By Isqil Najim
Communities across Ibeju-Lekki are counting the cost of days of relentless rainfall that has submerged homes, displaced families and cut off entire neighbourhoods, as the Local Government and the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Ibeju Lekki Branch moved swiftly to contain the damage and reassure anxious residents.
From Labora Owode to Bogije, Shapati, Awoyaya, Magbon Alade, Eleko, Abule Panu and Eluju, the story has been the same: overwhelmed drainage channels, blocked canals and rapid, sometimes unregulated development converging with an unusually heavy rainy season to leave low lying, coastal Ibeju-Lekki exposed.
Officials touring the worst hit areas, including the Araromi vicinity, have in places had to travel by canoe simply to reach residents and assess the scale of loss.
The Executive Chairman of Ibeju-Lekki Local Government, Hon. (Engr.) Abdullahi Sesan Olowa, addressed residents directly this week, acknowledging the toll the flooding has taken on daily life.
“The persistent rainfall experienced over the past few days has resulted in flooding in several communities across Ibeju-Lekki, causing significant disruption to homes, businesses and daily activities,” he said, adding that he understood “the anxiety and inconvenience this situation has caused” and wanted every resident to know “your Local Government has been on the ground, responding with urgency.”
According to the Chairman, he has personally visited several affected communities alongside the council’s technical team to assess conditions firsthand, describing the response as requiring “both emergency response measures and longer term engineering interventions” pursued “with urgency.”
The interventions already under way are extensive. In Labora Owode, a swamp bogey has been mobilised to clear two major drainage channels, beginning with the one discharging into the Abijo Canal along the Lekki Epe Expressway, before moving to the Irawo Owuro channel behind Palm Bay Estate.
A second swamp bogey has been deployed to Bolorunpelu to channel stormwater runoff from Beachwood, Rose Garden and Adiva Estates back into the swamp, with the Chairman appealing to community leaders to work with the technical team on the ground.
In Bogije, the council has procured a 15 horsepower submersible pumping machine to evacuate floodwater from clogged drains into the Onishon Canal, supported by a backhoe desilting the channel while the Bogije Dredgers Association clears excavated silt from the roadway.
Excavation works have already commenced in Shapati, from the junction to the Igbijia Shapati Primary Canal, with a permanent drainage system planned in the coming weeks. Emergency works are also under way on the collapsed section of Container Road in Awoyaya through the installation of a box culvert.
In Magbon Alade, the Chairman disclosed that a blocked box culvert linking the community to the Coastal Road has been identified as the major challenge, an issue his administration has escalated through the Federal Ministry of Works to the road contractor, who “has assured us that work to reopen the channel will commence immediately.”
A comprehensive inventory of major culverts along the Shapati Primary Canal, covering Baba Adisa, Abule Panu, Onosa, Abule Folly, Aiyeteju, Lakowe, Lagasa and Losoro, is also being compiled for onward submission to the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources.
For communities like Eluju, where no drainage channel currently connects to any primary canal, the Chairman said the council’s immediate option was linking community drainage to the Lekki Epe Expressway system, while inviting residents “with a good understanding of the terrain” to help identify further solutions.
Beyond engineering works, the Chairman announced that the council will constitute an assessment team to identify the most vulnerable residents affected by the flooding, particularly widows, persons with disabilities and elderly citizens, for targeted support “following a transparent enumeration exercise.”
He also renewed an appeal to residents to avoid indiscriminate refuse disposal and to keep drainage channels free from obstruction, stressing that “protecting our environment is a shared responsibility.”
A few days ago, as part of efforts to safeguard lives, the Chairman ordered the immediate shutdown of a dredging site in Bogije Community following severe flooding caused by its overflow after days of persistent rainfall. The council said the directive was intended to protect lives and property while preventing further damage to the affected community.
Engineers Answer the Call
The Nigerian Society of Engineers, Ibeju-Lekki Branch, led by Engr. Olufemi Dare, has thrown its weight behind the council’s efforts.
In a message to members, Engr. Dare drew members’ attention to the persistent rainfall and the damage it has wreaked over the past two weeks. He acknowledged the efforts of Engr. Abdullahi Sesan Olowa and his team in managing the flooding crisis, noting that the heavy downpour is not peculiar to Ibeju-Lekki alone but has also been widespread across Lagos and even in some other African countries.
“As engineers practicing in Ibeju-Lekki, we should feel concerned and support these efforts in whatever way we can,” he said.
“I therefore urge all Exco members, Committee Chairmen and all members to please stretch forth our helping hands in our different offices by assisting these efforts of the Local Government. I will also personally be out this week.”
“Together we can support. Please, let’s do,” he said.
As desilting, pumping and channel clearing operations continue across the affected communities, residents have been urged to remain patient and cooperative while the council pursues what the Chairman described as both immediate relief and lasting, long term solutions for a “safer, cleaner and more resilient Ibeju-Lekki.”
It will be recalled that the NSE Ibeju-Lekki Branch, ahead of the rainy season, embarked on the clearing of major drainage channels across the Local Government as part of one of its community outreach programmes. That effort culminated in a sweeping sanitation exercise tagged “Keep Ibeju-Lekki Clean: Community Development and Environmental Stewardship Initiative.”
