WHEN the heavens opened up last weekend in both Lagos and Niger states many residents must have thought it was just another rainfall that was expected to bring them blessings and a cool weather, but it turned out to be disastrous.
It all started in Lagos penultimate Friday and Saturday. The effect had remained a talking point among residents, particularly those who live on the Island, considering the extent of the havoc that came with the rain.
Though there were no recorded deaths, hundreds of homes and roads were flooded in Ajah, Lekki, Victoria Island and Ikoyi areas. The rain which caused massive flooding around the Island caused gridlock while some who were at home while it was raining heavily were left trapped inside.
The Nigeria Television Authority and Brilla FM were also affected as the two media houses, were forced to close down due to the downpour that continued on Saturday. Members of staff were asked to resume last Monday by which time the rain was expected to have subsided.
Businesses in Lekki, Victoria Island, Ajah and its environs were also affected, with the commercial GSM village in Saka Tinubu, Victoria Island having goods worth millions of naira reportedly destroyed in the flood.
Gridlock
Transport fares also went up, as Obalende to Ajah which was N250 went up to N1000 and Obalende to Lekki which was also normally goes for N200 was jerked up to N500 on Saturday and Sunday.
Some commuters, who were stranded and couldn’t pass through the flood, were reported to have paid area boys N1000 to carry them across to their destinations.
When Sunday Tribune visited to the area during the week, it was observed that the flood which was very visible during the weekend in Lekki had disappeared while some places in Ajah, Abraham Adesanya Road, Lakowe were still flooded.
Blaming the government
Some are blaming government for the flood. A bus driver, who simply identified ahimself s Mr. Sunny, in Lekki area said the flood happened due to government’s negligence.
“Everywhere was flooded. Abraham Adesanya Road, where I live, was heavily flooded. I was unable to go out for four days. People were using canoes and houses in Lakowe area had water reaching the roof level.
“The Lagos State Government should be blamed for the flood issues. You won’t believe Lekki has no good drainage system, while Ajah and areas around it don’t even have drainage systems that could have helped; and where does government expect the rain water to go to when actually there was no channel?” he fumed.
However, a market woman, Olabisi Ade at the Ajah interstate Park said the flood was expected.
“That is nature. We can’t do anything about it; what we can only do is to pray to God for it not to happen again. The flood really affected me and my family as I couldn’t come out to sell. Even the park was flooded and cars left there were destroyed by the flood,” she said.
A resident of Jakande area of Lekki, Lekan Azeez said he had to sleep in Obalende due to the flood.
“My area was heavily flooded and I had to sleep in Obalende because of the flood. It was not funny; people didn’t even know that the flood in Jakande was far worse than the one seen in Lekki and first toil-gate area of the state.
“My compound was flooded and some of my co-tenants’ appliances were damaged. The problem we have here is that there is no good working drainage system and I keep wondering why a place as big as Lekki does not have a good drainage system. Look at that place, you could see for yourself that water coming from Jakande and other areas come directly to this place and what we have here is a little opening that couldn’t have helped,” he said.
Also a bricklayer, who gave his name as Baba Ibeji who lives in Fara-park area, said the flood affected everyone.
“My area was completely flooded. No place was spared. It was only on Tuesday that we were able to start walking freely,” he said.
The flood didn’t help power supply too. It was gathered that Eko Electricity Distribution Company was forced to cut power supply to Lekki and Ajah area. A resident, Tinuola Biodun, told Sunday Tribune that the flood affected electricity transformers and cables.
“The flood was heavy. I think the power cut was as a result of the cables affected by the flood and on Monday after the water reduced, Eko Electric staff came in their numbers to repair it, but we are still without electricity, though I heard electricity had been restored in Lekki,” she said.
However, Sunday Tribune observed that in response to the flood, the government had commenced the construction of deep drainages in Ikota area of Lekki, which according to report, would stretch to Ajah.
In spite of this effort, residents appear not to be excited. Sunday Tribune learnt some are now seeking alternative accommodation on the mainland.
A canteen owner who recently relocated to Lekki and was badly affected by the flooding in which documents and property were lost, vowed not to have anything to do with Lagos Island again.
The former journalist, who desired anonymity, told Sunday Tribune that she had relocated to Arepo, and that no remedy would make her return to Lekki. She said she was willing to let the remainder of her rent go, if the agent would not be willing to make a refund for the outstanding months in the two-year rent.
Of victims and survivors
In Niger State where scores of residents died and many were injured in Tafa and Suleja local government areas of the state, the disaster was extensive and costly. Properties worth millions of naira were also damaged. Many are already displaced and would need food and shelter to survive.
Earlier in the year, NIMET had predicted that Niger state was going to be one on the states to be affected by flood this year. As it turned out last weekend brought the prediction to pass.
A tale of survivors and victims
The Director General, Niger state Emergency Management Agency, (NSEMA) Malam Ahmed Ibrahim Inga in an interview with the Sunday Tribune in Minna on Thursday, said no fewer than 165 residential houses and business structures were affected in Tafa Local Government, while in Suleja Local Government, about 200 structures were affected.
The Medical Director, Suleja General Hospital, Dr. Adedokun Adebayo .A. Abdulazeez in an interview said only two injured victims of the flood disaster in Suleja Local Government area of the state had been brought to the hospital for treatment since last Sunday..
