TheCable

Residents of Isheri Estate in Lagos and Ogun states have called on the state governments to do proper channelisation of the community.

They also asked the government to provide basic infrastructure in the area to prevent future occurrence of the flood that ravaged the community in 2019.

In a statement by Abayomi Akinde, its representative, the residents said the governments erred in allocating the land without making provision for how water could be channelled in the community.

“As it stands today, neither Lagos nor  Ogun State could ever muster the resources needed to resettle the people who have built houses in this area, it is cheaper to solve the flooding issue than to contemplate the other options,” the statement said.

The residents said it was not too late for the governments to do the right thing, adding that the Oya dam, whose function included flood control, had contributed significantly to flooding over the years due to its poor management.

They, therefore, urged the management of the dam to release water for processing when needed and stop flooding the environment with water during the raining season “as was the case in recent past”.

The residents also advised the management to up its game as the model employed 40 years ago “would no longer work in this day and age due to obvious reasons of growth and development that had taken place in both Lagos and Ogun states.”

The community noted that any suggestion that people should give up their houses “was an obvious sign of lack of compassion for people who innocently bought into government schemes, invest all of their lives’ savings to build a home without knowing the danger they faced”.