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However, the advent of the rainy season which could be said to have barely reached its full strength seems to have made a mockery of such exercises, as recent developments suggest.
There seems to be no respite yet for millions of hapless Lagosians who are often made to experience a lot of hardship whenever it rains, as experts have also fingered unavailability of basic infrastructure, especially good roads and effective drainage system as one of the causes of runoffs finding their way to major roads.
It is not uncommon to hear news and stories of tragedies in different parts of the state soon after a downpour, and according to public opinion, this development seems to have made an average Lagosian to be easily overwhelmed by an air of uncertainty anytime it rains.
Some of the hardships residents are often made to face during a downpour can therefore be summed up as: water flowing into people’s houses, roads getting flooded (by far, this has been adjudged as the most common features of downpours in Lagos), as well as massive gridlocks.
Cases of building collapse also seem to be the latest highlight of excessive rainfall in Lagos, as recent developments suggest. Saturday Tribune recalls that less than two weeks ago, a fence collapsed at number 19, Shogbawon Street, Bariga after a downpour. One person reportedly died in the incident.
Also, a late morning downpour recorded in parts of Lagos State early in the week caused massive flooding of major roads by rain water, a development that made motorists as well as pedestrians to have a hard time travelling on them.
Worst hit were parts of the popular Obafemi Awolowo in Ikeja where scores of people were seen struggling to waddle their way through murky flood water.
Observation made by Saturday Tribune on that day also showed that street urchins, popularly known as area boys, used the rather sad development to milk money from hapless motorists whose vehicles had broken down at various spots on the ever busy road as a result of runoff. This was on the pretence of helping the affected motorists to push their vehicles out of the puddle on the road.
Needless to say, this situation snowballed into massive gridlocks on the road, and it eventually spilled to other roads in Ikeja.
While narrating her ordeal to Saturday Tribune after the downpour, Miss Caroline Omotse, a worker at Computer Village area, revealed that despite her phobia for commercial motorcycles popularly known as okadas, as well as government’s ban on the activities of okada riders in many parts of the state including the Obafemi Awolowo Way, she was very desperate and even praying to find any. This, according to her, was as a result of the fact that no single commercial bus was on ground to take her to her destination, which was Sango.
“The crowd on that day was massive and everyone was trooping like ants to their destination since there were no buses coming. Despite the fear I always nurse for taking okadas, I was even praying for one to come by, but none did. It’s a day I won’t forget for some time, because I had to trek from Agege to Abule Egba Bus Stop, before I eventually got a vehicle. By the time I got home in the night, I was too tired to do anything meaningful; all I did was to take some painkillers and go to bed, since I had to wake up early the following day to prepare for work again,” Miss Omotse narrated.
Her ordeal is not different from those of many others who are often made to go through such a gauntlet of hardship all in a bid to put food on their tables. Similar to the young woman’s experience is that of an operator of a tricycle popularly known as Marwa, who was spotted by Saturday Tribune while trying to revive his broken-down tricycle right in the middle of a puddle at Ago-Palace way at Okota.
“This hardship is too much. Anytime it rains, life becomes extremely difficult. Many of us often have to park our tricycles somewhere for fear that they could break down, because the roads, which have for ages been in a terrible shape, often become worse after downpours.
“Not all of us have jeeps, we therefore call on the government to come to the grassroots, look at our plights and provide for us one of the things we crave most from the government– good roads,” the operator lamented.
Similarly, in other places such as First Rainbow Bus Stop on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, it has become a recurring decimal to see runoffs submerging an entire road or a section of it. Vehicles often break down while trying to make their way through pools of water, while it is a common sight to have pedestrians waddling through puddles with rolled up trousers and shoes held in their hands.
The Lagos State government has in the meantime continued to link flooding after downpours to blocked drainages, which it has also attributed to people dumping refuse in drainages as well as the act of construction of unapproved structures on waterways.
The government, through the Ministry of the Environment, has therefore not ceased to call on Lagos residents, particularly those who engage in such act to stop this habit so as to reduce incidences of flooding in the state.
When restating its readiness to reduce rain-induced floods, the ministry, in a recent statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Mr Fola Adeyemi, said it had put in place measures to ensure safety of lives and property of Lagosians throughout the duration of the rainy season.
The statement said the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, had started monitoring the mid-rain cleaning programme embarked upon by the Drainage Maintenance Office and Emergency Flood Abatement Unit of the ministry.
The ministry also assured Lagos residents that the state government would sustain its all-year maintenance and cleaning programmes as well as ensuring that major canals and channels were kept clean to allow free flow and discharge of water whenever it rains.
“Lagos is a coastal state that is susceptible to flash flood anytime it rains,” Mr Adeyemi said in the statement.
Source: Tribune
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