 The clear state of emergency on affected areas, says PTOB, as Minister of Works and Housing, Fashola, attributes this regard for town planning as cause of flooding. And Nigeria won't be stampeded by U.S.-UK travel advisories, says federal government. This is plus politics. My name is Nyam Ghul Aghaji. Of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola and his information counterpart, Lai Mohammed, have blamed the attitude of some Nigerians for a devastating flood throughout the country. They have been extensive flooding in 30 of the country's 36 states. Several people have been killed in the flood, and properties such as houses and farmlands have been destroyed. Also presidential candidate of the Labour Party, PTOB, has visited Ibi Local Government area of Tarabah state to sympathize with the flood victims in the state. Obi, during his visit, called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency on all flood affected areas across the country. Joining us live to discuss this is Oladotun Hassan, a legal practitioner and also the Secretary General of Nigeria Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders Council. Good evening and welcome to the program, Dotun. It's a pleasure to be on your program. Okay, the minister has blamed the flooding on Nigerians. Do you tell his part or you have a different opinion to this? Well, you know, it's an unfortunate scenario for a global issue that is related to climate change effect and the lackadaisical attitude of our government in being responsive to managing an emergency crisis as we have on the issue of the spirit of flooding that we currently faced with in about 30 of the 36 states of the federation, and they're still counting. So it's quite an unbearable pain for a lot of Nigerians at this critical point in time. And for Nigerians to receive the blame from government is highly irresponsible, is unethical. It does not show that sympathy, that empathy from the government. So inasmuch that there is a need for attitudinal change and corrections on how issues are to be managed, issues of flooding, even in law, it's, you know, it is called first major because these are issues you, it is beyond human control, these are issues of environment. And in dealing with it, government must be able to draw up a line of rescue, of repairs, of also ensuring the life of the people that are affected are placed back on the right path. So if the government is trying to draw up a line of blame on the people, to me and to several Nigerians, it does not show the empathy for it's not just the federal government issue. This is a national war that has been declared by nature. So and for us to rescue ourselves, we need to put up all emergency risk management techniques in rescuing the affected people, especially ensuring that there is adequate fund. We know we have the ecological fund, but a lot of all these are siphoned and, you know, it goes to private hands. So in this respect, these are areas of intervention that government needs to really come to rescue, provide IDP camps that will be beatable, not just IDP camps that will look like a a poetry. We need to put people's lives in good condition. IDP that we are talking about is to having like a five-star hotel, three-star hotel, whereby you can accommodate people conveniently within the period of this disaster. So Nigerians ought to be treated well at this time. So it is for me to correct that on us, on behalf of all Nigerians, that we, the government who was that apology for making it look as if it is our blame as Nigerians to elect them in power in order to do what they are supposed to do. These kind of issues require government to be proactive. How are they going to be proactive? Clearing of drainages, also have been done right before now. Ensuring the road networks in various communities are properly drawn up. You go to some communities today, there is no drainage, there is no proper road channels, there are no proper town planning. So this will accumulate to the risk when there is disaster of this nature. And they should understand this is not a disaster whereby you have to blame the other party or you have to blame the government or you have to blame a political party for it. No, this is our collective responsibility and we must show empathy and love. Those that have money, they reach in developed countries or even not those developed countries where there is love, you see individuals donating materials, donating their houses, donating spaces to accommodate those that are down. So we believe this natural cause of turning things around should be part of our orientation as far as the country is concerned. And there is a need for proper information. Nigerians should not just see it as spiritual. Like in Nigeria, everything is like, oh, the world is turning, the world is ending. No, this is a global effect of global warming. And the earth is shifting. And there is an effect of how situations like this need to be managed with the agency in charge of the weather informed us earlier before now that we will be confronted with these challenges. So we ought to be prepared at least we've gotten the information less than 13 months now, over a year ago, that the information is that by next year the terrestrial rain and every flooding will be increased. So we ought to be proactive before now. But because we don't prepare, we always plan to fail in most of our scenarios. We are too eager for a five brigade approach. And that is why we've lost over 600 souls, thousands of houses maybe people, millions of people have been displaced across the country. So the essence of this is that there is a need for urgent national call. Yes, we must commend the presidential candidate of the Labour Party. But it shouldn't be a campaign slogan. Beyond him just wanting to use that, let the government, he can also play his own active role beyond visitation. This is what I've been able to mobilize, fund. That is what the people need, not just to empathize with them. Yes, the presidential candidate of the APC donated 100 million. The presidential candidate of the PDP donated 50 million. There ought to be something also from his own side too, because the essence of MPAT in time of need is how much you can stretch to rescue, not how much you can always call points in dealing with the issues at hand. So there is a need for legislative intervention, executive intervention, and also somehow if the judiciary can