Each time one watches a news clip on any television channel or listen to news on radio talking about canals or drainage channels in Lagos, either in terms of desilting or making them free flowing, the narrative of residents have always been: “Please help us beg the government to come and clear the filth from our canal and make it free flowing”. As altruistic as this statement may appear, it also throws up several questions begging for answers.
There are three main types of drainage channels, namely the primary which are the big canals that people see around, and then the secondary collectors which are the ones that take water from the catchment into the big canals and the tertiary drains which are the drains in front of our houses. Going round most streets and neighbourhoods, the sight is very worrisome, most of the tertiary drains are stagnant and filled up. The average landlord or tenement is not concerned about the cleanliness of the drains that pass through the frontage of their houses. No attempt is made to desilt them. They serve as breeding spaces for larva of mosquitoes and rodents. Before the temporary suspension of the monthly environmental sanitation in the state, many of the residents would rather stay indoors and watch cable television during the restriction period. For them, clearing the drains especially the ones that run through the frontage of their residence is a no no.
A drainage channel could be likened to a living organism, with something flowing through it all the time and is impregnated with sediments. When there is rainfall, the rain water will carry all kinds of debris and as it is moving, it is going to be dropping this debris into the drain. So the drain will always get silted at one point or the other. Even if you don’t get the negative impact in terms of dumping of refuse which is big menace, a drain will naturally silt up over time with sand which is a natural phenomenon and that explains why there is always a periodic programme to remove such.
Talking about the major canals which serve as major collectors, despite efforts of the Lagos State Government agencies to maintain and clean the canals through a major contract which was awarded some years ago but still subsisting, many of them are being turned to refuse dumps preventing water from flowing through them. One nagging question begging for answer is: Why are we like this as a people? It is the same members of the public who dump refuse in the canals and prevent water from flowing freely. Despite the provision of refuse bin at each tenement by the state waste management authority (LAWMA), the people are more convenient with taking their refuse outside their residence into some unmanned places because no one is looking and because they do not want to pay for the refuse they generate. Immediately it rains and the canal is prevented from doing its job as a collector for all the water for onward passage into the lagoon, the roads, streets and neighbourhoods are flooded with its attendant dislocations, the residents hit the rooftop shouting about how insensitive government has been in not caring for its needs. Little would they want to agree that they are the architect of the misfortune of everyone.
In the Nigerian context, the only language that people seem to understand and that can elicit compliance with any known laws or rule is enforcement. Right from the marketplaces where every Thursday is set aside as sanitation day, many in the markets would rather lock up their stalls waiting for the end of the restriction hours instead of cleaning their stalls. There are many markets that are adjoining major roads, with their drains brimming with silt. Those with stalls at such major markets would rather wait until the water from the filled up drains gets unto the main road networks and form stagnant pool of water which at the end damages the road and render it impassable. These are the same set of people who readily blame the government for not coming to clear the tertiary drains which have been provided by government with taxpayers’ money but which they expect the government to still come and desilt for them. It is only when environmental sanitation officers are approaching that they do the needful. Even in the neighbourhoods, there were times in the past when environmental sanitation officers (wole wole) were regular faces and made it a point of duty that all the tertiary drains were free-flowing and never gave an opportunity for breeding mosquitoes or rodents. Today, the reverse is the case, it is either the number of sanitation officers is inadequate to man the various drains or they are not available at all to police the several hundreds of primary, secondary and tertiary drains that line the various points in the state. Even the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps officers, who are the enforcement arm, do not possess the enforcement capacity. On many occasions, they have come under severe attacks from some recalcitrant street traders or others who breach environmental sanitation laws of the state through mob actions.
The poser therefore is: How can we as a people police our canals and drainage channels from being abused and turned into refuse dumps? How do we ensure that the manholes that line the major roads are not clogged with refuse but cleaned at intervals to prevent flood from remaining on the roads? This is the time to commence community policing of our drainage channels, canals and tertiary drains and stop waiting for environmental sanitation officers or LAGES officers. In your neighbourhood, if you see anyone channeling the pipe of their sewage into the drain, you should challenge them on what they are doing wrong. The same applies to those who sweep the dirt from their houses into the drains and those who gather refuse in the house and wait until it starts raining before throwing the refuse into the flood. You just have to speak out because what they do affects everybody. It might not even have taken place in your immediate vicinity, but ensure that you say something, when you see something because the impact of the act may be far reaching for everybody.
A while ago, the social media was awash with the story of someone who dropped refuse on the road while driving and he was stopped and the stuff was dumped back in his car. That constitutes an ingenious solution to a nagging problem. If a man leaves the vicinity of his residence with a bagful of refuse and brings the same to dump in a canal or on the road, we, as very observant citizens of the state who witness when such an act as it is being committed, should apprehend him and force him into the same canal to retrieve the refuse he has dumped at the expense of whatever personal danger he is exposed to. Doing this will serve as a deterrent to others who might wish to do the same. The moment we continue to turn the other eye of ‘wetin concern me’ when infractions that will have negative effects on the larger percentage of the population are being committed, we will all continue to suffer the effect of such.
Adeshina is the Director (Public Affairs), Lagos State
Ministry of The Environment and Water Resources, Alausa
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