24th March, 2021
Lagos State Government has called on residents of Agege community to stop indiscriminate dumping of refuse inside the drainage channel.
Speaking against the backdrop of the recent flash floods experienced at the Oke-koto and environs sequel to a heavy downpour, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Works and Infrastructure Mrs Aramide Adeyoye noted that the flooding was caused by clogging in the main collector drain conduits along Capitol Road.
While noting that the Agege Pen Cinema Flyover Bridge was designed to eliminate the perennial traffic gridlocks across the intersections at Agege, the adjoining roads were also constructed by the State Government with adequate drainage system to mitigate recurrence flooding associated with the corridor.
Adeyoye added that the indiscriminate dumping of refuse inside drainage channels by the residents of Agege community was solely responsible for the severe clogging and siltation of the drains thereby resulting into the flooding as experienced recently at Oke Koto.
Adeyoye who warned residents to desist from the act of dumping refuse into the drains, also disclosed that the State Government through the Emergency Flood Abatement Gangs (EFAG) of the Ministry of the Environment has embarked on desilting of the drains to allow free flow of run-off/storm water and prevent flooding on the carriageway.
The special Adviser said, “At the moment the Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration is making efforts to reduce the number of bad roads in the State, a drive through the streets and highways of Lagos will reveal that roads had either been repaired or being fixed across many locations.
She added that, even as Government is making frantic effort to provide infrastructural facilities that will ameliorate the suffering of her citizenry, any road is as good as its drains, once we clog the drains with refuse, we compromise the integrity of the pavement and overall riding surface, Therefore, as we continue to prepare for the rains, people must stop the various abuses on road transport infrastructure challenges associated with the rainy season.
To ensure sustainability of provided road assets and to optimize the level-of-service outcome in return for the most cost-effective financial input, Adeyoye called on community leaders to be actively involved and guide against this unwholesome act.
“The State Government holds as premium the responsibility of strategic provision of road infrastructure across the State and sustainability also requires we engage with the citizenry, to register in their sub consciousness and also seek their support in terms of taking ownership of the roads and to guide jealously these collective assets against misuse and abuse”, she said.