sue Moto, mandate the government to provide sub-tool and intervention engagement, especially in dealing with some critical sector that have been affected as a result of the flooding. You can't go to court with your full robe as a lawyer now. You can't do some other things that you are supposed to be doing on a very daily something. There must also be inconvenience bill that will be passed in order to allow contracts, every other developmental plan that this first major would have affected, then damages. How are we going to cure it? This is not just a day or a month that's going to take. It's going to take us some number of period. So this period needs to be captured. We need to know how to manage it, and we need to be deliberate in dealing with the issues. Now, but actually, first of all, we needed to find out if there was something that the individuals or the society could do, because if you just say it's a product of climate change, which means we are doomed, no matter how we see it, like the saying goes, no matter how angry the rat is, it will not stop the cat from eating it. It's as a situation we find ourselves now that no matter what we do, it is still going to be follows. Because if there is something that we can do, then there should be some people that should take some blame, apart from government. So if we are blaming the government that they didn't do some things, are there no things that the individuals could have done, the other citizens could have done to avoid this kind of flood? Take for instance, for Lagos, there are some places that you find drainages that have been made and are filled to the brim, not by government, but by the people. So by just giving a blanket explanation, it seems as if nothing can be done. Yes, you know, I've raised it in my prologue of that. It's a collective blame, not just the one-sided blame. The way the government is blaming the citizens, that's why I raise it back to the government that this is not a matter, it's a matter of shared blame. It's a shared blame because of the nowadays, where is our national orientation agency? At this critical point in time, the national orientation agency through medium, we know Lagos state government is doing a whole lot in orientation, media, pro-west in ensuring there are proper advice on no blocking of drainage, on disposal of refuse, on keeping environment clean, but inasmuch as these all are there, information is crystal clear. Citizens are lackadansical with their in-nettitude and their ideal care spirits, which they believe that they know too much. Oh, what do you have to do? Is this just this one paper I'm dropping on the indicator that will block the whole system? If you drop, another person drop, that becomes a debris. Nigerians need to be orientated, that community engagement, that is where we are now coming in now. Clearing of drainage, clearing of some community, citizens also shift and roll up their sleeves and get to work. Not just the varivator day, there are no more varivator days in Lagos, so it makes everybody more lazy that you can't even clear a gutter. When we are growing up on the Lagos Island, when it's already last Saturday of the month, you see everybody clearing gutter, you go inside with your rain boots, clear the entire drainage, and maybe before the day runs out, the waste imposter people will come, clear the entire debris and dump it at the right places. But nowadays, you go to even fine environment as beautiful as lekkie is, you still see people dumping in the gutters. And these are attitudes that people only need proper orientation from their churches, mocks, these are what we should be teaching our children at home on proper, maybe disposing of their refuse, how you need to tie it up. Because Nigerians just like quick fix, you see a lot of Nigerians as educated as they are. Once they are going in the morning, they pack all their dirty in their boots and drop it in the middle of the road. This attitude is a bad attitude and we cannot overemphasize its effect, the overall effect when we have disasters like this. Because the only thing if we are prepared, it will only mitigate a channel for the flood to pass through. But when there are no channel, the flood becomes your abattoirs, whereby you cannot longer have an escape route. So the situation that is affecting a lot of those communities is not because of this own incident we've mentioned, but mostly, just as I rightly said, is a natural cause. If it happens, the best we can always do is to pray for God to mitigate for us, but we too have duties to keep the earth clean. Okay, well, most of the things we're talking about the things we need to do when these things have already happened, like the flood has happened, but we've seen that, okay, maybe we are not hearing enough information, but the kind of flooding we've experienced in Nigeria is not the same in Cameroon, for instance, or in Niger, or in Benna Republic, which means maybe there's something they're doing better than we are doing. Now, you've talked about orientation and you give kudos to Lagos State that they've been doing some orientation and asking people not to dump refuse inside the drainages and all that, which means whatever the government is doing may not be enough. Now, you are a part of worldwide organizations, you know, you are a part of the Eurobank Council worldwide. You are also a part of the NBA and even you talked about a lawyer cannot go to the court with his robe and everything because of what is happening. And then you are also in ethnic nationalities worldwide. You are part of the youth leaders council. What will you be doing deliberately as these organizations that I've mentioned, not you as a person, but as these organizations who are supposed to be closer to the grassroots than even the government? Do you have a deliberate policy, a deliberate step that you intend to take to give the needed orientation to the people of Nigeria so that there will be more informed about how to keep their environments clean? I mean, they say 30 states out of 36, but other data is saying 32 states out of 36 and that is quite a lot of states that have been affected. So what will you be doing from here on out to make sure if this kind of a thing comes, it will not be this kind of magnitude? Well, as a matter of information, recently there is this contra summit held by the legal state government here in Beti, which is the economic summit for legal by