Oyan Dam: Prepare to relocate, Lagos govt tells residents
The Lagos State Government has asked residents and property owners along the Ogun River banks to prepare for possible relocation to higher grounds.
This comes as the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority (OORBDA) begins a staggered release of water from the Oyan Dam.
The Oyan Dam, located in Abeokuta, Ogun State, spans 4,000 hectares and has a catchment area of 9,000 square kilometers.
Speaking to journalists in Ikeja, Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, said the water release is crucial for maintaining the dam’s integrity and mitigating its socio-economic impact on Lagos State.
Wahab explained that the dam’s operations are guided by real-time hydrological data, rainfall predictions from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), and flood outlooks from the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA). These sources inform water release decisions, balancing flood control with dam integrity.
The commissioner acknowledged concerns about the potential impact of the water release on surrounding communities, especially those along the Ogun River channels that extend into Lagos.
Wahab added that a detailed report from OORBDA shows that, as of October 12, 2024, the total water released this year stands at 1,484.2 million cubic meters (mcm), below the annual average flow volume of 1,770 mcm.
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While rainfall across the Oyan River catchment has been significant, totaling 984.1 mm this year, Wahab noted that this figure remains lower than last year’s 1,540.8 mm and is within safe operational levels.
He also outlined the dam’s capacity to manage water release. Equipped with four radial gates, the dam can discharge up to 2,271 cubic meters per second (m³/s) during peak periods. Currently, only two gates are open at 12 percent capacity each, with a controlled release rate of 208 m³/s.
According to Wahab, 62.1 percent of the dam’s flood control capacity remains intact, ensuring that no excess water is released beyond safe limits. This outcome is the result of close collaboration between the State and OORBDA.
The commissioner also recognized the challenges faced by residents in affected communities, such as Kara, Mile 12, Agiliti, Ikosi Ketu, Owode, Ajegunle, and Odo-Ogun.
He further explained that these tributaries, combined with rain-induced runoff, play a significant role in the region’s flood dynamics.
“While the flooding experienced in these areas has often been attributed solely to water released from the Oyan Dam, this is not entirely the case; In reality, the downstream section of the Ogun River is influenced by a complex network of over 52 tributaries, all of which converge and contribute to rising water levels in the affected areas,” Wahab stated, according to a statement by Director, Public Affairs, Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Kunle Adeshina.
To address flooding effectively, Wahab underscored the state’s commitment to maintaining a longstanding partnership with OORBDA. This collaboration facilitates the systematic and controlled release of water from the Oyan Dam, thereby helping to protect downstream communities from severe flooding.
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26 dead, 59 missing as Israel hits Gaza, Lebanon in deadly strikes
Strikes by the Israel military killed dozens in Gaza on Sunday, the civil defence said, while also hitting a Hezbollah stronghold near Beirut’s international airport.
Israel has been fighting on two fronts since September, intensifying attacks on Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah after nearly a year of cross-border clashes alongside its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A year after the Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attacks on its south, Israel vowed to stop the Islamist militants from regrouping in the north of the Palestinian territory, launching a major assault there.
In the latest violence in the besieged Palestinian territory, the civil defence agency said Israeli air raids killed at least 46 people.
The deadliest strike, in the middle of the night in Beit Lahia in the north, killed 26 people, including women and children, and left at least 59 others buried under the rubble, said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
Another strike killed 10 people in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, where a separate strike on a house claimed the life of a woman, he said.
An Israeli drone strike killed five people in the southern city of Rafah, Bassal said, adding another strike killed three women and a child in the Nuseirat camp.
Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war had reached 43,846.
The majority of the dead are civilians, according to ministry figures, which the United Nations considers reliable.
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Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
On Israel’s second front in the north, AFPTV footage showed several strikes hit Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, shortly after the Israeli military warned people to evacuate.
Columns of smoke were seen rising over the capital’s southern suburbs, where Lebanon’s only international airport is located.
Further south, overnight Israeli air strikes and shelling hit the flashpoint town of Khiam, the Lebanese state-run National News Agency reported.
