The residents of Anibaba- Omini, Onishigida and Kokoro Abu communities in Ikorodu Local Government area are appealing to both the local and state government, to come to their rescue and complete the canal project undertaken by previous administration to stem the tide of flooding in their area.
In an interview with Oriwu Sun during a routine investigation, the treasurer of the Anibaba-Omini Community Development Association (CDA), Mr. Idowu Olaseni said that the residents of the community were not happy with the deplorable state of the canal, especially Lakelu canal which he said holds the highest density of water being the largest canal in Ikorodu.
According to him, the canal is linked with different canals from Onishigida to Kokoro Abu, to Ota-Ona canal through to Anibaba axis to Igbe Junction.
In is words, “The abandonment of the canal project has adversely affected the communities in terms of projection and other things lost to flooding in the area.”
The CDA Treasurer said that series of letters have been written to the state government, House of Assembly and the Ikorodu Local Government for the evacuation and erecting of concrete wall around the Lakelu canal in Anibaba community but to no avail. He said that a letter written to the state government recently was acknowledged but still nothing has happened.
In his own view, the Acting Chairman of Kokoro Abu CDA, Mr. Lateef Murisiku said, “During Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s regime, the canal was measured to some area but the contractors did not complete the project to the marked area,” he stated.
He also confirmed that letters written to both the local and state governments were not acted upon.
A resident of Onishigida, who did not want her name in print said, “A former chairman of the Ikorodu local government, Hon. Sheriff Anipole is also a member of the Onishigida community but when the canal problem became critical, he relocated to another area, leaving them to find solution to the problem. She said that it was her husband that made arrangement for wood to be constructed across the canal, which enabled the people to cross to the other side of the road.
In his chat with Oriwu Sun, the CDA chairman of Onishigida community, Otunba Rasheed Aleshinloye explained, “when the canal was reconstructed, it reduced the pressure of water a little but it was not wide enough to contain the flood water, especially when there is a heavy downpour, which leads to flooding on the road.
Speaking further, he said, “The canal is not wide enough from Sagamu Road beside the police station to hold the pressure of the water. The canal would usually overflow through a gutter in Otunba Adeniran Ogunsanya Street. Because the gutter is blocked, it makes the water to overflow down on Sabo road, which usually cause series of problems in the community.”
Blaming inability to reconstruct the canal, he said that this has led to the continuous flooding on the Onishigida Sabo road resulting to multiple potholes on the road arising from the washing-off of the tarred surface of the road.
Mr. Aleshinloye wants the government to consider that there are primary and secondary schools in the area and even mosque. For example, Jamatul-Islamiyya and Shamshideen secondary schools are located there and whenever it rains heavily, flooding creates fear in the mind of the students. He said that, even Chief Imam of Oriwu Central Mosque, Sheikh Yahya Oshoala (As-Samadaani) had also complained to the former local government chairman, Hon. Sheriff Anipole that he should assist them to do the road but nothing was done.
Another resident, Mr. Kola Taliat has this to say about the canal, “this canal has become a refuse dump area. The people in the community dump their refuse in the canal and if there is heavy down-pour, the area would be flooded.”
He suggested that government should reconstruct the road and provide identification cards to some residents to act as LAWMA officials to checkmate those trying to dump refuse in the canal