Come to our aid, residents beg Sanwo-Olu as flood submerges communities

By Abiodun Adebayo

The residents of Ifako-Ijaye Local Government Area of Lagos State have cried our to the government to come to their aid as flood submerged their communities.

Following the heavy downpour on Eid-el-Fitr day, Sunday, May 24, 2020, majority of the residents were forced out of their apartments as flood took over the streets and their properties.

At Oju-Elegba Road, Dalemo Alakuko, the residents complained that the road which was recently constructed by the Lagos State Government was not properly done, causing heavy flood.

Some of the residents who spoke to STREET JOURNAL, complained that the dual drainage constructed on both sides of the road were not well constructed, while the canal which was supposedly constructed to channel the water out if the community was not done by the contractor who handled the project.

The road construction project was started by the former Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode but was completed by the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu led administration.

One of the residents whose apartments were submerged, Abdullahi Oguntayo, said he has lost all his properties to the flood.

“I was outside when the rain started, on getting home, I saw all my properties floating on the water. My foam, my tapes, TV and others have been destroyed. The government needs to come back to this community. This road was just constructed but we are surprised that we can still witness this calamity,” he said.

The Chairman of the community, Alhaji Ipadeola, said the reason why the community encountered the unusual flood was the that the construction of the road was not done properly as he blamed the government for not supervising the project.

“There is a small stream down the street, when they were constructing the road, we agitated that a canal should be constructed to channel all the waters that flow through the street but it was not done.

“They said a landlord refused to allow them construct the canal because it would take part of his house. Assuming the government did the proper thing and constructed the canal, this flood wouldn’t have been occurring in this community. Now virtually all the houses are submerged in flood. We have never witnessed such flood in this community even when the road not been reconstructed.”

The Chairman therefore appealed to the local government and the state government to come back to the community and do the proper work on the road.