Lagos Residents Blame Illiteracy For Drainages Stuffing

Road users in Lagos
have attributed the stuffing of drainages by residents to ignorance and illiteracy.
The road users told our source in separate interviews that the residents needed to change their orientation to curb stuffing of drainage in the city.
A banker, Mrs Dorathy Dung, told our correspondent that illiteracy was responsible for the dumping of refuse in drainage.
Dung commended the ongoing infrastructure development by the State Government, describing it as laudable.
“If not illiteracy, how can any sane person just wake up and begin to pour refuse in drainage?,” she asked.
A teacher, Mr Sanusi Pedro, said that the problem was due to ignorance.
Pedro said that the State Government had embarked on media campaigns to curb the trend.
He noted, however, that residents should make effort to drop the habit.
“Some people are already used to sweeping rubbish directly into gutters, they forget all that government is saying on radio and television.
“There are several campaigns going on to stop this bad habit but people are just careless.
“Just three weeks ago the road and drainage at Kodeso road was inaugurated, go there now and see what traders have done to the structure,” he said.
On his part, Malam Ileanwa Danladi, said that government should enact a law against dumping of refuse into drains.
Danladi said that enforcement of such laws would serve as deterrent.
Also, Alhaji Adamu Sarki, a clearing agent and Mrs Samiat Shogo, said that drainage channels should be completely sealed to make them inaccessible to those who abused them.
Reacting to the development, the Commissioner for Works, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, told The Tide that government was meeting with various stakeholders to curb the trend.
“Ordinarily, we should not be meeting with anybody but we want to keep reinforcing it.
“We have said repeatedly that, the drains are not garbage cans.
“If you block it, water would flow elsewhere so, it is in the interest of the residents to make it free, if not, it would be flooded.
“Again and again, we would be meeting the stakeholders,” he stated.
The commissioner said that various companies were at a recent meeting held with residents of Ikeja in January to stop stuffing blocking of drainage.