Following the bombardment, the Israeli army said about 20 projectiles were seen crossing from Lebanon into Israel, and that some of them were intercepted. Emergency services did not immediately report any casualties.
Israel has escalated its bombing of Lebanon since September 23 and has since sent in ground troops, following almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah militants in support of Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
Its military on Saturday said Hezbollah had already “paid a big price”, but vowed to keep fighting until tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from the north can return home.
Israeli forces also shelled the southern area of Lebanon along the Litani River, the NNA said on Sunday.
The news agency had earlier reported strikes on the southern city of Tyre, including in a neighbourhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins. Israel’s military said late Saturday it had hit Hezbollah sites in the area.
In Lebanon’s east, the health ministry said an Israeli strike in the Bekaa Valley killed six people including three children.
Hezbollah said it fired a guided missile that set an Israeli tank ablaze in the southwestern Lebanese village of Chamaa.
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In eastern Lebanon, funerals were held for 14 civil defence staff killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday.
“They weren’t involved with any (armed) party… they were just waiting to answer calls for help,” said Ali al-Zein, a relative of one of the dead.
Lebanese authorities say more than 3,452 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.
Israel announced the death of a soldier in southern Lebanon, bringing to 48 the number killed fighting Hezbollah.
A UN-backed assessment on November 9 warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza, amid the increased hostilities and a near-halt in food aid.
Israel has pushed back against a Human Rights Watch report this week alleging that its mass displacement of Gazans amounts to a “crime against humanity”, as well as findings from a UN Special Committee pointing to warfare practices “consistent with the characteristics of genocide”.
A foreign ministry spokesman dismissed the HRW report as “completely false”, while the United States — Israel’s main military supplier — said accusations of genocide “are certainly unfounded”.
In Israel, police said they arrested three suspects after flares shot near the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the central city of Caesarea, south of Haifa, while he was away.
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday reiterated demands that the government reach a deal to free dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.
The protest came a week after mediator Qatar suspended its role until Hamas and Israel show “seriousness” in truce and hostage-release talks.
Court stops NBC from imposing fines on broadcast stations
The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to “stop using the NBC Act and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to impose fines, threaten to impose sanctions, harass and intimidate the broadcast stations and other independent media houses in the country.”
The court declared that “the NBC and its agents lack the legal power and authority to impose penalty unlawfully and unilaterally, including fines, suspension, withdrawal of license or any form of punishment whatsoever on independent media houses for promoting access to diverse information on issues of public importance.”
The suit followed the decision by the NBC in 2022 to impose a fine of N5 million each on Trust TV, Multichoice Nigeria Limited, NTA-Startimes Limited and TelcCom Satellite Limited, over their documentaries on terrorism in the country.
The NBC claimed that the documentaries “glorify the activities of bandits, undermine national security in Nigeria, and contravene the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.”
In his judgment, Justice Oweibo held that, “The issue of the locus standi of SERAP and CJID need to be resolved first being a threshold issue. It is trite that the Statement of Claim must disclose the Plaintiff’s interest sufficient to clothe him/her with the requisite capacity to sue.”
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Justice Oweibo also stated that, “SERAP and CJID have been vested with locus standi. Looking at the provisions of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 and particularly the preambles to the Rules, the general requirement of locus standi has been done away with. SERAP and CJID are not meddlesome interlopers.”
According to Justice Oweibo, “I have looked at the affidavit in support of the suit, which in this case stands in place of a Statement of Claim. Considering the core mandates of SERAP and CJID and the affidavit in support of their suit, it is to be seen that this is a public interest case.”
Justice Oweibo dismissed the objections raised by the NBC’s counsel and upheld SERAP’s and CJID’s arguments. Consequently, the court entered judgment in favour of SERAP and CJID and against the NBC.
Justice Oweibo’s judgment, dated 13 June, 2024, read in part: “This is an action alleging breach of the fundamental rights of SERAP and CJID to freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom and fair hearing guaranteed under sections 22, 36 and 39 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].”
The court also granted the following reliefs:
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