Dayo Oyewo and Johnson Idowu
Residents struggle with a hike in boat fare as flood water continues to ravage Isheri, Arepo, Lafenwa, Warewa, and other adjoining communities along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State.
This is just as the release of water from the Oyan dam has led to the flooding of some communities in the Mile 12 area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro learnt on Tuesday that the boat paddlers conveying people in the flooded areas have been overwhelmed by growing demands for their services.
The residents were thrown into panic barely a week ago following a flood scare due to the release of water from the Oyan River Dam by the Ogun-Oshun River Basin Authority.
A gradual increase in the Ogun River’s current later led to an overflow, spreading across areas some metres away from the river bank.
The impact which resulted in heavy flooding across various estates within the communities has also led to a significant increase in the relocation of residents.
Speaking to our correspondent on Tuesday, some of the residents lamented the delay they experienced while trying to connect to different parts of the communities due to the unavailability of boats.
One of the residents who identified herself simply as Funmilola said the experience had further compounded their woes of daily commuting the flooded area.
She said, “We have adopted the means of commuting through boats since the flood started. But the experience has been frustrating in the past two days as we hardly see the boat operators when we need them. I can’t be dressed for work and be expected to wade through the waters. That is why we use boats but the high demand for their services is another challenge we are dealing with now.”
“It is an entirely different experience with the boat operators now. I can imagine the road I walked through last month is where I now struggle to enter a boat even with my own money. Honestly, this is not a good experience for us,” another resident who gave his name as Mr. Akin lamented.
Our correspondent gathered that the boat operators engaged by the leadership of the communities charge N200 per trip. They however increase the fare during the peak periods.
Checks also revealed that some private boat operators also make brisk businesses in the flooded areas by charging as high as N1000 to convey some of the residents, especially at night.
“Some of them are from the Ijaw ethnic group. They suspended their fishing business and switched to the canoe business because of the flood,” a community leader who preferred anonymity while citing personal reasons told PUNCH Metro.
Another resident, Timi Aluko, said they were often forced to wade through the water after a long wait for boat operators.
“I could not stand the long wait yesterday when trying to purchase an item outside the estate. I was forced to walk in the water when there was no boat operator in sight,” he said.
For residents of Riverview Estate, the experience appears more depressing as they only have a single boat serving them.
While corroborating the residents’ claims, the Chairman of Riverview Estate, Abayomi Akinde, said he had been inundated with calls from residents on the challenges of boarding the boats.
He said, “The boat we put on that road is so overwhelmed that people will be calling me from left and right that they have been waiting for long without seeing a boat to carry them. They say the operator is not picking up his calls. When I called the operator, he would also lament that he did not know what to do because people were calling him from different points and that he could not be at the places at the same time. And when some people waited for so long without a boat in sight, they entered the river and began to wade through. I had to switch off my telephone at some point. It is so terrible.”
He said the boat was bought some years ago to serve the purpose of ferrying people during flood crisis.
“We used to have two but the second one is a wooden boat that we bought with over N100,000 but it has been damaged. But this one is an aluminum boat and has been serving us since 2019. We use it on Abayomi Akinde and Yusuf Al-Hassan streets because that is where we have the concentration of people. So, we ask people to gather at a particular location where the boat picks them up and discharges them in front of Shoe Mate, where we have dryness,” he added.
The flood has also affected some communities in the Agiliti area of Mile 12 in Lagos State.
A visit to the communities by our correspondent revealed that residents have resorted to using boats as a means of navigating their way in and out of the communities.
The flood waters have also extended into streets and homes displacing some residents.
The Ogun State Government had said it was planning a temporary shelter for residents affected by the flooding occasioned by the release of water from the Oyan Dam.
The Ogun State Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya, told PUNCH Metro on Monday that plans had been made to accommodate the flood victims and persons prone to the flooding.
The commissioner also advised residents in the flood-prone areas to evacuate immediately and not wait for an escalation of the situation.
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