As part of activities to access how successful efforts to strengthen the process of mitigating flood disasters in Ibadan metropolis is, stakeholders came together to take a closer look into activities in order to renew relationships, make efforts better and resolve outstanding issues. YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that members of Ibadan flood-prone communities were unanimous in their assessment that incessant flooding had been kept at bay in their communities.
Over the decades, the ancient Ibadan city, the Oyo State capital, has been affected by incessant flooding and consequent catastrophes. Indeed, the city has been known to be prone to heavy flooding since the 50’s due to haphazard and unplanned building development on river channels and waterways as well as bad disposal of solid waste.
And as the city developed further in size and population, the haphazard process of doing things got worse until the flooding incident of August 27, 2011 which led to the death of over 100 persons and a $600m supplicant damage value following the overflowing of Eleyele dam.
This led to the establishment of the Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP), a collaborative effort of the Oyo state government and the World Bank which is expected to last for eight years. And four years into the activities of the IUFMP in exercising its mandate to rid the city of the menace of incessant devastating flooding using environmental, engineering and social measures, it held a midterm review with the World Bank, stakeholders and members of flood-prone areas.
The review was primarily focused on looking for ways to ensure the project is sustainable through evaluation, understand the strengths and weaknesses of the process, look for way out of issues and how to tackle challenges, see what has been done and how to improve and allow people from flood-prone areas to relate their experience, rate the efforts of the project and its impact as well as list their expectations and any outstanding issues faced in their communities.
Giving an overview of IUFMP’s activities during the review which is a three-day event that included visitation to flood intervention sites, the coordinator of IUFMP, Dayo Ayorinde, stated that the project had applied multi dimensional and multi-sectoral methods towards the sole objective of finding long term solution to flood risk mitigation which involved structural and non structural methods.
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He added that the IUFMP had been able to do this through massive channelisation drive to drain Ibadan of surface water runoff that predisposes it to flooding, increased sensitisation, exploring new frontiers towards putting flooding at bay and creating relationship with partners for shared experiences, capacity building and knowledge sharing for flood risk management in terms of different aspects of the IUFMP deliverables as well as early warning signals that have mitigated flooding effects from 2016- 2018.
The IUFMP, apart from stopping devastating flooding that had been a part of Ibadan for decades, had also prepared the Ibadan Master Plan, Ibadan Drainage Master Plan and the Early Warning System to aid total eradication of flooding.
Speaking during the review, the leader of the World Bank Task Team and Project Implementation Unit (PIU), Mr Robert Reid, said the activities of IUFMP had helped the city to understand its situation and challenges and provided a way of tackling its flooding challenge and associated issues, adding that the review is laudable because it presents the opportunity to access activities and access how to make effects better, how to strengthen partnerships and resolve outstanding issues.
It was identified that earlier interventions failed because it did not look at the issue holistically until the IUFMP came on board and many of the efforts were mere palliative rather than curative and there were continuous issues of undersized channels modeled to investigate extent of flooding without considering clogging due to solid waste, encroachment of houses in flood plains and dumping of refuse in drainage and streams among other factors.
Reviewing the Ibadan Master Plan produced by IUFMP, Dr Boalanle Wahab from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan, stated that on the eve of the 2011 flooding, he gave a lecture entitled, ‘Ibadan, a city in need of master plan’, describing the plan as an excellent and broad-based document which already has won an award. He asked the state government to implement the plan and review it every five years to cover new developments in the city and cater for growth.
“It is a feasible and catalytic instrument capable of stimulating development as it has taken care of the four-point agenda of the present administration. Government should adopt it as a legal document, declare Ibadan a plan-able area, organize a public presentation, take ownership and contribute resources, inaugurate a coordinating department, ensure adequate monitoring and implementation and collaborate with local government as zonal offices,” he stated.
Prof. Adegbola Adedayo from the Civil Engineering and Water Resources Department of Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, while reviewing the Ibadan Drainage Master Plan, declared that it is relevant to the problem of urban flooding in Ibadan and is a commendable report, adding that government should ensure that the design is translated into reality and is sustainable.
“The design should take cognisance of sediment and refuse load and consider the bad act of refuse burning in culverts and channels. Hydraulic structures must be given to professionals while focus should be put on commencement and completion periods for all hydraulic structures because it matters, especially in areas that are on the path of flood water.
“This is a thorough job but I should ask what happens to border areas in 20 years time. If these are put into consideration, we have a foolproof plan,” he stated.
Dr Nathaniel Adeoye from the Geography Department of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, who represented Prof F.A. Adesina reviewed the Ibadan Flood Risk Early Warning Signal. He stated that it is an effective system but asked that more youths should be carried along in the community participation.
At the end of the discussions, flood-prone communities were asked to assess IUFMP interventions in their communities and list ways that the project can improve in helping to combat flooding in the areas. The communities through their leaders all attested to the fact that the intervention of IUFMP had saved them from vacating their homes as it was the norm during heavy rains, adding that they had been saved from the ravages of devastating floods through IUFMP activities in their communities.
Mr Kolawole Giwa, the community leader at Ogberepegba commended IUFMP, stating that, “we have had a beautiful interaction with IUFMP. Our life is better; we cherish what they have done for us, especially on the bridge. We want them to also help with the other bridge and we know that with that, we will never experience any flood again. They have been sensitising us and we want to learn more from them because we can boldly say that they have made life better for us and our children.”
The chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Mr Kamoru Adeyemo, also commended the efforts of the IUFMP and emphasized the need for continuity and sustenance while Mr Tunde Adebiyi from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), called for legislation to curb indiscriminate dumping of refuse in Ibadan.
Representatives of markets in Ibadan also lauded IUFMP for helping to keep their markets clean with its cleanest market competition that had raised the awareness for the need to ensure a clean environment in the markets.
As communities laud IUFMP for its half term, expectations are high that they would do better in the last for years of the project.