During an assessment of the impact of the flood that affected Olodo area in Ibadan, Oyo State. SUNDAY TRIBUNE found out that life continues for residents of the area and commuters who use the bridge. IFEDAYO OGUNYEMI reports;
On Sunday, July 23, flood ravaged parts of Olodo in Lagelu and Egbeda Local Government Areas of Oyo State, after a torrential rainfall. One thing residents and the state government would appreciate about the flood is that no life was lost.
It will be recalled that, in 2022, 662 persons lost their lives as a result of the flood disasters recorded in the country. During the same period, 3,174 people suffered injuries and 2,430,445 Nigerians were displaced according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
A huge body of rampaging flood as witnessed at Olodo area usually takes down everything along its path and sweeps away almost every matter it encounters, big or small, including the Olodo bridge which was undergoing reconstruction.
Despite the fact that no life was lost on Sunday, the experience will be etched in the memories of those affected by the flood, particularly those living between Olodo garage on the road leading to Iwo town in Osun State and Monatan High School inward the popular Iwo Road Interchange in Ibadan.
During Sunday Tribune’s visit to the area, residents appeared to have moved on. The hustle and bustle that characterised the scene amidst the cacophony of voices and never-ending drama would not give anyone not familiar with the area any hint of what happened last Sunday, save for what remains of the collapsed bridge.
An undesignated but what appears to be temporary market and motorpark has sprung up at the same spot in a matter of days after the unfortunate flood incident that devastated the area. As it is popularly said, Nigerians usually find ways, even through diversity, to move on. This typically exemplifies the new experience at the Olodo garage, heart of the flooding.
A few days prior, residents and commuters with engagements on either side of the now washed away bridge were stuck for about four hours between 3pm and 7:30pm. They had nothing to cling onto other than hope and prayer that the water would recede. That hope didn’t come till late in the evening.
One of those stuck on the Olodo side of the bridge on Sunday afternoon was a tricyclist, Ibrahim Akolade, who regularly plies the road transporting passengers from Iwo Road Interchange to Olodo Bank axis. He was making another round of his regular routine, ferreting passengers to and fro Iwo Road junction when he got the surprise of the day.
He had dropped two passengers at Olodo Bank area and was lucky enough to get two new passengers inside the rain to convey to Wofun and Iwo Road interchange. But when he got back to Olodo bridge, a bewildered crowd was beginning to grow. This was because a large body of water that usually passed under the bridge had overflowed completely masking the bridge.
“In a matter of minutes, the water covered the bridge completely and it was gushing as if it was a waterfall,” Akolade said. “It was like watching a film. No one dared to cross.”
He further said: “We don’t even know where that kind of water came from or where it went. Remember that the bridge was partially collapsed by contractors working on the site. There was water everywhere such that you can’t even see traces of the remaining section of the bridge.”
Recall that the state government, in September 2022, approved the N12.5 billion for the reconstruction, rehabilitation and dualisation of 35.6-kilometre Iwo Road Interchange-Olodo-Lalupon-Odo Oba Road.
The project, expected to be completed in 18 months and jointly funded by both the Oyo and Osun State governments, was awarded to Messrs Peculiar Ultimate Concerns Limited, according to the then (now re-appointed) Oyo State Commissioner for Public Works and Transport, Professor Daud Kehinde Sangodoyin.
“The road project is subdivided into three parts. The first is the 7.7 kilometre from the Iwo Road interchange to Olodo Bridge. Also, we will extend the bridge to about 24 metres wide and 12 metres long.
“On the second tranche, we also want to dualise the 500 metres from the bridge to Ogunmarako Junction and thereafter, we will do 27.33 kilometres from Ogunmarako to Odo-Oba Bridge at the other end of Oyo and Osun boundary,” Sangodoyin was quoted by our sister publication, the Nigerian Tribune.
Now that the bridge which is undergoing rehabilitation has been overrun by flood, Akolade urged the state government to provide succour for those residing and working in the area, adding that he expended the N1,500 fuel he bought on the alternative road connecting Wofun and Olodo Bank which is in a bad state.
According to Akolade and other respondents who spoke with Sunday Tribune spoke with in the area, two bus drivers who dared the flood and attempted to drive through got stuck on the bridge.
Though versions of how long the buses stayed in the water on top of the bridge varied, the water had receded before the two vehicles were eventually moved away by their respective drivers. No one was reported injured in the process.
The floodwater that besieged the hotel’s underground section was as high as ten feet based on the marks left on the walls and pillars.
“The flood destroyed the rice and spaghetti we had in the store,” said Marvelous, an official of the hotel who spoke with Sunday Tribune. “Some of our rooms on the ground floor were badly affected, particularly the beds and appliances we had in them.
“We had to sun-dry them the following day. We are presently trying to fix the sections of the hotel that were affected by the flood. When the flood happened, we were able to remove the TVs.
“When the rain stopped, the flood went back through the same drainage it took to get in here. Just like it happened last month, water filled the rooms and soaked the beds. We don’t pray that something this bad happens again,” Marvelous said.
A point of sale (POS) operator in the area, who also witnessed the incident, Mayowa Akintayo, told Sunday Tribune that the floodwater didn’t recede significantly till around 7:30 p.m. before people were able to cross the bridge.