Another doctor in the hospital, Yetunde Adekoya confirmed this adding that two bodies of victims in Tafa Local Government of the state had been recovered and buried on Tuesday.
“On Sunday, we had two of the victims of the flood disaster brought in for soothing /treatment. The first one was Mohammed Musimiu; he is 17-year old. He was rescued by some Good Samaritans and brought to the hospital around 3:30pm, so he was in a wet cloth, shivering and he was admitted into the ward. He became very stable and was discharged yesterday morning (Tuesday),” Adekoya said.
Another victim, Jubrin Abdullahi, was also said to have been rescued by Good Samaritans.
“When he came, he had a cut on his head. He too did well and the cut was sutured and dressed. Then he was able to give his contact information, so his mother arrived shortly and he went away with her in the evening about two or three hours after his admission,” she added.
Another survivor of the flood disaster, Malam Moshud Abubakar Garkowa said he lost one of his cousins, identified as Uba Abdullahi Gura.
He said that at about 10 am last Sunday, the deceased went to Kusba River in the community with a view to crossing to the other side.
On getting to the bank of the river, 25-year-old Uba, an indigene of Suleja, was said to have noticed some people being carried away by the flowing current. Before then he had asked a man selling food by the river bank to prepare a breakfast of bread and fried eggs for him.
What he saw on the river could not allow him to wait; he thought of helping the victims and jumped into the river. As he did that, he was said to have hit his head on a stone which led to excessive bleeding from his head and nose.
“He became unconscious and the water flushed him away. Before his disappearance, we saw him with blood coming out from his nose and up till now we have not been able to find him.
“We followed the river from Kantimo River, down to Gwagalada Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, where the river was moving to, but up till now we could not find him,” Mallam Garkowa said of Uba who left behind a wife and two children.
“In fact I am going to miss him a lot because we were very close; our houses were also built not quite far from each other,” he concluded.
Buhari Suleiman a business man at Tafa Local Government also lost his 19-year-old son, Yishau, to the disaster.
The teenager’s body was discovered floating somewhere on the river bank in the community on Tuesday morning after he had been declared missing alongside other little children since last Sunday.
Yishau was said to have sat for his WAEC papers in May/June and was awaiting his Senior School Certificate Examination result before the tragedy. He was said to be the first of his parents’ eight children.
Similarly, 47-year-old Abiu Yusuf, confirmed the time that the rain started, adding that it continued until the early hours of last Sunday, stressing that between 5:30am and 10am, the flood started entering their house
“We lost properties and we were almost 40 people in the house. We could not take out anything. But thank God no life was lost out of my 14 children and three wives,” said Mamza
Mohammed Ibrahim was lucky to have abandoned his 14-room house before the flood rushed in. The whole house was submerged and he could not take anything out. He is, however, grateful to God that his entire family is safe.
Flouting the rules
Meanwhile the disaster had been blamed on the blockades on the river channels and the indiscriminate building of houses close to its banks. The Vice Chairman, Tafa Local Government of the state, Mr. Samuel K. Yero said most of the houses in the affected flood disaster areas of the council areas were built against the rules and regulations of the state’s Urban and Regional Planning, under the state’s Ministry of Lands and Housing just as he blamed some of the ward and district heads in the area of selling lands to people indiscriminately irrespective of their locations.
“When I came in as the vice chairman of the Council, I came in with the development control, to see that the buildings were built according to the rules and regulations of the Urban and Regional planning. And it is very unfortunate that whenever our people see cheap landed properties they will go and pay for it, irrespective of the location,” he said.
He also described as very terrible, a situation whereby people built their houses very close to the streams stressing that the Haye Nasarawa in Zuma East area of Tarffa local government where the flood disaster was mostly devastating was having a stream that flowed from the old Bwari Area Council at Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
He stated further that the state government had mandated him and the council chairman, Abdullahi Maje to make an inventory of all the collapsed buildings as well as those residential and commercial structures numbering about 50, that were badly affected by the flood, saying, “we are taking inventory of the structures one after the other and the names of the affected victims with the view to getting the accurate figures.
I am sure as soon as we finished with the inventories, the state government would take care of the affected survivors of the disasters who are now either staying with their relations and friends within the council areas.”
“Also in the state, we have two abode systems for the people who are living in the flood plain areas. So, now we are trying to move them to the upland because we have so many sites for them to move but due to the economic activities they used to enjoy by the river sides they do not want to move.
“The three abode sites are in Mokwa Local Government around Ketso side and another one at Lavun Local Government of the state while another one is located at Lapai Local Government of the state,” said Inga.
" failure of leadership in Nigeria in the past has caused the nation a lot…
Niger State Commissioner for Homeland Security, Brig. Gen. Bello Abdullahi (Rtd), has assured that Niger…
In 2021, Air Peace alone suffered 14 bird strikes, which affected its engines, while in…
In a bold step towards building a climate-resilient agricultural sector, AGRA, Nestlé Nigeria, and TechnoServe…
“But in terms of real opposition. I don’t know why anybody refers to Peter Obi…
The Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum (PDP-GF) and former governors have named former Senate President…
This website uses cookies.