Maiduguri residents demand drainage system

Residents of Maiduguri Metropolitan Local Government Area of Borno State have called on the state government to provide  drainage systems to check flooding, which engulfs the area anytime it rains.

Some of the residents, who spoke with  Community News, said they were tired of using buckets to drain flood water from their homes and  shops whenever it rains.

A resident, Mohammed Abubakar, said there was need for the government of Alhaji Kashim Shettima to take the issue of drainage seriously because it is a major poblem in the state capital instead of leaving it to the local government.

He called for  construction of massive drainage from Gudumbali, Shuari  through Bolori down to Baga Road.

Community News learnt that due to the presence of clay soil in Maiduguri, water hardly sinks  whenever it rains resulting in flooding with the exception of some GRAs that have good drainage systems.

“We are tired of incessant flooding. We want Governor Kashim Shettima to do something about it. They behave as if nothing is happening while we are expected to continue to sleep on top of water every rainy  season, it’s annoying.

“We really do not understand why there has not been any deliberate effort by the government in the last 40 years to give us proper drainage. It is only massive drainage systems that can stop the flooding  we experience every year,” he said

The General Manager of the Borno State Environmental Protection Agency (BOSEPA), Nasiru Surindi, blamed the  flooding mostly on the careless attitude of residents,  who throw wastes into the gutter, including plastics.