“When it was getting full, two drivers risked driving through the water towards Wofun but they got stuck. Thank God it wasn’t the other side that had cut off. They had to drag them out of there when the flood had receded a little,” Akintayo said.
He told Sunday Tribune that though there’s an alternative road around Olodo Bank and Olodo Grammar School that connects Wofun, driving through the road is strenuous and makes one’s journey unnecessarily longer.
For anyone travelling to Iwo town, Osogbo or other parts of Osun State through Iwo Road Interchange-Olodo-Lalupon-Odo Oba road, they will first get to Olodo bridge, before getting another vehicle heading out of the state into Osun State. This means they will spend extra on transportation to cover the same distance.
During Sunday Tribune’s visit to the scene, several private cars presumably belonging to those with engagements on the other side of the collased bridge were parked on either side of the road.
Commercial drivers were seen hauling passengers on either of the bridges as different types of loads were being offloaded and moved on foot across the bridge in order to be transported to their respective destinations.
A team of operatives of the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) codenamed Operation Amotekun were stationedto watch over the remaining section of the bridge preventing vehicles from driving through it.
Meanwhile, what appears to be a temporary market had sprung up in the area. Young and old men and women were seen hawking or displaying their wares to commuters. Some young people were also seen erecting makeshift stalls beside the contractors’s shed. Their actions were fuelled by the belief that it will take months to fix the bridge while residents and commutters will still cross the bridge before boarding vehicles to their destinations.
“The market you’re seeing here started on Monday when people realised vehicles can no longer use the bridge any more,” Akintayo explained. “It was the garage that first came here to serve those crossing the bridge on foot, then the market came thereafter.”
Another resident of the area, Yusuf Olaitan, popularly known as Baba Resketi, described the move as an opportunity for traders to cash in on the new realisation they’ve found themselves.
“People can’t help themselves whenever they see an opportunity for business. The foot traffic here is developing fast because vehicles drop people on that side, they cross over on foot and take another vehicle on this side to their destinations. We now call this place ‘border post’.
Speaking more on what transpired on Sunday evening, Olaitan said while the rainstorm occurred, one could really feel it was going to lead to a flood disaster because a similar event happened a couple of weeks before then.
“Those inside the hotel had to run for safety because the bar was getting overrun with flood. Some of the equipment were destroyed in the process.
“The force of the water that came from the river must have hit the bridge hard for the facility to break more than what the contractors had broken. We couldn’t even see that until the water receded. This place where we sat was filled with water on Sunday.
“Vehicles were still able to pass through the remains of the bridge to the other side on Monday but it further collapsed inwards again and that was why they stopped vehicles from crossing the bridge.
“The alternative road still needs rehabilitation. There’s a bridge that runs through the road that is equally bad. So, I doubt people will ply the road. With the number of people here, I think they preferred to cross here,” Olaitan said.
In its response to the incident, the state government said it is “currently working on the reconstruction of the bridge” even though it is a Federal Government road.
When contacted, Chief Press Secretary to the Oyo State governor, Mr Sulaimon Olanrewaju, said: “The state government has set up a committee to investigate the incident and identify what can be done to come to the aid of the people using the damaged bridge. It didn’t damage completely but it isn’t safe anymore for people to use and that’s why the government identified an alternative route for their use.”
When told residents have mounted garages and trade points around the collapsed bridge, he said “no government could have agreed to that. Our people are only trying to take advantage of the situation.
“The government was going to fix that road. It is just unfortunate that such a disaster happened there. It happens and nobody could have predicted it. But I know that the state government has taken it upon itself to build a bigger and even better bridge over that river.”
Meanwhile, Professor Sangodoyin, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Information and Orientation on Saturday, said an alternative route from Oki junction to Olodo Garage will be opened for motorists on Wednesday, adding that the route will reduce the hardship of movement of road users.
He further stated that ongoing repair works on the alternative route highlighted for traffic management were being rounded up as the contractor has expedited action on the said road.
“You remember that we have awarded the construction of Iwo-Road to Odo-Oba road, and due to climatic change that led to heavy downpour, there is a need to construct a new bridge at Olodo. To do that, we need to construct a palliative route for our people to reduce the hardship on the Iwo-Road-Olodo-Odo-Oba road.
“What we have done now is to identify the easiest way out for an alternative route, and that is why we are here. Of course, I know that there must have been some hardship on the road, especially for people to pass to their homes. That is why I’m here to inspect and to make sure that we are proactive in terms of how to finish the alternative route,” Sangodoyin said.
Project Manager, Peculiar Ultimate Concern Limited, Mr Israel Eleta, was also quoted in the statement, saying that the ongoing repair works on the alternative routes highlighted for traffic management were being rounded up.
Eleta said: “On the road alignment, we are working on the failed portions; it is an old road, and most of the portions have failed. We have about two or three culverts that are damaged, and we have made provisions for them. Also, we are not putting a culvert; we are putting an iron steel to reduce the date of curing. If we are to use culverts, it will take two or three weeks for the curing, but the steel we are putting is immediate, that is, vehicles will ply over it immediately.”
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