Benin: Floored by flood

Homeless, hopeless and helpless; the voices of the locals are like those weeping in the wilderness. For long, they have been crying about their torments, ever increasing with the torrential rainfall but there seems no be no available ears to listen to their pitiful agony. Forlorn, nobody listens to their sobbing hearts.  Every dark cloud in Benin which is supposed to bring forth a mighty outpouring of rain is cause for deep despair. With the coming of the rains, the Edo state capital has no doubt been floored by flood. Left to the elements, the city residents have to either learn to swim or sink in the water as the government appears not to be coming up with solutions.

In many neighbourhoods, from Uwelu to Saint Saviour, Textile Mill Road, Owina Road, Erhunmwunse, Evbuotubu, Agho, Second Cemetery to so many others, the reality of the situation is the same. The residents seem to have resigned to fate. They have resolved to wade through the rampaging flood on their own. After all it is not for nothing that they say that what cannot be conquered must be condoned. Life in this urban jungle is brutish and only the fittest survive.

From water gushing into their houses to roads being literally submerged in the rampaging flood water; what is supposed to bring joy is now cause for cry in Benin City. With thousands of houses submerged in muddy water, several thousand landlords have been rendered homeless. From being proud home owners, they are now squatters.

Uwelu Road from Ogida Market just off the Textile Mill Road looks like a ghost town. Marked with deep gullies, abandoned houses, grasses in the middle and water logged, Uwelu Road is in a sorry state. The few motorists, mostly commercial drivers who dare to drive across always have a terrible tale to tell. Their vehicles are covered with red mud while muddy water gushed inside, soaking the foot mats and even the seats.

Ironically, in a fast changing African environment where desert encroachment is steadily marching down from the Sahara to the Atlantic as a result of drought, people up north fast and pray for rain. They earnestly look up to any gathering of cloud with trepidation and great expectations. Against the backdrop of dwindling rainfall in the Sahara, the people yearn for a little trickle of rain. The shower from above is abundant blessing. Water is life, so they say, and without it mankind is doomed.

Born and raised in the neighbourhood, a resident, Mr. Friday Ogbewe wailed that Idahosa street which is just off the main road is a no go area. Where cars and lorries are afraid of plying for fear of being damaged, only tricycles rush in. Navigating through the water logged bad road is definitely not for the lily livered.

The tradomedical doctor said that he had to relocate his wife and children to Siluko Road because of the stagnant water and the terrible situation of the road.

Ogbewe confessed that he has not driven his car home in the last two years because of the water. A first time visitor may confuse the road for either a lake or a natural wetland. At night the croaking of frogs and chirping of insects ensure their sleep is restless. He explained that the flooded part of the street which severs it from Uwelu road used to be a lively area. Inhabited mostly by Igbo people, it was called Igbo camp. There were about six houses owned by Mr. West Idahosa and another 20 houses owned by different landlords.

“All the houses, about 26, have been submerged in water. Nobody lives there anymore. It used to be a very lively area until water swept it away,” he said sighing.

He lamented that the determined effort of a good neighbour, Mr. Greg Ero, a former top official of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) who had to dip his hand deep inside his pockets to put concrete on the road came to noting when the first rains came and washed it away. The N30 million he reportedly spent on the road, over two years ago, was carried away by the furious flood.

Ogbewe said: “If not for Ero, we would have all packed from Idahosa street. There is water everywhere. Engineer Ero used over N30 million to concretise the road but in the absence of drainage, the very first rains washed it away. We were all thinking of abandoning our houses enmasse when he intervened. Even with the present terrible situation, the road is still far better than it was before Ero intervened. It was a no go area. Before now, we couldn’t even trek to our houses because of water but now we can at least manage because of Ero.”

Looking back, the traditional healer remarked that in the last ten years, the state government has surveyed the road severally, still nothing has been done. Instead of a ray of hope, it is deeper darkness he sees each time he takes a look at the road.

Sighing, Ogbewe said that there is nothing like government in Uwelu as the people have been abandoned to their fate. Resolved to help themselves in the absence of government, each landlord was mandated to coughed out N5, 000 early this year at the onset of the rains to grade Obasohan street which links Idahosa. Again, like a castle built on a sandy beach, it was washed away by the first downpour.

In desperation, he said that he wears bathroom slippers every time he goes out and keeps his shoes inside his bag. He exchanges the slippers for the shoes after alighting from the tricycle at Ogida market, a ritual he has to repeat on his way home by changing his shoes for the slippers.

He bemoaned: “Brother, that is what we are made to go through here at Uwelu. Governor Godwin Obaseki should listen to our cry. If not for tricycle riders that manage to ply the road against all odds, nobody will live here. My children live separately from me because of the water. I have to take them to dry land on Siluko road so that they can go to school.”

He said that presently so many houses are unoccupied because of the flood, emphasizing: “Who will want to live in this God forsaken area? I am only living here because I inherited the house from my father and so I cannot abandon it.”

A tricycle rider from Ebonyi who simply gave his name as Isaiah said that he had spent fortune changing several gear boxes in his machine as water easily damages it. Also, he spends a lot of money washing it daily at the car wash.

Fuming, a community leader in Ogida, Egor local government area, Mr. Enoyoze Roberts said that it beats his imagination why Governor Godwin Obaseki turned his back on the community of over 100,000 people. He had neither bothered to visit the area nor attempted to fulfill his electoral promises made in the heat of campaign stumps in the 2016 governorship election.

