Flooding In Benin

As the rains peak, the problem of flooding has continued to wreak havoc on lives and property in Edo State despite genuine efforts of the State government to clear drains and construct new ones across the length and breath of the state.

Two Sundays ago, just as some residents had left for early morning church service and others yet to rise from bed, the heavens opened. Six hours later, property worth millions of naira, including residential houses, were destroyed

Roads, even in the Government Reserved Areas were heavily flooded and rendered impassable, even for days in some cases. The beautiful road and drainage works in Asoro area were devastated, throwing users of Ekehuan/Asoro into panic of a possible cut-off from the rest of the city.

outside the state capital, rainfall and erosion are also causing serious damages in other parts of the state such as Auchi, Ekpoma, Uromi, Afuze and others where several persons have been rendered homeless with property worth millions of naira destroyed.

As at Monday afternoon last week, people were still scooping water from their homes in the Uwelu, Asoro, Sakponba, Goodwill, Evbuotubu, Upper Ekehuan and several other parts of the city. A house collapsed along Airport Road, others were completely submerged in water. The rain which appeared to be the heaviest since the season took most businesses by surprise. Traders who had locked up their shops the previous night opened them on Sunday and Monday to witness a near total destruction of their goods.

The cause of the flooding is well located in previous administrations that did little or nothing to keep the drains cleared while the insignificant few that were constructed are so shallow that they cannot contain the rampaging floods.

We applaud the untiring efforts of the professor Oserheimen Osunbor’s administration in clearing the blocked drains since it assumed office in May last year. The uniqueness of the administration’s efforts is in the evacuation of the cleared debris almost immediately after they are removed from the drains. This effort, in our view, needs to be sustained.

A reliable government source says “government has in principle approved a N3.9 billion comprehensive erosion project to cover the entire city”. The source also said the Executive Council has approved the drainage work along Ikpoba hill, which would cost N329 million as well as awarded contract for the control of erosion at Upper Mission, Upper Lawani at N774m to Paulosa Construction Company.

The government source said, “Also, there is an approval of design in principle for construction of underground drainage from Ring Road through Airport Road, Boundary Road, Ihama Road down to Etete and then to Ogba River. This will cost N3.9 billion and the government is already seeking for foreign aid agencies to complement the state government’s efforts,”

All these are cheering news. However, we urge government to expedite action in sourcing funds to meet these lofty objectives

But more importantly, we urge government to reach out for the Benin City master plan which provided green areas, reserved areas, roads and drainages as well as green and residential areas. Government needs to come up with a law to punish any one who violates the provisions of the master plan. The law should raise a task force, akin to what el-Rufai did in Abuja and what Governor Ohakim is doing in Owerri to pull down structures on the path of drains.

Currently, residents are blocking the Benin moat which provides good drainage round the city. Some, both high and mighty even sand-fill and build on the moat. The proposed law should give teeth to a task force to pull down any illegal structure on the moat or on any drain for that matter. The same law should provide adequate punishment for any one who throws debris into the drains.

We strongly believe that a combination of good plans, adequate funding and a law which would not only be enacted but enforced is the only panacea for the current flooding in Benin. Our joy is that we have a listening governor who would stop at nothing in going for these combinations.

Also, given the magnitude and dimension of the problem, we call on the Federal Government as well as public spirited individuals to come to the aid of residents of the state because the state government alone cannot muster the resources needed to tackle flooding effectively on the long run.

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