely and meet us on the Lekki-Epe Expressway,”.
He, therefore, appealed to the Lagos State Government for assistance to forestall this occurrence.
“We are ready to collaborate with the LASG and the Federal Government to see that the reality on the ground does not lead to a humanitarian, ecological and national disaster,” he said.
Story was adapted from environnewsnigeria.
