Massive floods ravaged Ibadan and some other towns in Oyo State on August 26, 2011, killing over 100 people and destroying many facilities. In this report, BISI OLADELE AND OSHEYE OKWUOFU examine how the city has fared since then and how the government and the people are working together to prevent another disaster.
The rains of August 26, 2011 hit Ibadan, the Oyo State capital like a storm. It killed over 100 people, washed away many bridges, pulled down several houses and destroyed many farm lands. It was a flood too many as it left many residents in agony. Several people were also left displaced. Many of them relocated to refugee camps created in different parts of the city by the state government to ease humanitarian needs. In all, over 250 residential houses, shops and business premises were badly affected.
Since then, the city has been grappling with its chalenges. The development has also put pressure on the purses of the state and local governments as well as the emergency management agencies.
Oluyole Local Government, which was worse hit by the floods, has been struggling to get out of its effect.
No fewer than eight bridges, which connect various communities to the main parts of the city, were washed away by the storm water in the council. Since then, landlord associations have been making efforts to support those of the local and state governments to rebuild the infrastructure. But the cash required for the purpose is so huge that the Federal Government will need to lend a helping hand.
The council Chairman, Mr Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, said the council needed at least N1 billion to fix the facilities.
Oluyole has the biggest river (Odo-Ona nla), which is the terminal river for more than four others in the city. This large river flows into River Ogun, which ultimately flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
At Boluwaji Oke-Suna in the local government, residents are grappling with a river that has made it impossible for them to navigate to town. The bridge, which was constructed seven years ago by landlords in the area, has become almost useless as erosion has rendered it impassable for vehicles and even motorcycles.
When The Nation visited the area, the Chairman, Lanndlords Association, Alhaji Monsur Ajibola, explained that the area witnesses huge erosion almost every year, pointing out that the river had swept some individuals away in the past.
According to him, four other rivers empty into the river, producing a large volume of storm water each time it rains heavily, leading to erosion.
He thanked the Oluyole Local Government for expanding the river to pave the way for free flow of water but appealed to the Federal Government to channelise the river and build a larger bridge that cannot be swept away by floods.
“Four rivers flow into this river. Whenever it rains heavily, erosion forcefully break down bridges and expand the river further, creating more danger to residents. We built this bridge seven years ago. While we thank Oluyole Local Government for helping us expand the river. We want the government to help us out by channelising this river like Ogunpa.
“People get stuck here because of inability to cross the river when it rains. Channelisation and construction of a new bridge are the permanent solution. Now vehicles can’t pass. They pass through three kilometers before linking the express. The flood has swept away not less than four children in the last 10 years.
“We have written the state government and the council. They both sent engineers. They came to expand the river but that is not solving the problem. We need a permanent solution.” He said.
At Foworogi community, the bridge linking the community to the main town is falling gradually due to years of over-flooding.
The situation could have been worse in communities such as Aba Adio, Odo-Ona Elewe/Oluyole Agara , Aba Ibeji along Idi-Ayunre but for the intervention of the government through expansion of rivers and demolition of some shanties hindering free flow of water.
Aleshinloye disclosed that the council expanded 16 rivers, including Erikalofi, Odeku, Ile Aanu and Inu Ewe rivers.
This is in addition to 12 bridges either reconstructed or rehabilitated due to shortage of funds, according to the chairman.
He said: “The flood situation in Oluyole Local Government is so critical because of our geographical location. We have so many rivers traversing the council such that whenever it rains, we catch cold. We thank God, we have been managing it.
“All the rivers in Ibadan terminate here in Oluyole. We need so much money to fix the flood problem which the council alone cannot afford. Hence we work with landlord associations and made pleas to organisations to assist us. We have been able to curtail it.
“When we newly came on board in 2011, the flood that took place claimed many lives here because our predecessors were not doing as much as they should do in preventing flood.
“We have introduced better ways of waste management. We have been clearing the drainages, leading to reduced casualties. We are controlling it. We can do more if we have more resources. That is why we keep on appealing to the Federal Government to declare this council an ecologically disadvantaged local government.”
Abass-Aleshinloye also disclosed that the state and local governments have spent over N500 million in prevention and control of flood in the local government since 2011stressing that the journey to a flood-free council will be determined by how well the Federal Government can quickly come to their aid.
The council boss insisted that channelisation will solve the problem.
On campaign against practices that trigger flood, he said: “We have sustained anti-flood media campaign and residents are changing in their attitude. We have sensitized our people on what to do during rain and refuse dumping in water channels is reducing drastically.”
On its own, the state government has reconstructed nine bridges in the aftermath of the 2011 flood. The bridges were constructed at the cost of N1.562 billion. They are Ogbere Babanla, Apete, Olomi, Restoration Bridge, Ayeye Bridge, Osoro River bridge; Alaadorin and Sakutu bridge in Oyo.
The Special Assistant to the governor on Media, Mr Wale Sadeeq, also disclosed that government has expanded over 50 rivers across the state since last year. They include Odo-Ona-Apata, Olororo, Olode, Ajibode; and Odo Ogba in Iseyin.
This is addition to those being carried out by the Oyo State Road Maintenance Agency (OYSROMA).
In areas, such as Gada, Odo-Ona,Apata, Oke-Ayo, Oluyole, New Garage and Omi-Adio where flood has been recurrent, life has not been the same. Most of the buildings destroyed by the flood are still lying in ruins. Quite some business owners affected by the tragic flood are yet to recover two years after the disaster. They either complained of loss of means of livelihood to loans taken from banks and cooperative societies or inability to raise fresh capital to start anew.
Prophetess Oluwafemi Esther lost her four room-bungalow and a church building (Ebenezer Apostolic Church,Odo-Ona,Ibadan) to the flood. Yet to secure an another accommodation she is still putting up with her neighbours .
