Residents, landlords, and business owners in the vicinity of the Ilo-Awela Canal, Ajegunle-Toll Gate Sango area, which borders the states of Lagos and Ogun, have expressed outrage over the area’s persistent flooding, which has resulted in fatalities and building devastation.
Some members of the communities in Ilo-Ajegunle who were affected by the perennial flood from the canal told newsmen on Monday that the spot is the boundary between Lagos and Ogun States and because of that, it seems they have been abandoned by both governments.
Taofeek Opara, the chairman of the Ilo-Awela Ajegunle Market on the toll gate side of the canal, told newsmen that once the rainy season is on the horizon, landlords, citizens, and businesspeople along the canal path start to worry for their safety.
He also said a butcher, Olatunji Omiyale who later spoke with our correspondent lost his son to the flood in 2022.
He said, “This area of ours (Ilo-Awela, Ajegunle, Toll Gate) has become a kind of death trap for people living around here and doing business.
“In 2022, one Matthew Omiyale, an apprentice butcher was swept away by flood in September. His father Olatunji is also a butcher in this market.
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“When it rains here, schoolchildren don’t even go to their schools because of the danger of being drowned. We have written letters to both the Ogun and Lagos State Governments on the matter.”
Yinka Folarin, the chairman of the Community Development Association of Ajegunle-Ilo, claimed that traders who dump their rubbish into the canal and some homeowners’ insensitivity were to blame for the flooding in the region.
He pleaded with the governments of Lagos and Ogun States to assist the locals since the flood had caused incalculable harm to both people and property.
Olatunji, a man whose son, Matthew, lost in the flood of 2022, pleaded with the two state governments to assist the villages.
When contacted, the Ogun State Commissioner for Information, Waheed Odusile, said, “The governor has made it known that anything that has to do with infrastructure is on top of his list in this second term. The government is ready to do everything to make life easier for the people of the state.
“Rural roads, electrification and other issues like that of this canal are top on his list. This is something that the Ogun State Government takes as a priority.”
Story adapted from Punch