being organized here by the legal state government. At that summit, I had an engagement with the MD of Loma on critical areas of synergy that as lawyers, the MBA, you need to draw up an area of legal and legislative reviews or some impact assessment on. Go on. Can you hear me? We discussed with the MD of Loma from the stable of the MBA as a section. And in general of the Nigerian ethnic nationalities, we are planning a national summit soon by November. We know we've been doing a whole lot internally, passing information on safety, on rescue, on ensuring that we play active engagement. But it's not enough for just one body. That's why I'm passing it out that these are information every institution from the home to the child. So we are playing a role and part of it is what I must commend plus CV in doing because this is a corporate social responsibility by informing the general public on the dangers ahead. So we need to take active role. We need to declare national holiday for people to prepare for homes and drainage that are not clear before. You know the risk of the water level is rising in the ocean and all this. We should not just be seeing the risk. The dangers will rapture all of us. So no one is safe. Look at how this incident is happening. Even our home is even more better. It is not a tsunami scenario that you would have seen how risky our matter would have been like. We thank God that it's just flooding. It is not a high-risk density environment like you heard that by now you'll be confronted with a tsunami scenario as prepared as you heard. They still have lots of life properties, not because they don't have government, not because their people are not responsive. This is a matter of nature and it is only God that we have to pray on to. But be that as it may, we on our home path are citizens. The government not just need to declare a state of emergency, but they need to declare a national week all the day for all of us to prepare our home, not to be caught unaware. Where else whereby we need to clear, let everybody clear, let everybody engage, let everybody buy shovel, not just the lumber people that are working that can do it all. We all are energetic, Nigerians are energetic. As far as I'm a lawyer too, I can hold my shovel. The doctor can do same and accountant can do same. So we all need to engage the situation and see how we can ensure that the risk level when this disaster happens can be properly mitigated and managed. Okay, but as the MBA, are you pushing for legislation for some of these things that you're calling? Because some of these things, we cannot use words of mouth. For instance, state of emergency, for instance, some laws that will make people stay at home on some days to clear the environment and all that, this might need some legislation, some laws that will go as a body. Do you do things like that in interacting with the government? Is there an engagement with the government or do you hope to engage? Yes, that's part of what I just informed that I personally had a one-on-one discussion with the MD, President MD of Loma, and we had a very succinct discourse for us to prepare for a joint summit whereby we can consider areas whereby we need to improve on. Unfortunately, the Saturdays, environmental Saturday that we used to have was only determined by a court of competent jurisdiction by a lawyer that went to court and said, it is not legal. Though it was a moral and ethical value that the government of the dendies planned us to have the every Saturday environmental sanitation day as last Saturday of the month, but because of some interest of some persons who just believed that maybe because they cannot attend their parties or do some other things or the way they have been arrested for going out early, they challenged it and the court banned the government from holding every Saturday in Lagos last Saturday. But this time around, what the government ought to do is that even if we have to declare this whole thing, let us look at how we need to monitor. It should not be a coercive measure, but there should be some deliberate manner whereby every Saturday you see Mr. Governor himself clearing the team. If the head is clearing, what will all of us be doing? We will join him when the hobbers are also part of it. At least I saw the maybe oba or luwu, no matter how people might have credit team or discredit team. I saw him still clearing the bush of his community and when the community saw him clearing that, they joined when the citizens of the community saw, they joined him. That is leaving by example. We cannot do everything, we cannot tell government to do all. Governance is government of the people for the people and by the people. Meaning the government, people in the government and those of us at the electorate side, we are all commons before the law. So not just because we don't have good laws in Lagos that regulate this whole scenario, but the execution of the laws also one thing. Corruption is also part of those things that impede when somebody commit an environmental breach tomorrow. If you just go to police and bribe, we just do anything to compromise the system. So this whole system needs a proper orientation, is more or less of an attitudinal orientation than force. We need to believe, that's why I said, if a church pastor, like I'm so sorry, a general pastor, one of these big churches, or big Afar or Imam, give a directive that today, before you go to work, before you go to bless you abundantly, keep your environment clean. Make sure you carry dread brits, make sure you are part of those that clean the gutters and that will be recorded as part of your goodness that you are doing on earth. You see the entire street flooded with people because they believe strongly in messages from those people. So the government needs to engage those institutions in order to pass some subtle messages not to deceive the people, but for the people to be actively involved in cleaning their immediate environment and making the earth an habitable place for all of us to live in. Okay, from your talk it means like the good book says, all I've seen and fallen short of the glory of God. So all of us will have to put our hands on deck to make sure that this never happens. Again, government and the people would like to say thank you to you, Mr. Hassan, for coming on the program. Thank you very much for the time. Thank you very much for staying with us on Plus Politics.