Daily Independent Online.
*
Thursday, June 17, 2004.
Dolphin flooding: Obasanjo orders immediate
solution
By Bamidele Osha
Reporter, Lagos
President Olusegun Obasanjo has ordered that the
problem of the flooding of the Dolphin Estate housing estate in Ikoyi be
addressed within 48 hours.
This followed the representation made to him by the
residents of the estate in their intensified effort to get a solution to the
menace, which has been threatening to sack them from their houses.
Chairman of Dolphin Landlords/Residents Association (DL/RA) Mr.
Dapo Rotifa told Daily Independent that the President gave the directive to effect on Tuesday,
following a representation the residents made to him recently. He said a fresh
representation had been made following the visit of Obasanjo last year to
inspect the area where he made far reaching promises that the problem would be
addressed, adding that when he (Obasanjo) learnt that the situation was the
same, he was quite upset.
He said that the President’s definite directive
on the matter was conveyed to him through an emissary. “I have just received
a message that the President has directed that something be done within 48
hours”, Rotifa said Tuesday. .
Rotifa traced the origin of the flood to “the
sand-filling of the Osborne layout by the Federal Government. “The water
course or route starts from its origin at the Lagos Motorboat Club on the other
side, through a canal by the DBN building and from there to Norman Williams
street, to Dodan Barracks and onto Alagbon Close. Then there is supposed to be
a spread-out like a confluence behind the Federal Secretariat that takes it
straight to the ferry side of the lagoon or Osborne layout. This Osborne layout
has been blocked with newly constructed buildings, including churches and
mosques”, he said.
He revealed that government made attempts to create a
water outlet through the blocked spread-out when in 2000 it awarded a
N130million contract to a Syrian construction company, Naman Construction,
“ which started work but did not complete it. The consequence was further
blockage and perpetual flooding of the estate. It has rendered significant
parts inaccessible, such as Kosofe, Somolu and Oshodi streets, spilling into
Corporation Drive and spreading into Apapa Lane. Even the Churches and Mosques
at the edge of Corporation Drive to Ijeh Barracks that government claimed is
the cause of the flood are seriously affected by the flood and also looking for
remedy. And what government did was to sand fill the waterfront, the Osborne
Phase II which used to be the water passage”, he added.
Rotifa explained further that failure to access
Mcgregor Canal into the Lagoon to allow water flow through because of the
dumping of refuse by Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) market operators
and trespassers, “is another reason for the flood. But this issue is the
cause of the controversy between
the Federal Government and the Lagos State government. Unfortunately we
are the victim of the tussle.”
Former chairman of the Dolphin Landlords/Residents
Association, Alhaji Sulaimon Morounfolu Agbalaya voiced several objections to
the shoddiness with which subsequent administrations had handled the matter,
saying, “ The Federal Government does not want to give up lands that it
has sold to people…the one it sand-filled which is the cause of this problem.
It has collected huge amounts from people and is now dodging the real
issues.”
Agbalaya corroborated Rotifa when he said, “
The conversion was not properly done by the Syrian construction company that handled the project as it
did an incomplete job. The blockage of the Mcgregor Canal by the Police
Officers’ Wives Association market has also contributed in no small
measure to the flood problem. But the overwhelming cause is Governments
interest in the matter. They are not addressing the real issues but prefer to
chase shadows.”
