PHOTOS : HEAVY FLOODING IN OGUN STATE, HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE RENDERED HOMELESS

No fewer than 300 houses have been flooded and
860 households displaced following the opening
of Oyan Dam water, one of the tributaries of the
Ogun River.
The affected areas include Agiliti/Maidan, Orile,
Owode, Agboyi and Araromi communities in Ketu
and Mile 12 areas in Lagos; and Akute and
Warewa communities, as well as estates in and
around OPIC in Ogun State.
Parts of the Lagos State’s Isheri North
Government Reserved Area and the Lagos State
Development And Property Corporation Estate,
were also affected.
Some of the residents, who spoke on the
disaster, said
they noticed some floodwater around their
streets about two weeks ago but that by last
week, the volume had increased, adding that
their houses had been overrun by water.
The Chairman of Riverview Estate Residents’
Association, Mr. Abayomi Akinde, who described
the incident as tragic, said there was no notice
from the Ogun/Osun River Basin Development
Authority (OORBDA) that water would be
released from the Oyan Dam.
Akinde told The Punch that, the flood came
despite assurances from OORBDA that the
upsurge of flood which they never anticipated
from the upstream, would not cause any kind of
catastrophe.
He said, “The flooding started about three weeks
ago when people started calling that their
communities were flooded. People have been
evacuating their homes since then, while some
others are trapped. If the situation persists,
everywhere will be submerged. The government
needs to come in. Isheri North GRA, for instance,
was sold by Lagos State and some of the
estates were sold by the Ogun State
Government. There was supposed to be proper
planning; but we have been left to our fate.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan visited this
area four years ago because of this same
problem, but nothing was done after the visit.
“We are appealing to OORBDA to reduce the
operating level of the dam to 54 metres. If the
level is reduced, the reservoir will have more
space to hold water and this flooding will be
averted.”
A landlord and former chairman of the Nigerian
Institution of Environmental Engineers, Mr. Peter
Onyeri, said the problem was lack of proper
funding and management of the dam.
In some of the affected areas, the streets had
been taken over and residents were seen
vacating their homes, while some others, who
remained had to reach their houses using
canoes.
One of the canoe paddlers, who gave his name
as Monday Bassey, said the cost of moving
passengers across the water was between N100
and N500, depending on the distance.
Bassey said he had lived in the area for eight
years and had seen the area flooded yearly, but
that the residents had enjoyed a four-year break
from 2012 before the current incident.
The Managing Director of Ogun/Osun River Basin
Development Authority, Mr. Akintunde Soyemi,
said the flooding was aggravated by human
activities.
According to him, it was caused by the opening
of one of Ogun River’s tributaries, Oyan Dam,
which was built for fishing, hydro power,
irrigation and flood control.
He said, “Ogun River is a big river cutting across
three states with more than 20 tributaries one of
which is Oyan Dam, which is the only one that is
gated and whose release can be controlled.
“This year, we had much more run off; we only
released 15 per cent now, which is done at a
controlled rate and is not supposed to flood the
downstream. It is flooding because it is not the
only contributory river. Most of those flooded
places are in the flood plain of Ogun River. The
rule of thumb in constructing residences is that
you must be above the level of the road,
anywhere below such level will always be
submerged.”
Soyemi, however, said the authority was working
on controlling the flooding and that residents
would see an improvement in the coming days.
Thankfully, no life was lost as a result of the
flooding.




Sourced and edited by DANIEL IKECHUKWU EKWUNIFE (08066298797)