Self-Inflicted Agonies From Flooding

 By Adekunle Adekoya

The downpour of last Wednesday, which left many parts of the country flooded, and the attendant tragedies, is still talk of the town. It is an annual ritual from which we have learnt nothing, and forgotten nothing. The octopoidal Federal Government, whose officials these days, talk more about everything but do little about anything said 21 local government areas in 10 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, are submerged.

Videos and pictures of flooded areas, particularly in Lagos trended heavily in the social media. It was pathetic seeing buildings and roads in parts of Lagos like Lekki, Ikeja, Agege, Gbagada and others completely submerged. And the rains have just begun, it being early July. The trending images triggered commentaries which ignited verbal exchanges.

I remember one commentator remarking that he would not live in Lekki, even if offered free accommodation there, because that part of Lagos is too prone to flooding. Another netizen, reacting to him said there was no way he could ever live in Lekki as he could not afford a plot of land there, in the first place! Such were the exchanges in social media about the flooding.

People can jibe each other as much as they want, but I opt to look at the situation differently.

First, the people  — governors and the governed — are both complicit when flooding occurs. This is how it happens. Every year, in Lagos for example, the Office of Drainage Services in the state’s Ministry of Environment spends millions of naira de-silting drainage. Great effort, the downside of which is that the silt and garbage evacuated from the gutters are heaped onto the roadsides and left uncleared, while the elements see to it that they get back into the gutters. Vehicular and foot traffic trample on them, while rains simply wash them back to the gutters. Waste of time, money, and effort, if you ask me. Why de-silt drainage if you’re not going to clear the debris away from the road?

As in Lagos and many of our other towns and cities, natural courses of streams and flood plains of rivers have been invaded by land speculators and developers. Entire flood plains, which are natural holding receptacles for storm water have been sand-filled and developed for housing and other urban development uses. Thus, when rains fall heavily and flood water is generated, there is just nowhere for the water to go but find its way into houses. Self-inflicted agony, if you ask me. 

Government is particularly complicit in this as the appropriate political will has not been brought to bear on matters relating to the environment. For instance, a flood-plain, with a Lagos State government signpost reading: “This is a wetland protected area” in Egbe, one of the suburbs of Lagos, was sold to a developer, who cleared the “protected wetland” and developed a truck park on it.

That area used to be a forest with monkeys and a variety of swamp plant and animal life. Not anymore. 

Lagosians must have heard of a bus stop called Odo-Olowu along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. Ever wondered what happened to Odo Olowu? “Odo” is river, or stream in Yoruba. That stream has vanished into the mists of urbanisation, but its flood plains has been built up into the residential areas around Berliet Bus-Stop, Cele, Bus-Stop, and Ijesha. That is why that stretch of the expressway always retained water when it rains.It is simply a failure of governance to allow land speculators and developers turn wetlands into housing estates. 

One of the major causes of flooding in our towns and cities is the issue of blocked drains. Seeing many miserable-looking faces in flooded homes on videos in the social media, one cannot but feel pity for their situation. Imagine flood water at waist level in the hallway of a “face-me-I-face you” house! Everything in such a house, especially furniture, household appliances like fridges and TV sets are ruined, almost immediately. Add to that foodstuffs like gari, rice and others kept handy at home, soaked by flood water. It is sheer agony.

But after pitying them, my mind goes back to the reality that much of the flood water was actually invited by residents. Many of them, particularly in the suburbs, refuse to part with N500 monthly for PSP garbage collectors to evacuate their garbage. They simply prefer to dump them in gutters. Driving in rain one day, I saw a woman tipping garbage into the gutter in front of her house. I stopped and told the woman what she just did was very bad. She responded with abusive words, telling me that the runoff water in the gutter will carry it away, and asked me whether it will bring it to my house. People like this woman number in their millions in the suburbs.

Along the major expressways, the big drains are choked full with garbage, as a result of which displaced surface water remains on the paved roads, posing grave danger to cars and their drivers. In one of the videos I saw, a man was seen with flood water at his chest level, with the car, an SUV, barely seen below roof level. Imagine the loss. That car may never function well again, and as it was still raining, the man and his car may just get swept away by the flood. 

All of us, governors and the governed, must radically change in the ways we use our environment. Tipping garbage into gutters is a no-no. Sand-filling flood plains should also be a no-no, as they are natural receptacles for holding storm water. Government must step up its regulatory functions for the welfare of the commonwealth, especially in these days of climate change.

*Adekoya is a commentator on public issues