Residents of Iju and Ajuwon in Ifako Ijaye area of Lagos have called on the state government to use the dry season period to solve the problem of erosion in the area.

Our correspondent on Monday in Lagos the canal linking the two communities was blocked with debris and hence emptying itself into the two communities during the rainy season rather than taking water away.

Wasiu Abdul-Rahaman, a trader at Ajuwon told The Tide that residents of the area were worst hit by the problem created from Eliot road in Iju, as most of the water runs through to flood Ajuwon.

“When ever it rains, vehicles cannot even cross the bridge over the canal again because the water level would rise so high that it can almost swallow small vehicles.

“Apart from causing traffic congestion, most of us in Ajuwon would be sitting in water for several days,” he said.

He lamented that residents had had to fill sacks with sand and line them along routes to their houses and shops to act as water breakers, in their bid to check the erosion caused by the blocked canal.

Mrs Ijeoma Nwosu, another resident of Iju said that the problem of erosion had persisted in the community for several years without adequate government intervention.

Nwosu, however, thanked the state government for the ongoing Agege/Iju road and called for the rehabilitation of the Ajuwon /Iju Road, adding that if the problem of drainages was not addressed, the roads would not last.

In his contribution, Mr Dayo Fafunmi, the lawmaker representing the area in the Lagos State House of Assembly, observed that the erosion problem in the area was not one that could be solved easily.

“From Eliot to Ajuwon to have a lasting solution, the road needs to be elevated or a bridge constructed,“ he said.

Fafunmi (ACN, Ifako Ijaye I) said: “the drains in the area are grossly inadequate, but a free-flowing canal will bring some relief.“

He lamented that the problem of canal blockage was replicated in every part of the state and had been a major concern for the state government.

“The drains are expected to discharge into the canal and the canal is not moving. And because of the terrain of Lagos, cleaning the canal without using the waterways would create problems because the silt would find its way back to the canal.

“It is something we have to tackle politically,“ he said.

Fafunmi said that the state government was already doing a network of all drainage channels in all communities in the state and as time goes on, would device ways of cleaning the canals and dredging the lagoons where the canals discharge into, to ensure that silt would not return to canals.

The lawmaker, who is the House Committee Chairman on Works and Infrastructure, said that his committee, as part of its oversight function, would embark on audit of roads and road contracts as well as embark on inspection of drainages this month.