Roberts explained that former Governor Oserhemien Osunbor during his short time as chief executive concreted the road from Textile Mill road junction to Ogida Primary School before his victory was nullified by the Appeal Court in 2008.

Then entered Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; he said that as community leader, he cultivated the media to draw the state government’s attention to the plight of the people. His spirited effort was however doomed as Oshiomhole looked elsewhere for the execution of road projects for three and a half years. Uwelu road was not a priority. As at the last time, over 1000 houses have been lost to the flood

The youth leader charged that on realization of the huge vote in the densely populated area, the future APC national chairman hurriedly resurfaced the road in 2012, shortly before the election in a desperate effort at winning a second term. Once again, the people queued up to vote for the former comrade governor who scored an emphatic victory.

He added: “It was deceit for political gains. There were no drainages on the road. We were fooled into voting for Oshiomhole. It was a shoddy work as the road was not properly tarred and ended at the Volvo line of Uwelu Motor Spare parts market. It was done to win the vote of Egor local government area. Uwelu gave Oshiomhole a block vote.”

Shortly after the election, the celebrated road started falling to the disappointment of the locals who thought it was hurray. The bulbs in the streetlights which were installed on the road died even before the ink on the ballot papers dried up.

He said that going to Uwelu spare market from his house just by Textile Mill Road junction is a nightmare. A journey that is supposed to last not more than five minutes and cost only N50 takes over 30 minutes as residents have to travel in a circle from Ogida to Teacher’s House before boarding a cab to Uwelu. The Israelite journey costs N500.

Roberts said: “Right from Vow close to First Otamere, the road is bad. We find it very difficult going to Uwelu nowadays. We have to go to Teacher’s House by Ogida barracks before taking a tricycle along the power line to Uwelu. It is hectic. Uwelu is very close but yet very far from us.”

With a dismissive wave of the hand, he remarked that the community will not make any effort at seeking audience with incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki.

He insisted: “During the election, Obaseki visited Uwelu in company of Oshiomhole and promised to work on the road. He is aware of the flooding in Uwelu. We don’t need to remind him. It is very vexatious that Obaseki has not deemed it fit to visit Uwelu after the election which he won overwhelmingly in Uwelu. He is aware and do not need to remind him. We are tired of lamenting.”

On a wet day, the front of his house is always flooded. So also is Ogida Primary School where the children wade through muddy water to go school.

“Here in Uwelu Road, Ogida, rain is pain. We would rather it doesn’t rain here if we have our way,” he wailed.

St Saviour may just be a stone throw from the seat of government on Osadebey Avenue in the Government Reserved Area (GRA) of Benin but it is a world away. A long time St Saviour Road resident, El Hadj Musa Sule said that he is at the limit of his endurance. A deep gully has currently cut off the road as a result of flood water. Accessing St Saviour from all the adjoining streets is now practically impossible. Most times, if it he has to abandon his car and either trek the distance on muddy back streets to Upper Sakponba Road where he eventually picks a vehicle to his destination.

ALSO READ: Code of Conduct Tribunal: It’s been three tough years ―Saraki

Again, like Uwelu, Sule said that tricycles are now the only means of transportation to the sprawling neighbourhood. The situation is blowing his mind and just cannot accept it anymore. Several times, thoughts of leaving the area have flashed across his mind but for the fact that he is a homeowner.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart frowned: “There is no government here. St Saviour is in a mess. Flood and bad roads have taken over the whole community. Rain in St Saviour is now cause for sorrow.”

Going down memory lane, the old politician disclosed that the road was constructed by former Governor Ambrose Alli in the 80s but collapsed only to be rehabilitated by ex-governor Oserhemien Osunbor in 2007 and immediate past governor Adams Oshiomhole before it was washed away by the rains.

Alhaji as he is popularly known noted that his heart lept for joy when news filtered in last year that the road was earmarked for total construction with drainage last year. Over one year later, the it is the same old tale of suffering and smiling by the residents who have learnt not to hope anymore.

Determined attempts to reach the Commissioner of Environment, Dame Omuwa Oni-Okpaku proved futile but in stout defence, the Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie said that the state government has been up and doing, and had never given up on residents in any part of the state.

The problem with Benin City and indeed all of Edo state, according to Osagie is that it lies in the rain forest zone. The rain pours very hard in every part of the state resulting in flood water which he insisted is not stagnant but flows away thirty minutes once the rain stops.

He assured: “We are presently desilting the drains. There is no case of serious flooding in Edo state. What happens is that there is flood after the rains in most part of Benin which clears, thirty minutes after the rain stops. Once we are through with the clearing of the drains, flooding will be a thing of the past in Edo state.”

The Edo state government spokesman vehemently denied that Obaseki has abandoned the people in the backwater, insisting that the governor will definitely reach out to them.

Osagie passionately pleaded with people in the affected area to be patient with the government as it is resolved to reach out to all Edo people no matter where they are.

Midway into the rainy season, city residents will still have to endure the pains of flooding until the government comes up with a comprehensive water drainage system to curtail the rains. Completing the abandoned water storm project, started by Oshiomhole in the Edo state capital may just turn out to be the elixir.