Flooding: Ejigbo Residents, NNPC Trade Blame

For residents of Iyalaje Estate/Akintan Close behind the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Ejigbo, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, the recent rainstorms, especially that of Thursday 28 July, 2012, that fell till the early hours of Friday, will forever remain a nightmare.

It was a sad tale for the residents as the entire community was flooded by the heavy downpour. They had to wade through the murky waters in the thick of the night to rescue their families, to avoid an even worse scenario.

Three days after the rain, the residents were still scooping water out of their compounds and apartments. Some lost all that they had worked for all their lives to the raging flood, as all the houses in the area were submerged, some up to window level.

Speaking with P.M.NEWS, Barr. Kunle Adeniyi, whose compound was also flooded, said that there was supposed to be a drainage channel along Iyalaje street, linking the main road but it has been blocked by an NNPC facility.

“Where we have a problem is that storm water coming from Daleko, Fatusi and Coker streets come straight into our compound, due to the absence of proper drainage channels. “If there had been one, it would have prevented all this calamity. The ones that were even constructed are too narrow and it is on one side of the road. The local government is not doing anything here. They only built culverts that do not connect with the drainage channel and a contractor was paid for such a shoddy job. I consider this a waste of tax payers money.

“We are not feeling government presence here at all. I can tell you that most of the drainages you see were built through community and individual efforts and they were done according to what their capacity can carry,” he said.

According to Dr Solomon Okuntimehin of S. A. Okuntimehin Bone Clinic, whose clinic, had over 30 patients on that fateful day, “my patients and myself went through hell because everywhere was flooded. I was torn between carrying the corpse of my brother’s son, who died after a brief illness, and my patients with broken bones. How do you expect me to carry those fat women upstairs? In fact, it was a terrible situation”.

Mrs Chinyere Okonkwo, a nursing mother said: “It affected all our properties, including certificates, phones, foodstuffs, electronics and many other things. We packed in here on 18 May, 2012 and it is quite unfortunate that we are going through this kind of harrowing experience, even in this my condition. We can’t sleep here anymore. What we do now is to put up with relatives.

“My husband owns a pharmaceutical store and he lost over N300,000 to the flood except his two buses that were also submerged. If the landlord can refund our money, we will pack out because we don’t know what may happen next. As it is now, it is glaring that we can’t travel and leave our properties behind. We were more or less swimming in this flood before getting out of our apartment,” she said.

Another resident, Nwigwe Eric said: “It affected me in all aspects of my life. My family and I cannot sleep here. All our properties have been badly damaged. What we intend doing now is to hire a pumping machine and pump out this water. It is very unfortunate. Though we have experienced flooding in the past, it wasn’t as bad as this. What makes our situation worse is that the water isn’t moving because that NNPC facility has blocked us here.

“Part of the problem is that our end is lower while the drainage on the main road is higher. I have not been able to go to work since that Thursday and it is really bitting me harder,”  he added.

Semiu Olatoye, a resident of Akintan Close, behind the NNPC, Ejigbo, said: “I lost everything that I have worked for to the flood. When it first started, we thought it was something that we could curtail but when the water starting gushing non-stop, we realised that it wasn’t child’s play. I thank God that I was able to rescue my family.

“All my other properties that were badly damaged by the flood is nothing before God. They are things that I can still acquire later in life. The ultimate is that my family and I came out alive. What we want the government to do is to find a lasting solution to this problem of flooding in this area. We don’t want to experience this anymore,” he pleaded.

An elderly man, Pa. O. A. Mejiola, said that when the NNPC depot was built in the area, they had thought its presence would be beneficial to the residents, adding that it has since become their nightmare.

“I got here in 1977 before the NNPC depot was built. Then we used to have a very big canal that made it easier for storm water to flow freely, but when the NNPC came, they sand filled it. Thereafter, the depot became higher and our end here became lower, making it impossible for water to flow freely,” he said.

The NNPC depot manager, Ejigbo, Engr. K. K. Ekeh, said that he had inspected the area, and that their maintenance department has been dully briefed on what to do to salvage the situation.

“When we got to the areas affected by the flood, we found out that the residents have blocked the available drainage with refuse, which was what resulted in this flood that was experienced by the residents. I have never experienced a thing like this since I resumed here.

“What I am most concerned about now is how to ensure that we pump this water out of that place. After then, we would now sit down and deliberate on the next line of action,” he said.

—Jamiu Yisa