The residents of Agiliti Community in the Mile 12 area of Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Lagos State are groaning under the heavy flood that has taken over their community. CEOAFRICA source, Newtelegrapgh reports

It has been one day of agony after the other for residents of Agiliti Community in the Mile 12 area of Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State as the rains and ensuing flood hit them hard.

Residents are groaning under the heavy flood that has taken over the community allegedly caused by the Ogun and Odugu rivers which overflowed, leading to the disruption of lives and loss of property.

Though no life was lost in the disaster, most of the residents have been rendered homeless and some others abandoned the community for fear of uncertainty. The residents are crying on top of their voices appealing to the state and local governments to come to their rescue.

They want Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to help them find a lasting solution to the scourge of flood which ravages the community every three to five years, by constructing a drainage system that would

properly channel water in the flood susceptible areas. One of the residents, Ms. Jade Balogun, told Sunday Telegraph: “We need government intervention here. We sleep on tables to avoid electrocution.

The entire house is flooded and we can’t sleep on our beds again. She said, the only solution so far, when the flood comes is to wait patiently for it to dry up around November. “As usual, we won’t watch television until November as the flood gets to the level of the electric socket and no one would risk electrocution. All the transformers are soaked up in water and malfunctioning,” he added.

The community leader, Abdul-Azeez, and the residents have lost hope on possible panacea to the problem as their appeals to the local and state governments since 1999 have all fallen on deaf ears.

The residents have been adducing different reasons for the flood. Some were of the opinion that the flood is caused by the Ogun Osun River Basin Dam whose content is released every three years to reduce pressure on the facility, while others said the flooding was caused by the heavy downpour, which caused the Isheri and Odugu rivers to overflow.

A young food vendor at the temporary canoe loading point at Agiliti, Ms. Aboderin Ogunsola, who does not live within the Agiliti community but a stonethrow from there said the flood has not reached its peak, it would soon be more than this, adding that, the flood was as a result of a dam not far away whose content was released into the neighbourhood.

A boat paddler, Jonathan, popularly called ‘Omo Ijaw,’ told Sunday Telegraph that the cause of the flood is natural from God, arguing that only God can cause such to happen. He added that rainfall increases every five years and causes overflow of the Ogun River. “How can you say that the flood was caused by Ogun Dam?

I think it is not possible that the dam is the reason for the flood occurring every five years, the same time of the year and disappears at a particular time of the year?” he queried. ‘Omo Ijaw,’ who corroborated Aboderin’s claim that the flood will get worse in the next two weeks, noted that, the flood has not gotten to the point it used to be each time it comes. The respondents expect the flood to reach its peak by mid-October, after which it would dry up late November.

It appeared the residents were ready for the flood in the community, as they comfortably maneuver their way moving around with no hindrance. While visitors to the community are scared of electrocution as the flood covered the electricity transformer at the junction half way, constituting a threat to the entire community should the water get to the point of naked wire; the residents go about their normal lives.

School children enthusiastically walk and swim across the flood to their respective destinations with no fear whatsoever. They enter canoes when going to school in the morning and while on their way home, they swim and walk across. Those who cannot afford to pay for services of canoe paddlers are always armed with extra clothes which they change into after entering the flood.

“The situation is worse at night when the canoe paddlers have gone home. Those coming back late nights bear the brunt of the flood. They find it difficult coming back when the canoes have all gone. You can also imagine how it would look like at night for residents,” said Ejiro Onuvho.

Sunday Telegraph observed that the flood has almost submerged the power transformer in the community. Residents were seen gathering and waiting to board canoes to their respective destinations. It is amazing, the way the community has adjusted to the new way of life in a place where residents used to walk on dry land.

Today, school children are seen swimming in the dirty water. It’s in this same community that canoe operators make quick money transporting residents to and from one point of the community to the other as the streets of Agiliti have turned to a river. There are different routes the canoe plies.

At the terminals, the operators shout out to passengers “Straight, straight,” while others “One more person to go.” Each drop costs N50. The biggest canoe in the community is operated by an elderly woman.

Commuters fold their trousers and long gowns, remove their shoes to enable them board canoes. Of course, voluntarily, somebody on board has to scoop water from the canoe to ensure that it doesn’t capsize.

