Residents of flooded communities in Eti Osa area of Lagos expressed their plight to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu during the tour of various water-logged areas in the State on Wednesday.
Governor, Deputy Governor Dr Obafemi Hamzat, Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources Mr Tokunbo Wahab and members of the State Executive Council spent over six hours wading through floodwaters in Ogombo, Awoyaya, Sangotedo, Gbetu-Iwerekun and Chevron. These areas had been severely affected by heavy rainfall causing significant flooding.
The Governor’s tour was aimed to take assessment of the situation and develop solutions to tackle the flooding in the affected communities.
The flooding, which was chiefly caused by the blockade along natural tributaries and discharge canals, sacked some houses and roads across settlements bordering lowland in Eti Osa. This forced some residents to evacuate their homes.
The slow pace of the stormwater’s receding also stalled trading activities in the affected areas.
Residents of the affected communities had an unfettered engagement with the Governor, explaining their challenges and concerns.
Sanwo-Olu empathised with those affected by the flood and promised relief measures to help improve their situation.
The Governor, however, said the Government had already begun clearing the water channels and removing impediments clogging the natural tributaries.
In some communities, illegal dumping of refuse into drainage channels was identified as a contributing factor to the flooding. In other areas, unapproved developments along natural water channels were reported to be the reason stormwater failed to discharge into the lagoon.
For a short term relief, the Governor proposed construction of bridge deck systems in communities bordering lowland, including Ogombo and Gbetu-Iwerekun, to drain the water back to the lagoon.
Sanwo-Olu said the State Government would embark on complete dredging of Ikota River and removal of impediments along the water channels to bring permanent relief to the affected communities.
He said: “Over the last two days that we have recorded a slowdown in rainfall, it is important we quickly come out and see where we need to do drainage improvements and additional investment in constructing infrastructure that would help clear the natural water channels.
“Given the volume of rainfall we have witnessed in the last three weeks, we discovered that the major factor responsible for the flooding is natural occurrence, even though we have done our best to preserve and protect the natural channels of water.
“However in the recent times, we have observed constriction and impediments arising from developments along the natural flow of water.
Drone footage in the affected communities showed that some of these developments are unapproved, thereby reducing the natural pathway of water flow to the lagoon.”
In some of the communities, Sanwo-Olu linked the cause of the flooding to desilting, where water sunk into the soil and stayed there permanently.
This, he said, required deployment of machinery to excavate and clear the area.
The Governor also inspected the flooding at Chevron Drive, where property developers blocked water channels, causing stormwater to overflow into residential settlements in Victoria Garden City, Ajiran, Osapa London and Orchid Road.
Sanwo-Olu disclosed that the State Government had already started the removal of development projects built along the Ikota River flow to through outlets for the flood water to flow back to the lagoon.
“If we are able to through these two water outlets, this will significantly relieve pressure we have seen even from the Orchid and Osapa London axis of Eti Osa. The work ongoing and we hope these measures would bring about lasting solutions to the problems,” Sanwo-Olu said.
SIGNED
GBOYEGA AKOSILE
SPECIAL ADVISER – MEDIA AND PUBLICITY