“I am still living as a beggar. Not one of all my belongings could be retrieved. I lost everything I had, except my soul and I thank God for saving my life. As you can see even this clothe I am putting on was donated by a good neighbor,” she said.
The places where the flood washed off have not changed, including Prophetess Oluwafemi’s church and bungalow. They were lying in ruins.
The only change came in form of vegetation that has over-grown the whole area. That was after the State Ministry of Environment and Town Planning authorities ejected occupants of houses built near water ways and channels, and subsequent demolition of such buildings.
At Omi-Adio in Ido Local Government Area of the state, residents whose buildings were affected have abandoned the buildings and relocated especially at Lade area. The entire area has been over grown by weeds. Near the Omi-Adio market, the government has dredged a river very close to the market to avert another flood disaster in the area which also houses a Magistrate Court.
The Odo-Ona bridge which links Apata with other parts of the city is still providing motorists and other users access, though it was submerged in the water during the August 26, 2011 flood disaster. Since then the people have calling for a more robust and modern bridge to contain any major future flood. The state government in apparent response decided to dredge the Odo-Ona river to widen the water channel. But, the river has been filled again with filth and vegetation, begging for attention, heightening fears of the residents.
The Grand Patron and former Chairman of Gada,Odo-Ona Landlord Association, Pa Samuel Abosede Gisanrin, confirmed the fear of the residents when he barred his mind on the need for government to dredge the river again. While noting that regular dredging of the river would curb incidence of flood in the area, the 91-year-old retired civil servant commended the state governor Abiola Ajimobi for his quick response to the plight of the people of the area.
He said: “One other thing I will implore Mr Governor to do for us is to repeat the dredging of this river. Because the governor dredged the river (after the last flood), that was why we didn’t have any case of flood this time. If you go there, all the places there which were dredged then, have been covered again with sand and vegetation. The channels which were cleared have been blocked again. That is our fear. We do not pray for another flood disaster that is why we are begging our governor to send the contractors back to dredge this river. Let me tell you, you see this river ( Odo-Ona river) if we have problem here it will affect people living at Oke-Ayo, down to Oluyole and to New Garage because it is this river that travels down to these areas. Again, we want the dredging to be done in such a way that the river channel will be widened to give more space for water current. We don’t want a narrow dredging because it won’t last. Within a short time, it will be filled again.”
The Chairman, Ido Local Government, Prof Joseph Olowofela, who is also an expert in Geo-Physics, explained that flood disaster is a natural phenomenon all over the world, but measures could be taken to mitigate it.
According to him, since the unfortunate incident of August 26, 2011, many steps were taken to prevent future occurrence by the state Governor, Abiola Ajimobi.
These measures, he said, went a long way to prevent flooding since it happened two years ago, adding that many of the causes of flood were identified and immediate solutions proffered.
One such measure was the introduction of weekly sanitation in the state and the sensitisation campaign by the governor, who also took the lead in monitoring the exercise, to prevent dumping of refuse indiscriminately, especially in water ways and drainages.
Olowofela said this pro-active step taken by the governor really saved the state from wanton loss of lives and property.
He, however, said: “We thank God that it was not as terrible as it was in 2011 because we took some steps and one of those steps is the dredging of the rivers and there is this rigorous campaign throughout the state by the governor on how to take care of refuse. You know in the time past, some of this refuse will find its way into the rivers, but because of the Thursday and the monthly sanitation, I think that one has seriously reduced the amount of refuse that find its way into the river .
“So, this has helped a lot to reduce flooding. One other thing which we observed is that in some of the places where we dredged maybe about eight months ago, you will find out that vegetation has over grown the place and on account of that it means that we have to go out and do the dredging again. It is one of the areas which we need to look into because it means we need to go back there regularly but the flood has not affected people severely as it affected them in 2011.”
Olowofela, a former Head of Physics Department , Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, traced the problem of flooding to changing climatic conditions.
He said: “The problem is that we have climatic conditions. People have been talking of global warming and how it has been affecting the entire globe and people have also been talking about what we call polar shift, but we may not dwell on that too much because that may lead us to advances .
“But, essentially, the climate is changing all over the world and on account of that, we experience this kind of flooding and it causes many deaths globally and you remember the issue of Hurricane Katrina in the US. Flood is virtually everywhere, even in the Asian countries. In the northern part of the country, we have been severely affected. This is due to the fact that the climate is changing and it has a kind of period of about 15 years, which it usually occurs. When people fail to prepare for it, they may be taken by surprise. The point is that Oyo State is well-prepared.
“If we were not well-prepared we would have witnessed another disaster of which nobody will be able to contain because the meteorologists have said that the volume of water that we are going to have this year would even be higher than the one we had in 2011 but because of the issue of dredging of the rivers and the campaign that people should avoid building at river banks and the issue of not putting dirt at river water ways, this one has seriously assisted the government of Oyo State and that is a government which is proactive, which studies things scientifically and looks at ways of solving problems rather than referring to spiritual issues because some people will say its one Yemoja.
“Some may continue to pray. Prayer is good but there are some things that you may need to do on your own. It is those things that you have no power over that you may refer to Almighty God to help you. But those problems that you can solve, you don’t expect God to solve those ones for you. For instance, there is a place in the Bible that says He anoints my head with oil, He prepare a table before me even in presence of my enemy. So, if God has anointed my head with oil; prepared a table before me; put food there; demobilised your enemy, you don’t expect God to put that food in your mouth. You are expected to use your hand and feed yourself. So, there are those things you can do, you don’t pray about those things because God has created human beings wonderfully well. That means we should use God-given ability to solve some problem, but those ones we cannot solve we may refer to God Almighty to help us solve them.”
