Over 300 houses flooded, many Nigerians stranded as agency releases Dam water

No fewer than 300 houses have been flooded and 860
households displaced following the opening of Oyan
Dam water, one of the tributaries of the Ogun River.
The affected areas include Agiliti/Maidan, Orile, Owode,
Agboyi and Araromi communities in Ketu and Mile 12
areas in Lagos; and Akute and Warewa communities, as
well as estates in and around OPIC in Ogun State.
Parts of the Lagos State’s Isheri North Government
Reserved Area and the Lagos State Development And
Property Corporation Estate, were also affected.
Some of the residents, who spoke on the disaster, said
they noticed some floodwater around their streets about
two weeks ago but that by last week, the volume had
increased, adding that their houses had been overrun by
water.
The Chairman of Riverview Estate Residents’
Association, Mr. Abayomi Akinde, who described the
incident as tragic, said there was no notice from the
Ogun/Osun River Basin Development Authority
(OORBDA) that water would be released from the Oyan
Dam.
Akinde told The Punch that, the flood came despite
assurances from OORBDA that the upsurge of flood
which they never anticipated from the upstream, would
not cause any kind of catastrophe.
He said, “The flooding started about three weeks ago
when people started calling that their communities were
flooded. People have been evacuating their homes since
then, while some others are trapped. If the situation
persists, everywhere will be submerged. The
government needs to come in. Isheri North GRA, for
instance, was sold by Lagos State and some of the
estates were sold by the Ogun State Government. There
was supposed to be proper planning; but we have been
left to our fate. Former President Goodluck Jonathan
visited this area four years ago because of this same
problem, but nothing was done after the visit.
“We are appealing to OORBDA to reduce the operating
level of the dam to 54 metres. If the level is reduced, the
reservoir will have more space to hold water and this
flooding will be averted.”
A landlord and former chairman of the Nigerian
Institution of Environmental Engineers, Mr. Peter Onyeri,
said the problem was lack of proper funding and
management of the dam.
In some of the affected areas, the streets had been
taken over and residents were seen vacating their
homes, while some others, who remained had to reach
their houses using canoes.
One of the canoe paddlers, who gave his name as
Monday Bassey, said the cost of moving passengers
across the water was between N100 and N500,
depending on the distance.
Bassey said he had lived in the area for eight years and
had seen the area flooded yearly, but that the residents
had enjoyed a four-year break from 2012 before the
current incident.
The Managing Director of Ogun/Osun River Basin
Development Authority, Mr. Akintunde Soyemi, said the
flooding was aggravated by human activities.
According to him, it was caused by the opening of one
of Ogun River’s tributaries, Oyan Dam, which was built
for fishing, hydro power, irrigation and flood control.
He said, “Ogun River is a big river cutting across three
states with more than 20 tributaries one of which is
Oyan Dam, which is the only one that is gated and
whose release can be controlled.
“This year, we had much more run off; we only released
15 per cent now, which is done at a controlled rate and
is not supposed to flood the downstream. It is flooding
because it is not the only contributory river. Most of
those flooded places are in the flood plain of Ogun
River. The rule of thumb in constructing residences is
that you must be above the level of the road, anywhere
below such level will always be submerged.”
Soyemi, however, said the authority was working on
controlling the flooding and that residents would see an
improvement in the coming days.
Thankfully, no life was lost as a result of the flooding.