22nd October, 2023
By Adejoke Adeleye,Ogun
Ogun government has warned owners of houses built on drainage channels already marked for demolition for obstructing flow of water to remove them voluntarily or have them removed by the state on their behalf at a cost payable by them.
Ogun Commissioner for Environment, Mr Ola Oresanya gave the warning when he led a state government multi- sectoral team on flood mitigation and control to assess the impact of urban flooding in Ikenne Local Government Area of the state.
According to him, if the owners of the marked buildings who have been given enough notices and ultimatum wait for the state government to remove the property, they will have to pay the state government for using the tax- payers to remove it for them
He added that the landlords will also face possible penalty as the government will drag them court for contravening the state Environmental Laws.
He therefore directed those involved to do the needful as quickly as possible to avoid the sanctions
Oresanya said the state government is interested in the landlords obeying the ultimatum and the environmental laws which prohibits them from building on flood planes.
Mr Oresanya also used the opportunity to direct house owners in the state to channel their wastenwaters properly by constructing and maintaining tertiary drains in front of their houses or show evidence of waste water retention tanks to complement the state government’s efforts at constructing and maintaining primary and secondary trunks to avoid sanctions.
“Any house owner that fail to comply with these directive by allowing his or her wastes water to flow on to the roads will be penalized as the state and the local authorities will not watch them drain their waste water directly into the road thereby destroying the road infrastructure ”
“We will not fold our hands and see people destroy these roads built with tax payers money. If you go round the state, you will see that the state government has invested heavily on this road infrastructure in the interest of the public and one of the key things that destroy them is this habit of our people which must stop forthwith” Oresanya added.
Going forward, the Commissioner announced that in conformity with the new flood realities in Nigeria and globally, the state government will soon start upgrading its drainage plans which will be followed strictly while efforts are also on to expand the drainage network for better flood mitigation and management.
He however advised house owners who may fall into these new alignments with genuine approvals to file for compensation as the state government is determined to see through its new drainage master plan.
