17th February, 2012
Lagos State Government has urged residents of the various housing schemes in the State to plant trees in order to minimize the effects of violent storms and other natural disasters.
The Commissioner for Housing Mr. Bosun Jeje gave this advice during a visit to assess the extent of the damage done by the recent rainstorm to Government Housing Estates.
According to the Commissioner, tree planting is now so important because of the recurring issue of climate change and its attendant repercussion on the built environment.
The President of the Oke-Afa Estate Resident Association, Mr Dele Oyemade, who was on hand to show the Commissioner around lamented that the devastation affected houses, hospitals, schools and fences.
He appealed to the state government to quickly come to the aid of the victims since most of the residents are retirees.
Jeje assured the resident that the present administration in Lagos State led by Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola is a listening government and would do everything to bring succour to residents affected by the storm.
Jeje advised the residents on the importance of participating in paying the property insurance scheme designed to take care of disasters and other emergency situations such as this.
According to the Commissioner, the lesson to be learnt from the disaster is that “residents need to cultivate the habit of paying a token amount of N2,200 annually as insurance premium and enjoy the benefits in situation such as this”
If the perpetuity insurance premium is paid then government intervention would not be the only solution to minimizing the effect of such devastation on the residents.
Describing the heavy storm as an unfortunate natural disaster, Jeje noted that residents should be prepared to do little things such as tree planting and payment of insurance premium to reduce the consequences of future violent storms and heavy rains on buildings.
He also encouraged the victims to commence repair works in order not to unnecessarily expose themselves and their property to further damages in the event of another rain.