Abaranje residents urge Lagos to tackle drainage challenges

As the dry season intensifies, residents of Nke Nike Akwalukwu Street, K and S Street, Omo Oye Street, and Emiloju Street in Abaranje Community of Lagos State, have called on the state government, and that of Alimosho Local Council to spare no efforts in tackling the perennial drainage challenges in the community.

Over a week after the last downpour in the area, the entrance of Akwalukwu Street, was still waterlogged when The Guardian visited the community. This is why the people are appealing for action from governments before the rains arrive in this year.

It was observed that the absence of proper drainage system, which would have come in handy in channeling rainwater to appropriate quarters, was responsible for the large pools of water that dotted the street.

From the Community Primary School, located along the road, to God’s Decision Filling Station, there were blockages along the drainage, all of which made sure that free flow of rainwater during downpour remains a mirage.

Similarly, K and S Street, a major road linking Abaranje Community with Igando, onward to the Iba Expressway is presently in a pathetic state, having been ravaged at the peak of 2016 rainy season.

Residents of Emiloju Street, in Olakunle Bus Stop, are also complaining that their road became impassable and riddled with gullies having been neglected by the authorities while being battered by the rains.

Commenting on the issue, Chairman, Caretaker Committee, Ifelodun Abaranje Community Development Association, Mohammed Rafin-Kazeem, lamented that the construction of a drainage system along K and S Street six years ago was abandoned halfway into the project.

Insisting that the challenge calls for the intervention of the state government, Rafin-Kazeem stressed the importance of urgently tackling the issue, as the street remains an alternative route, which helps in easing traffic congestion at the Ikotun roundabout.

He expressed the readiness of the Landlord’s Association in the area to handle other challenges if the state and local council can put in place a good drainage system in the area.

One of the landlords, Pastor Solomon Gbadebo, also informed The Guardian that the association had resorted to self help by taxing members to improve the drainage before now.

He maintained that the drainage system could be improved through collaboration with the council, the association, and local artisans.

The Commander, Igando Ikotun Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Alimosho Local Government Environmental Enforcement Corps, Mr. Gbenga Adenugba assured that the local council authorities, in partnership with the state government would soon commence the channelisation of drainage in select areas of the council, adding that provision has already been made for the project in the 2017 budget.

Adenugba, however, maintained that the command has recorded success in enforcing environmental sanitation, and desilting water channels in parts of the council, through monitoring and punishment of offenders.

According to him, culprits arrested are made to pay fines, while shops belonging to erring traders who violate sanitation rules are sealed.

He called on residents to refrain from throwing refuse into the water channels, noting that the practice is responsible for the clogged drainage system in the local council.