Lagos desilts drains to check flood

Lagos State Government yesterday commenced massive clearing and desilting of blocked drainage channels across the state as parts of efforts to avert flooding. This was even as residents of Oyatoki community in Oko-Oba, Agege appealed to the government to rescue them from perennial flood.

Inspecting the ongoing desilting exercise in parts of the state, the Permanent Secretary, Office of Drainage in the state Ministry of the Environment, Mr Ayodeji Adenekan, who frowned at the rate which most Lagos drainage channels were blocked by refuse, said stringent measures would be taken against residents found dumping refuse in the canals and other drain channels.

He said: “Most of the canals are clogged with solid refuse across the state. We still have a lot to do. The plan of the government is to reduce all the dirt so that by the time more rains are coming there will be free flow of water.

“We will still progress to other places. We are going to intensify the sensitisation efforts. More radio jingles and sensitisation programmes will be done. People should not dump waste in the canal. In addition to that, people will be sent around the communities to sensitise the residents to the dangers of dumping waste in the canal.”

Adenekan also warned residents to stop patronising cart pushers, saying that the full wrath of law awaited anyone found dumping waste in the drainage channels.

He said: “Cart pushers have no good service to offer us. They take refuse from us and dump it in the drain collectors, canals and other channels.”

Meanwhile, the residents of Oyatoki lamented frequent flooding in the area, saying millions of naira worth of property had been lost to flood, while some of them had been rendered homeless.

According to one of the residents, who identified himself simply as Pa Ezekeil, several shops, houses were destroyed by flood in the community after the downpour on Tuesday.

He said: “Whenever it rains, the bridge is submerged with water. Motorists won’t even know there is a bridge here. The canal is too narrow and shallow, government needs to widen it. The bridge is also too low; that is why it is submerged anytime it rains.”