Lawmakers visit mudslide site, urge government to do more on safety

The Lagos State House of Assembly Adhoc Committee on the recent mudslide in Magodo area of the state says the government needs to do more on the safety of residents.

Mr Lanre Ogunyemi (APC-Ojo II) the Chairman of the four-man Adhoc Committee on the incident made the plea during an inspection to the site on Monday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that four children of the same parents, between ages 10 and 23, were killed on Nov. 7, after a mudslide hit their home in the Isheri, Magodo Area of Lagos State.

Ogunyemi said: "The house thought it wise to set up this committee to come here and do on-the-spot assessment and come up with immediate and remote causes of the incident.

"We want to look at the way of solving what we see as imminent danger here.

"From what we have seen here, government needs to do something to make sure that we avert needless loss of innocent lives."

Ogunyemi said that officials of the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning were also on the visit with the lawmakers.

He said that the Lagos State Safety Commission had also visited that site to assess the situation.

"This government is a people's government and the legislature is also a people's legislature.

"We will do everything possible to make sure we ameliorate the sufferings of our people; we will do everything to make sure that we give people a good and new lease of life."

He said the assembly would invite all the stakeholders in the state and the community with a view to curbing future occurrence.

According to him, the assembly will summon the ministry in charge of mining activities, land and physical planning due to the land excavation discovered in the area.

He said that officials of the Lagos State Safety Commission would also be invited.

gunyemi said the assembly would also invite community leaders and all other stakeholders, to come up with a collective decision in the best interest of the state.

Also speaking, Mr Bisi Yusuff (APC-Alimosho I) commiserated with the family of the victims.Yusuff decried the way some residents built houses without considering their safety.

Mr Idowu Anjorin, the Chairman of the Landlords and Residents Association of Onisha Otun Araromi Community where the incident happened, said that all constructions in the community were approved by the government.

Anjorin said illegal extension of some buildings on highland, without any attempt to control erosion, caused the incident.

NAN reports that other members of the committee on the visit were Mr Desmond Elliot (APC-Surulere I) and Mr Folajimi Mohammed (APC-Ikeja I).