By Olasunkanmi Akoni

RESIDENTS of Egbiri community in Ojokoro Local Council Development Area have cried out to the Lagos State Government to extend its infrastructural redevelopment plans to the area, just as they complained about the “continuous neglect” by the state government. They attributed the environmental challenges confronting them to climate change which is taking its toll on the community through excessive rainfalls, heavy flooding, erosion and destruction of property.

The two bridges, Soyinka and Egbiri, constructed over Egbiri River in the area for over 20 years and which serves as link to two adjoining communities, were washed away by heavy flooding during the last rain, thereby crippling commercial activities and vehicular movement in the area. Most of the roads are also not motor able.  The bridges were constructed by the community to ease transportation, but since it was washed away they find it difficult to move in and out the area.

It would be recalled that the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, through its Zonal Coordinator, South-West, Mr. Iyiola Akande, recently predicted that heavier rains are imminent in the South-West which may result in heavy flooding. Akande, warned governments of states in the zone, which include Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti,  to put in place measures to combat flooding.

*Makeshift wooden bridge erected after erosion disaster

He said: “The rains are now coming in torrents with resultant effects of flooding, an indication that the state governments should take the prediction seriously by curbing it”. However, when the state Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, led other state officials at the last monthly environmental sanitation monitoring in the local government, Mr. Olu Omoshaye, one of the leaders in the area, appealed on behalf of the residents for urgent intervention from  government. He said the neglect of the area by successive governments had led to serious developmental challenges, and left the area in a sorry and perilous state, saying that they have not witnessed any form of developmental construction in decades.

Omoshaye, explained that little efforts by the residents and landlord association to ensure the roads in the area remained motorable, had been frustrated by their recent plight,  saying that the recent flood witnessed in the state led to serious erosion in major streets that sacked residents from their homes.

The octogenarian noted thus in respect of the neglect of the area by successive governments: “We don‘t have roads, we don‘t have water, we don‘t have anything. The little projects you see around were done by residents themselves. And they are not just enough to address our sufferings. We have a right to development just like other developed areas of the state because we pay our taxes. We have suffered enough and we appeal to the government to urgently respond to our needs.

“We can`t afford all of these any more. We want the government to build a good drainage system here fast as well as a standard bridge across Soyinka Street to enable residents move safely during the rains.  The flood often leads to avoidable loss of lives and property. We have lost uncountable number of children and adults to flood in the area, hence, the need for an urgent intervention”.

Responding, Bello appealed to the residents to remain calm, saying that  government would intervene soon to address their challenges. He said: “They have erosion problem, we were also directed to come and visit the roads that are very bad, and we have noted them, we have asked the chairman to compile them and when we get back we would hand them over to the Commissioner for Works who will also come and visit with his engineers and then assess and then give a time line on when to fix them.”

Chairman of Ojokoro LCDA, Mr. Adeyemi Olabinjo, in his remarks, appealed to the state government on the need to intervene to check the perennial flooding in the area as it had continually posed serious threat to lives and property of residents.

“I want the state government to come to our aid immediately because with the present problem of climate change, the rains could come anytime and with what we have seen before, that indicates that there is going to be serious problem. But with the promise of the state government, I believe we would see intervention soon”.

He, therefore, called on the residents of the area to cooperate with the state government to make this possible. It was learnt that the Egbiri Bridge was reconstructed about five years ago by the community after it was damaged by flood.