Residents of Ajogbo community in Ota, Ogun State are afraid that the rainy season is about to set in. Their fears results from years of horrible experiences they have had any time there were torrential rains. Due to floods which the rains leave in their trail, members of the community languish in pains, even as they have appealed to relevant authorities to intervene in their plight, writes MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE.
AJOGBO is an inconspicuous community in Ota, Ogun State. For years, this agrarian area has experienced sundry natural disasters such as flood and activities of companies constructing roads.
However, the most debilitating among its experiences is flood after any torrential rainfall. Any time the sky frowns or the clouds seem to gather, their hearts miss some beats.
For instance, now that the rains are here, residents of Ajogbo community are worried because such situation evokes their previous unpalatable experiences.
The community, which comprises Ajibode, Konifewo, Ewu-Igbogbo, Oke Esa and other adjacent communities have been battling to survive the incidence of torrential down pour each year.
According to them, apart from the menace of rain, the activities of companies constructing roads have added to the plight of the people. The companies channel used water to a dysfunctional canal in the area.
In the light of this, the residents are pleading with Governor Dapo Abiodun to protect the people against hazards that normally accompany the rainy season, following the channelisation of water along the Lagos-Abeokuta and other roads to the rustic community.
Residents, through their association called Alliance of Concerned Communities want government to take proactive measures to save them from further pains and suffering.
The Chairman of Community Development Area (CDA) Adeyemi Adesola said after the recent downpour, the roads were in state of disrepair and the inhabitants of the community had been cut off from other communities.
He added that education was grossly undermined, leading to complete close down of many schools in the area for weeks.
According to him, some students of Ajogbo Grammar School, Ajibode which is the only government secondary school in the community could not finish participation in all the subjects during the 2019 May/June West Africa Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) due to flood.
He noted that almost all the private schools where under-aged children were mostly enrolled were closed down to prevent risking the lives of the kids.
He further explained that an elderly woman lost her life as she drowned while crossing a makeshift bridge constructed to enable people to cross over to a neighbouring community.
The chairman said the community had contacted the company handling the road project which channelled the water to Ajogbo community and it promised to address the situation. But, incidentally, the matter had only ended as mere promise.
He said: “Despite the promise and empathy expressed by the investigation team to the site led by the officials of the construction company and the Area Commander, Sango-Ota Police Division in January, last year and subsequent measurement of the road, nothing has improved beyond that.
“There have not been significant reassuring efforts to make the people be at peace because each rain comes with heavy pain and worries. We are calling on government to take up the matter because it is very urgent and germane to our survival in the Ajogbo community.”
Corroborating Adesola’s assertion, a member of the community Olanrewaju Durodola said Ajogbo is facing extreme cases of threat to their lives. He explained that effort to find the pathway out of the problems had not yielded adequate results.
According to him, residents who had been frustrated by the menace of flooding have left the place for other areas for settlement. They even put their houses up for sale; buyers have refused the offers because of environmental degradation. Durodola said: “There were times people rely on canoe to take them across to the other side. In fact, there was casualty last year and up till now members of the family of the deceased are still in pain of the incident.”
Explaining further on the efforts to make the community liveable, he said earth moving tractors were contracted to make the road passable, but at some point the effort was stopped because of the danger such action posed.
“We came together to see how we could help the situation by digging gutters to allow movement of water, but when we realised that Shell pipelines and West Africa Gas Pipelines were within the community, we had to withhold efforts.
“Too many vehicular and human activities may weaken the pipelines, so we became apprehensive of further digging deeper into the earth. At the end of the day, we had to write Shell about the challenges we were facing.
“It was later that we understand that the West Africa Gas equally had its pipelines within the community enroute to Ghana.
“Apart, from the pipelines, there were electricity pylon in the area and the rivers we had to cross to our houses. So, we are locked in extreme environmental hazards.”
According him, the only solution is to run to the Ogun State government that can compel all those who are responsible for the community’s predicaments to rise up and address them.
They believe that it has come to the level when government should intervene to prevent loss of lives and properties.
Some residents say street urchins known as Area Boys are compounding the problem because they extort money from concerned people who tried to improve the bad roads.
Durodola added that it was so bad that residents could leave their homes for weeks and take refuge in others’ accommodations that are far from the area.
He said: “Some of the agencies have been on ground to assess the situation but, to our dismay they treat our problems with kid gloves.
Some even said the situation was not as critical as we make it to appear.
“They said after all, we have not recorded many casualties. It means they are waiting for many people to die before they come to our rescue. This is how petty and trivial some agencies can be when it comes to matters of life.
“At a time, we wrote a leter to the Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola in which we complained about how Julius Berger is making life unbearable for us. We even copied former Governor Ibikunle Amosun. We staged a protest march about it and informed the police, fire service on our plans to halt work on the axis.”
He said if channelling water from the expressway to the community was the only option left, the companies would have to factor the residents into their plans.
Many well-meaning Nigerians are equally sympathetic to our cause. It is on this note that the support of Governor Abiodun is paramount in the bid to reclaim our community from the rains and the activities of companies that are insensitive to what affects our lives.
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