Climate: Lagos commits to full implementation of resilience strategy

Piqued by the climate change realities, Lagos State government, yesterday, expressed its commitment to achieving resilience dividends associated with the full implementation of strategy by harnessing the contributions and shared responsibility of various actors.

The state’s Commissioner for Economic Planning & Budget, Ope George, disclosed this during the 2024 Lagos Resilience Forum hosted by the Lagos State Resilience Office (LASRO) in Ikeja, Lagos.

The forum is aimed at identifying emerging issues to be integrated into the state’s resilience building agenda.

George noted that the forum is an all-inclusive and collaborative engagement of diverse resilience building stakeholders across various sectors convened to reassess the state’s resilience building efforts with a view to improving on them.

This, he said, would be achieved through the discovery of new opportunities for growth and adaptation, integration of resilience thinking into statewide operations, and the amplification of resilience knowledge and innovations for sustainable growth.

The commissioner stressed that the vision for a resilient Lagos, an innovative, inclusive and prosperous city that leverages the appropriate governance and the infrastructure mechanisms to empower its people to thrive, adapt and grow sustainably, was developed through a comprehensive process involving the ideas and perspectives of various stakeholders, including the academia, civil society organisations, government agencies, local council entities, among others.

According to him, implementation of resilience building initiatives and its evaluation for better and improved performance require shared responsibility and continued partnership of various resilience building stakeholders, which is the purpose of the gathering.

In her welcome address, Chief Resilience Officer of LASRO, Dr Folayinka Dania, said that the forum aimed at identifying emerging issues to be integrated into the state’s resilience building agenda.

She said that LASRO was inaugurated in 2019 as a multidisciplinary strategic planning office, tasked with identifying initiatives aimed at building the social, economic, physical and environmental resilience of the state.

Also, Special Adviser to the Governor on E-GIS and Planning Matters, Dr Olajide Abiodun Babatunde, called for integration of cultural practices in building Lagos resilience programmes as they hold certain inherent benefits for Lagos development trajectory.

Former Chairman, Presidential Economic Advisory Council of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Adedoyin Salami, who delivered the keynote address, noted the importance of citizens’ participation in Lagos resilience strategy.

According to him, the government has the duty to provide the necessary data for citizens to promote the opportunity for Lagos development through resilience.