Flood: 2 feared dead in Lagos

* Govt warns against environmental degradation

By Olasunkanmi Akoni, and Lekan Bilesanmi

Two people were feared dead in the aftermath of last Wednesday rainfall in Idimu in  Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State. Also several people in Church Street, Bilesanmi Close and some adjoining streets have relocated as some of the houses are submerged by the attendant flood.

At Calvary bus stop   between Idimu and Council bus stops, a man was said to have fallen into a canal while a boy got drowned. Both reportedly died.

Virtually all the people Sunday Vanguard spoke with attributed the flood to absence of drains even as they  called on the state government to provide them with functional drains. According to Mr Ajayi John, chairman of Alake Community Development Association, the problem with Idimu and environs is mostly that of functional drains.”

From Church to Alhaja Mama, Bilesanmi Close,  Jemi Alade, up to the house of the former deputy governor, Mrs Sarah Sosan, the problem has always been drains. We have made representation to the state government, once to the governor and severally to the former commissioner for environment, Dr Muiz Banire.

They made several promises about providing drains but here we are, nothing has happened. We are just using your medium to call on the government to help provide drains so that we won’t have to relocate as we have done now each time it rains. Over 15 houses have been submerged by the flood and all the residents have  relocated including myself. I am  staying in an hotel with my family. We plead with the state government to come to our rescue”, he said.

Meanwhile, the state government has expressed  zero tolerance for environmental degradation even as it blamed   flooding  in the state occasioned by heavy rains on indiscriminate dumping of refuse in drainages.

The deputy governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope- Adefulire, said this while monitoring the June edition of the monthly environmental sanitation in Mosan–Okunola Local Council Development Area in  Alimosho LGA.

She declared that  the  habit of dumping refuse in the drains was  responsible for flooding in the state.

She urged  residents to cultivate the practice of bagging their refuse before disposing them, noting that the state government has resolved to embark on a programme to educate the residents on the need to maintain a clean environment.

The deputy governor lamented that Federal Government agencies and institutions operating in the state were in the forefront in violating the state environmental laws, adding that the problem of environmental degradation and pollution requires concerted efforts from all the tiers of government and the citizenry.