In the last twenty years, this has been the experience of these residents. “The road has been like this since I was in Primary school” Fatima, a young lady who seems in her late twenties, told Saharareporters
The heavy rainfall of Friday, May 25, had many residents in Olushi street, Lagos Island, perched on their beds waiting for the rain to stop before they commence the ordeal of scoping out water—with debris from the blocked drainage— that had flooded their living rooms.
In the last twenty years, this has been the experience of these residents. “The road has been like this since I was in Primary school” Fatima, a young lady who seems in her late twenties, told Saharareporters.
Olushi Street is a stretch of 2kilometer road, off Adeniji Adele and runs through to Bamgbose Street, Lagos Island. The road is ridden with potholes that make the area almost inaccessible for vehicle. The drainage is also filled with sand washed off the eroded road and plastics disposed right into the drainage by residents.
An octogenarian, Mrs. S.A. Ayodele, who has her family house on the street, recalled her ordeals in preventing flood into her shop whenever it rained.
Explaining to Saharareporters crew, Mrs. Ayodele said; “Anytime it rains, the street is flooded and the water would be stagnant for a long time. We made a pipe to drain water from the corridor but because of the flood on the street, we had to block the pipe so that the water would not get through it into the shop. We recently just renovated the house to prevent water from flooding our apartments.”
Mrs. Ayodele’s experience is not peculiar to her, Alhaja Lateefat Balogun, another elderly woman who lived opposite the Ayodeles three storey-building house, told Saharareporters how she had to defy the flood which submerged her body to chest level as she cleared her apartments and surrounding of dirt that flowed in.
“It’s been long we’ve had it like this” Alhaja Balogun said in Yoruba. “Once it starts raining now, no one would be able to pass through here. All these places [pointing out to Olushi street and the adjoining streets] won’t be accessible.”
When asked how she manages to go out, she exclaimed; “go out!” with a face puzzled face. “If you’re lucky to be in your house before it starts raining, that’s it. There is no going out again”.
‘Rain paralyses Businesses Here’—because of blocked drainage system
Olushi Street is a residential area but it also has few shops and at least two schools. In one of the schools, teachers suspend teaching to scoop out water whenever it rains, Saharareporters gathered.
Jimoh Azeez, proprietor of Zenith Private School—a low income school on the street, said his teachers bore the responsibility of sweeping out flood from classrooms on the ground floor.
“When our students want to come to school during raining season, they have to go through other routes or they wait for about 20 minutes after the rain had stopped before coming to school. Sometimes, water enters the school. The teachers would then have to sweep out the water so the class would be dry.”
Balogun Suheed, another school owner, said his pupils stay away from school because of the heavy flood. “No parent wants his kid drowned in flood” he said.
“We have drainage problem… Any time it rains, we experience a lot of difficulties and when it rains, it paralyses all business around this area. The area is flooded so much that it submerges cars parked by the roadside.”
Blame The Residents…
The damaged road might have been caused by years of use without proper maintenance from the government in mending wares and tears on the road but the drainage was blocked by accumulated plastics, many of the residents who spoke with Saharareporters seem to agree on this.
Alhaja Balogun blamed residents who take advantage of the rain to empty their dustbins and open their septic tanks into the drainage. Similarly, Mr. Suheed said the residents are the architects of their own hardship.
“The residents in this area are the cause of the problem” Mr. Suheed told Saharareporters. “Once they see it is raining, they start bringing out their rubbles and dirt in their houses, they then pour into the gutter (sic) and it is causing a lot of problems.”
Indeed, Saharareporters saw that the pathways made for liquid waste to easily flow into a bigger canal at the end of the street were littered with bottles of beverage drinks, foam and foil food packs, polythene and nylon bags. The canal as well has been blocked by these plastic waste materials. This obviously makes the street prone to flood even at the slightest rainfall.
…And Government Too
The Lagos state government also contributes to the menace. Despite calls from the residents, the Lagos Island local government refused to fix the road or properly clear the drainage.
In one of the letters written to the Lagos Island East LCDA in 2011, resident heighted their plights and called for assistance in clearing their drainage but they received no response. Last year, a resident who identified himself simply as ‘old soldier’ and lives at No 17 Olushi, told this website that attempt were made to clear the drainage but because the debris lifted from the drainage were left by the road side, rain washed them back into the drainage.
He blamed the Local Government Chairman, Kamarudeen Bashua, and past chairmen who have paid lip-service to clearing the drainage and fixing the road.
Similarly, Mrs. Ayodele, who was one of the signatories o the letters addressed to the government said every election season, politicians promise to see to the issues but once the election is over, they longer see the politicians and their suffering continues.
However, the Public Relations Person of the Chairman, Mrs. Olukoya, said the LCDA has been very involved in building and maintaining infrastructural facilities in the area. she said some road in the within the LGA had been nominated and would e fixed by the state government.
On the letters sent that were not responded to, Mrs. Olukoya, said the resident would have to keep writing until the government listens to them.
“We are fixing some road” she said, “but we cannot work on all the roads at the same time. Some will have to come first and some others later but I am sure we will get to Olushi Street very soon, maybe next year when other set of roads will be nominated for rehabilitation.”