The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) on Monday appealed to Lagos residents to desist from drain stuffing, to curb flooding and quick degeneration of roads.
Mr Olisa Emeter, Federal Road Maintenance Engineer (FRME) in charge of Lagos II West, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Emeter said that the agency’s drain evacuation interventions in the zone were being neutralised and made insignificant because some residents used drains as refuse dumps.
Speaking on flooding of bad sections under Iganmu Bridge, he said the entire underground drainage network was cleared in a major contract executed in December 2020.
He said that the pathway was cleared up to the lagoon but the project was made insignificant because residents almost immediately clogged the channels again.
Emeter said the area was on the lower land and all refuse from the upland emptied into it, hence the constant flooding there.
He said that all the drains were cleaned and the road was reconstructed, but the problem of drain stuffing made flooding to destroy the road.
The engineer said that the failed sections under the Iganmu Bridge was captured again in another capital project in the 2022 budget which would begin soon.
He said that another proposal was also being prepared for cleaning of all the major surface and underground drains on the highway up to the lagoon.
“Desilting of our drains is a continuous affair because some residents use it as their refuse dumps.
“If we desilt today, come tomorrow, you will see rubbish again as if we have not done anything.
“I want to use this medium to appeal to the public that they should desist from this habit,’’ he said.
He listed other road rehabilitation projects to benefit from the 2022 budget to include Agege Motor Road, Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way and Western Avenue.
He said repairs were still ongoing under intervention projects awarded in 2021, adding that FERMA just completed rehabilitation works on roads in Apapa, Oshodi Under Bridge, Mushin, Isolo, Palm Avenue, Cappa, Iyana Ipaja and Dopemu.
“We did desilting at Kirikiri Correctional Centre area, Agege Motor Road, Ejigbo-Abeokuta Road,’’ he said.
He said that FERMA had been organising zoom meetings with various stakeholders in Mushin and other areas towards correcting the anomaly of drain stuffing.
“The Federal roads assets belong to all of us but the attitude of residents is affecting the assets; we should take the assets as our own to take care of them so that they will last long,’’ he said.
He warned against road abuse like burning of tyres, emptying sewage on highways, road cutting, pouring of petroleum products on roads, indiscriminate parking and overloading which usually reduce the lifespan of roads.
He appealed to the Lagos State Government to make enforcement against dumping of refuse in drains stricter.
“If there is awareness and enforcement, I think it will go a long way,’’ he said.
He recalled his experience in another state where law enforcement agencies apprehended people who dumped refuse indiscriminately, urging Lagos to consider same option.
“Every Thursday we have sanitation here, what are we doing with it?’’ he queried.
The engineer appealed to the media to intensify awareness campaign against road abuse.
He listed areas in the Lagos II West Zone to include the mainland from Iganmu towards Badagry, Airport Road, New and Old Abeokuta Road, Mushin, Agege Motor Road and Apapa/Oworonshoki area.