An early morning downpour last Sunday threw residents of Abraka, the host-community of Delta State University (DELSU), into panic over the state of Ekrejeta Road, which is close to the institution. Whenever it rains, the road is flooded, making it impassable. PHILIP OKORODUDU (500-Level Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering) and ESE OKODUWA (200-Level Home Economics) report.
The rainy season is not the best of times for students of Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka. Whenever it rains, some parts of Abraka, their host-community, are flooded, paralysing movement and commercial activities.
The Ekrejeta Road that leads to the campus is always bubbling with life in the dry season, but when it rains, it is a no-go area. Even a light shower gets the road flooded.
Almost all banks have their branches on the road.
Motorists are going through pains plying the road– no thanks to the rain. After a downpour last Sunday, it was flooded, slowing down vehicular movement.
Last Monday, pedestrians were stranded while some businesses on the road closed because of flood.
The flood is caused by lack of drainage. Some traders lamented the development, saying their agonies may be compounded if the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) calls off its srike.
The federal road was constructed in the 1970s to link Sapele and Agbor. A new road has since been built, with the Ekrejeta road now serving Abraka.
Over the years, the road has become the commercial nerve centre of Abraka but it has been neglected by successive governments.
To protect their premises from the flood, banks built concrete structures at the edge of the road. Store owners also protected their businesses from the flood. They filled many cement sacks with red sand and placed them as barriers against the flood.
This measure has compounded the woes of motorists and commercial tricycle riders.
There are insinuations that the banks on the road gave money to the community to construct a drainage last year but the community leaders failed to pick a contractor for the job.
A chief in the community, Edwin Emudainohwo, who is a retired teacher, dismissed the rumour, saying no money was given to the community by anyone to provide drainage on the road.
He said: “We approached all the banks to help solve the problem but they told us that they are not the owners of the banks. They promised to consult with their top management team. They came later to tell us to calculate the cost of constructing a drainage in the area. After we did, nothing has come from them.”
On what the community is doing to address the problem, Emudainohwo said the people had been meeting to find a lasting solution to it.
He said it was neither the duty of the community nor the banks’ to construct drainage, adding: “Why should the local government not carry out its statutory responsibility of meeting the needs of tax payers?”
A member of the staff of one of the banks, who pleaded for anonymity, said some managements did their best to pool resources to tackle the flood- prone road but added that others did not co-operate. The banker quoted one of the managers as saying: “Each bank should go and protect its premises because taxes are paid to the state.”
The official debunked the insulation that the banks gave money to the community.
A cyber café owner on the road, Mr Kevwe Ogbe, lamented the situation, urging the Federal Government to do something before the problem got out of hand.
A trader, who simply identified herself as Mrs Esther, said: “The government should please come to our aid. We don’t want malaria to kill us because of the stagnant water. The flood is affecting our business because our customers cannot gain access.”
Judith Uduh, 200-Level Technical Education, whose hostel is located on the road, said academic activities could be disrupted if the condition became worse. She urged the government to construct drainage that would channel the water directly to River Ethiope.
An applicant, Victor Omonigho, who came to write the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation (UTME), said his mobile phone fell into the water as he tried to flag down a commercial vehicle. “I lost all my telephone contacts after my phone fell into the flood water,” he said.
