By Idowu Quadri
Barely 24 hours before the Eid-il-fitr festival, at least, one person has been killed in Lagos while about 20 others have been washed away with their fate hanging in the balance as the Atlantic Ocean surged today in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria,NAN quoted the Mr. Femi Oke-Osayintolu, General Manager of The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, as confirming the incident, which he said occurred midnight when those affected were sleeping in their make shift houses at the water front.
The Lagos State Government had recently ordered that all shanties at the water front be removed as they constitute not only environmental hazard and shame to the tourist potentials of the state but pose dangers to the lives of those living at the illegal structures.
Reports say that other rescue workers have joined in the efforts as but with the fury of the ocean, their efforts have yielded no further fruits in their searches.
A source in the Governor’s Office told the Nigeria Politics Online this evening that the governor is poised to issue fresh directives to go tough on those defying government orders and continue to live illegally at the waterfronts.
The problems of waterfront residents have posed major frictions between governments and human rights campaigners who accuse government of insensitivity to the plights of the less privileged who make a living in front of the beaches.
The governments of Lagos and Rivers States have in recent times confronted strong challenges trying to dislodge those illegally occupying such places.
Culled from Nigeria Politics online http://www.nigeriapoliticsonline.com/theContent.aspx?id=1867&page_id=3