The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello, says Lagos State Government will focus more on silt evacuation to ensure proper flow of drainage channels in the state.
Bello made this known during the Phase II inspection of the ongoing drainage clearing exercise by the Lagos State Government on Monday.
The commissioner was accompanied by Special Adviser on Drainage and Water Resources, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, Permanent Secretary, Drainage, Mr. Olalekan Shodeinde, and other senior officials in the ministry.
The report also shows that the drainage channels visited included the System 2, Fola Agoro, Opeyemi Fola Agoro Collector drain, Somolu, Aloe, Akobi Crescent, Drainaging of Ojo Niyun by Park Lane Channel Collector Drain.
Other drainage channels visited included the NTA 7,/Alaka Channel (System 4) Alaka, Dredging of Carter Drainage Channel, Idi Araba drain, Railway, Alaka, Otumara Costain Underbridge, Herbert Macaulay, Nathan Collector Drain and dredging of Bush Arowojobe Channel.
According to Bello, it is better to allow evacuated silt taken from the canal to drain for some time because it is usually wet and heavy.
He said that at least two or three days were enough for the silt to dry, saying that the ministry had noticed abandonment of silts around some places which would be addressed as soon as possible.
“Our observation so far is that we still have some problems in some areas and in most parts, the drainage evacuator had done a tremendous job in the evacuation of drainage channels in the state.
“We have asked the engineers in charge of some drainages that we are not comfortable with what they did and to go back and start all over again.
“We have been able to stabilize the environment structure in the state. We are working toward stabilizing the structure of waste management we have.
“Similarly, the drainage management have been reinstalled as a result of drainage abandonment in the last four years; Idi Araba drainage was an evidence of drainage abandonment,” Bello said.
He said that the Idi Araba drainage had been evacuated, saying that it remained the upstream that needed to be evacuated to ensure proper flow of water channel.
Igbokwe said that the team had been to 25 drainage channels so far to ensure the possible reduction of flooding in the state.
He urged Lagos residents to stop dumping of refuse into the canal to complement government efforts at clearing the drainage channels.
Shodeinde said that many channels had been cleared which gave water easy passage, adding that the exercise continues till September 2020 to get the state ready for the October peak.
He urged residents to vacate from the setback – the minimum distance which a building or other structure must be from the canal – to enable the government to excavate cutaway at the setback of the canal.
Shodeinde also urged residents to always maintain their tertiary drain to avoid small drains in the streets.