Those who couldn’t afford the fares for the canoe, were seen walking in the flood, same with others whose destinations were close by.

Residents have been engaging the canoe operators in some arguments on fares for the services, while they insist on paying N30, the operators insist on N50 per drop. For thorough examination of the extent of damage the flood has done to the community, Sunday Telegraph’s reporter hired a canoe for N500 to tour the area.

The operator, ‘Omo Ijaw’, a fisherman, disclosed that he came to the community to make money for his family. He resides at Mile 12 area but comes to make daily living at Agiliti. Before the flood crisis, some wooden bridges constructed for easy movements of the people had all collapsed. Flood gets into houses and one could see furniture on top of tables. The people sleep on top

of their tables at night as their beds have been submerged by flood. The residents are facing horror at night. Many residents of this community, including the leaders, have lost hope for possible panacea to the problem as the residents have been appealing to the local and state governments since 1999 without any success. On the contrary, during Sunday Telegraph’s visit to the community, some construction workers of the Lagos state Ministry of Environment were seen in some areas of Agiliti community, creating waterways and cutting down trees to help channel the flood off the streets. The impact of this was yet to be felt as the flood is still heavy.

One of the workers, Mr. Ben Ayeni, told Sunday Telegraph, that they were detailed by the Ministry to clear the road to allow flow of water from Agiliti to Omole Estate. Ayeni also confirmed that the flood used to enter Odugu River before it overflows its banks and merges with the rain water.

“If you look at the other end, you will see the big Isheri River where the problem actually comes from.” It was gathered that in the dry season, residents move into the areas for accommodation attracted by cheap house rent without knowing what the area looks like in the rainy season. Of course, when the rain comes, they see the reason for paying house rent as low as N8, 000 per year, bordered by an artificial water way.

Lagos State Ministry of Environment intervened

Meanwhile, during the last environmental sanitation exercise, the Lagos State Government had charged residents living in flood-prone areas in the state to urgently relocate as heavier downpour is being anticipated. Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Samuel Adejare, said heavier rainfall was being anticipated in the first week of October and that people living in lowland areas susceptible to flood should immediately relocate to avert disaster.

The commissioner, who was displeased with the activities of residents of Church Avenue in the area council who converted the major canal in the area to a dumpsite, with several others erecting make-shift structures inside the canal.

He said: “Our people need to have change of attitude in the way they handle the environment. People living in floodprone areas should leave. At Church Avenue, the people have blocked the major canal with refuse. Some of them have even built houses on the drainage channel.

“We are the problem to ourselves. People should dispose their waste properly. People living in lowland areas should move immediately. We did not give them permit to build in these areas,” he said. He noted that, the state government would empower the youths of the area to prevent people from dumping refuse on drainage channels and degrading the environment.

Earlier in May 20, 2010, the Lagos State Government under Babatunde Raji Fashola, had ordered residents of Agiliti in Ikosi- Isheri LCDA, Ajegunle in Agboyi-Ketu LCDA to vacate and relocate because of the danger posed by flood. The then, Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Muiz Banire, said the vacation order became necessary in view of the expected rainfall which could cause great threat to many communities.

The commissioner said: “Warning notices had been sent to all the affected areas in the state considered to be flood-prone because they are sitting on wetland. To avert any likely disaster, it is highly imperative for these residents to vacate and relocate to safer areas because of the level of rainfall expected with its attendant flooding. “We have warned them that there is no magic to be done to address the situation for them other than vacating the areas. There are other areas which we cannot mention now which have been served quit notices. It behooves on them to heed or face the consequences.”

The commissioner said all the landlords in the areas did not have valid title documents to the land and that there was no possibility of any government compensation for the affected people. He said the government did “not issue Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) to landlords in slum areas like Ajiliti (Ikosi-Isheri), Ajelogo (Ketu) and Aboru in Iyana-Ipaja.”

However, the spokesperson of Lagos Ministry of Environment, Dr. Tunde Awobiyi, said the government is doing its best to arrest the situation. “We have sent Swam Bogie to clear the way and allow water to flow as a palliative measure to the flooding but we will do something more lasting.

“We are working round the clock to ensure that everybody lives peaceful lives in Lagos. We need people to stop building on the canals and setbacks. They see it as the only vacant land to build but it’s wrong. These are what cause floods across the state,” he added.