34-
Rood control: Lagos steps up drainage cleaning, reviews strategy BY KING.'iLEY ADEGUOYE
1E early raJ.11S of year 20 12 caught many Lagosians unaw&reS, espeCIally with re.gards to the havoc that was wreaked thro ugh massive Ooodmg and destrudJon of life and property U was a devel-
To
opment thai pr ompted the Lagos Slat e govern ment to embaJk on emergency OoodlOg preventiorv're-
duetion measures It has also followed this up ,.lith routine maintenanre of existing drainage channels and construction of new ones, as weU as initiating other measures and
projec1s'to dea] with the menace. According to officials of the
state Muustry of Ellvuonrnenl, the measures so arlopted are 10 ensure that the recent ugly @l[penencesare reducedorto. tally elirrunated so that Lagos wou1d have olio Oood -free fdUlY
season. Among lhe measures put in place 15 what the OUice of DrainageServittS und~the mlnlStry describes as an Mall year rotmd deani ng and main-
commenced on de.Slltmg of dramage channels in places such as the Adekunle Faju}fl Street, Works Road and Kodes· oh Street, m Ike,a The same applies to Simpson and Sand· grouse streets In Lagos lsland. Lame Awolokun Street, So· molu; Collecje Road, Hako; AmwOJobe Street. Oshodi; Agrid O]a Road, Ilr.orodu; GemuU/ Coker. Surulere; Adeniji Adele. Lagos Island and Ogunmokun StJeet 10 Mustun that arellood prone have received necessary oUiaal attention to prevent flooding tlus nuny season. In Agege T.ocal Government area, the Adealu Street collec· tor, Elere channel. Rail line( Agunblade-Owo channel, SaJaqun Tlaw~Roche channel, POWA shoppmg complex to Oke-Koto, Abattoir to Oladoje ll-apezOidal. KalllngoawalOko Oba canal and Aiilo Road channel5 have been gtven utmost attention s ince January before commencement of the rains . The people of Ajeromi lfelodun Local Government, Mba/Cardoso Street, Tolu Road, Arakan , Osho Drive, Ogunniyi. Alafia Street are
Lagos in M e g rip of flood l iUl yeilr
me nt, the Muustry, apart from dearing Ule drams. has equallyembarked on aerose to d~ sLit Samuel Ekundayo lIoga. Palace Road , Y- Junction, Wanel Street and 8adagry Market Road channels. The Ministry 15 constructing drainage channels around Ogba area of the state to curb
tenance of drainage channels-
across the stale. The drllll\age maintenance programme. according 10 the CommisSioner fOI the EnVIronment, Mr. Thnjl BeUo. will
lead to the de-sUlmg of the major channels in all the 20 local governme nt councils, L.Gs and 37 loca l nmndl de· ve10pment areas, LCDAs, of the stale. GiVIng the hlghhgh15 of the programme recen tly, Bello maintained that tho!! de-SlUing exerciseembarked Jponbythe Office of Drainag e Services 15 paying oH, saying that " if l~e government had not put tn place an effecbve dramage sy! tern, many part.! of tbe state would have been ~ nswned by theJuly 10, 2011 severe nood · ing that accompa med the tor· rential downpour " And despite the 5ef>I1llIl9 con· tradlctory prediCUc:ns by differ· ent agencies v n what t~e weather condition would be In 2012, the COIn-niss loner aligned with exr e.'"ls' predic· tions that this Y L'6r ' S ramfall might be heflvier. l~an the previous years. notlnoJ that II 15 necessary to take prevenllv~ measures Presently, muruopal waste mana g<:!ment has drastically unproved. unIilte in the past wben d ue to bad pubbc conduct, garbage littered the enVIronment and blocked d.rainagechannels As at last weelt, work had
, Ifgovernmenthadnotputin place an effective drainage system, many parts of the state would have been consumed by the July 10, 2011 severe flooding that accompanied the torrential downpour ~
Mirustry 01 the EnVIronment will ensure that the drlWlS are clean at all tunes, while calling on residents to ensure that the drains in theu' lrontages are also clean always. Bello fwther highbghted that the government will continue "to embark. on adaptive and millgative e.fforts to fight the
