Flood: Lagos Communities Seek Govt's Assistance

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Residents of Agbede communities in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State have appealed to the state government to come to their rescue as flood is about to cut them off from the rest of the state.

During a visit to the community recently, it was observed that the only road leading to the area has been taken over by flood, while residents were seen wading through it to get to their destinations.

The cause of this, it was gathered, was due to the torrential rains witnessed in the state some days ago, leading to the overflow of water in the canal in the area.

Evangelist Olusegun Famoritade, Chairman, Agbede Oloshugbo Community Development Association, attributed the flooding of the road to the construction of buildings around to the canal, which has not been cleared for a long time.

He appealed to the state government to assist the communities by clearing and widening the canal to avoid future flooding of the area.

Also speaking, Prince Adeniran Ogunbanwo, the Chairman, Agbede Idiorogbo Community Development Association, said the community has never felt government’s presence in terms of roads and other infrastructure development.

He said apart from the bridge which was constructed about 10 years ago by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives in conjunction with FADAMA, other infrastructure in the community were through communal efforts, adding that the bridge and the road are being maintained through the tolls collected from the residents.

According to Ogunbanwo, “there is no government presence here and concerning roads, apart from the bridge which was constructed by the government, we have so far spent about N5 million on the road and for grading it twice in a year, we spend over N4 million.

“The flood was caused largely due to the development that is going on in the community because more people are now coming in and buildings are erected beside the canal, which is affecting free flow of water into it

“Also, the canal needs to be dredged and widened so that it will not be overflow its banks any time it rains.”

It was gathered that several letters have been written to the state government but nothing has been done.

According to the residents, apart from the fact that the flood has threatened to cut them off from the rest of the state, it has also disrupted their social and economic activities, while also calling on government to assist them by improving electricity supply to the area, saying that they have been without electricity for almost a month now.

— Paul Sanusi

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