Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, has identified three things that he said are existential threats to the state.

This was even as he said that the state government wants parents and guardians to be involved in the life of their wards who attend public schools; hence the state insists on an operation show your Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASTRA) cards.

Hamzat made these assertions yesterday in Lagos during a media chat with journalists in Lagos. The event was organised by the Office of Political, Legislative & Civic Engagement (OPL&CE), Hamzat, identified the three existential threats to be extreme heat, extreme flooding and the rise in sea level, which brings about severe flooding.

He said: “Over 7 million Lagosians visited our General Hospitals last year to access treatment. That is a huge number. Go to our housing/social developments, you will see a lot of people there. It is filled to the brim.”

“There are three existential threats we have in Lagos. Our state is below sea level. We have flood – ing. However, it is not limited to Lagos. We had flooding in Spain, where over 200 people died.

The same thing happened in Australia, it happened in China where 42 people died because of flooding.” He continued; “Our greater threats are extreme heat, extreme cold and water rising above sea level.

“If we do not move water, water will move you. That is why when you see the Ministry of the Environment removing structures on waterways, people begin to read ethnicity and religion into it.”