At last, a model to curb violence against women, child abuse By ALBERT AKPOR
now, it was com B mon sight to behold sever· al children of school age Ule Er-oRE
in
happy aboutlhe attention betng accorded their drains by the state government. The Tin Can/Coconut collector drains are bemg given serious atten· tion and the people are elated about this. For Allmosho Local Govern· ment, the dIiIllll in lshefun Road. Potokun, Karimu Laka. Samisile Road, Jimoh Akln· reJUl, ShashalAkowonjo Road, AkowonJO/Egbeda, Isheril Igando Road, Mosan, Command Road and AbaraIlje col· lector drlWlS are currently be109 deared and morutoreci J.ust to e ns ure a Dood -free ramy season m that part of the stale. Amuwo Odofin Local Govemment15 not left out as drams in IJegun Road. 24 Road, Fes tacRoad. Rambow/AppleJunc· tionl Festac Lmk Bndge, Eko Mete, lrade FlIir Complex. RolId 21 , Road 22 and 5th Av· enue collector are undergoing serious mil1J1tenance. In Badagry Local GOvern-
the me nace of llood m that zone of the state among oth·
""
The Environment Commasioner has promised that Ulere wouJd be a comprehensive monthly maintenance and deaning programme In all the local government counals and the LCDAs "in order to ensure that the inCldence of llooding is drastically reduced despite the fact thatl.agos is a coastal oty" I-Ie agreed that " 1ll.e ma· dence of floodmg a a global phenomenon that is not peculiar to Lagos alone", but enJOins Lagos residents to cooperate wilh the state governme nt in its concened effort to fight llood by properly dtspos. mg their wastes in designated areas. He added that they shouJd "desist from dumping refuse into canals, as well as refrain from erecting structures along drainage chan· nels". He promised that the
global scourge. We have em· barked on pre-ra.lllY season massive deaning and dredging of canals and drainage channels to prevent flooding as well as embarked on massi ve enlightenment cam pillgn to sensitise Lagos residents on the need to live in a dean and sustamable envuonment"
streets of Lagos hawktng wares either lor their parents or guaJd. lans in order to eke out a living even wtule thetr pnvileged peelS arebusym classrooms ac· quiring knowledge. Needless to say that these ctuldren are more often than no!. prone to the: danger of either being hanned or lulled, and of course, danger of being sexually abused by unscrupulous persons. Aside the abuse on adolescents, domesticVlOlencewtuchcnminol· ogists call ~crimeof passion" has
equally taken the cenue stage in lhe homes of milny.
But with the recent vigorous campaigns ilgil1J1St Uus anti·social vices by some non-govem· mental organisations, NGOs, the aWaIeness seemed to be making some degree of impact. However, one person who seemed to taken this war agamst this SOCIetal ills with passion is the Lagos Slate Deputy Governor, Mrs Adejoke Orelope·Adefulire who also doubles as the: Commissioner 0(
Women Alfairs and Poverty AI· Iev!abon. Laundung the 'Vel. low Card' recenUyagainstchild abuse and violence agamlt women.. the Deputy Governor said she intends to bnng to the knowledge 01 parents the need to respect the child's right law in Lagos State. Accordtng to her: "Every duld has the nght tosumval, protection, dcvelopment and participation. We want to inculcate 10 parents the fact ItlS dangerous to keep lheu children who are of school age out of school becaus e It IS agamst the law; penalty 15 JaIl tenn or fine of N2OO,OOO. Apart from Uus, mak:tng child hawk is protublted in lngos and In the event of hawking. yourchildren can be 1udnapped, raped or even killed by movmg veludes So It is wrong to expose your duldren" ContinWDg, Mrs OrelopeAdefulire said a du1d who 15 not properly socialised may sutler what criminologlSt calli Learning Dlsability. lD. aggressive behaVIOrs, drug abuse and misuse. annety, behavioral. con· duct and. personality dlsorder. running away from home, destruction of property etc_