THE flood that devastated communities and led to a building collapse in Lagos on Wednesday, July 4, has exposed the bad state of roads in Nigeria’s economic capital as well the poor state of environmental management of the state.
A heavy rainfall started in early hours of Wednesday and fell for about 10 hours, devastating communities and disrupting businesses. Several traders from Oshodi to Ojuelegba did not display their wares due to the heavy rain.
“I did not go to my shop today because there was no way to get there. Going from Ikotun to Lagos Island through Iyana Oworonshoki was tough because the Iyana Oworonshoki axis was flooded,” said a trader at Lagos Island, Mr Adebola Ayeyemi.
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Several civil servants and employees in private offices also did not make it to their offices. A civil servant, who does not want her name mentioned, said she could not reach her office from Ogun State to Ikeja owing to the flood.
The bigger issue
The flood has exposed the poor state of Lagos roads. From Ikotun to Ejigbo, down to Ajao Estate and Oshodi, potholes have created more problems for motorists as they have for residents.
Economy Post found that most inner and street roads in Lagos are in a decrepit state. From Tobias Alaribe to Tipper roads in Oke-Afa, roads are in a poor state.
White Sand Estate, located in Isheri-Osun in the Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, was heavily flooded. The estate and people’s homes were heavily flooded on Wednesday, with several residents trapped.
A resident, Charles Awurum, told Economy Post that the major problem was the poor state of the drainage system in the area as well as poor maintenance of roads.
“Roads are poorly maintained by the government and the local government is nearly non-existent in this case. Secondly, there are no good drainages here,” he said.
In Oshodi, inner roads were heavily flooded and residents were trapped. Residents blamed the poor state of drainages and the blockade of drainages by those secretly dumping refuse in them.
At Iyana Oworonshoki, the situation was the same. Same as Ajegunle, where a resident, Ms Deborah Ini, said her rooms were flooded.
“My children clothes and other belongings, including my furniture and electronics, got damaged by the flood,” she said.
The state of environmental management in Lagos raises more questions than answers, with refuse dumped in drainages and the government rarely coming for inspections in several areas.
Many residents say the job of keeping the environment tidy has become difficult for the Lagos State Ministry of Environment in the state, particularly the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).
Lagos infrastructure expenditure
Lagos is spending billions of taxpayers’ money on infrastructure. In 2024, it will spend N550.689bn to develop and maintain its infrastructure, said Commissioner of Economic Planning and Budget, Mr Ope George.
He said the N551 billion budgeted for infrastructure represented 24.28 percent of the entire budget and was part of the ₦1.315trn capital budget for 2024. The state spent N483 billion on infrastructure in 2023.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu spent N115 billion on road infrastructure in 2020, increasing it to N697 billion in 2021. However, his road war chest fell to N325 billion in 2022 but rose to N482.86 billion in 2023. However, many people are beginning to worry that the spending is making little or no impact, Economy Post earlier analysed.
Lagos infrastructure expenditure compared
Lagos State’s gross domestic product is estimated $136 billion (2017), making it Nigeria’s richest state. Its population is estimated at over 20 million, but the government has spent less than $3 billion on infrastructure in four years (2020-23), particularly on roads.
Two other economic capitals of emerging African markets have spent a little more. The city of Johannesburg spends an average of $1.9 billion on infrastructure while the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Infrastructure Note says it has spent an equivalent of $6.682 billion on infrastructure in four years, averaging $1.68 billion annually.
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The number of people coming into Lagos is also putting pressure on Lagos, which is Nigeria’s smallest state by land mass (3,345km²). About 86 persons enter Lagos every minute and they have no plan to leave, according to former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
Investment in rail
But Sanwo-Olu has invested $1.4 billion in rail, which has proved to be a game changer.
Phase 1 of the blue line light rail, which began commercial operations on September 4, 2023, transported over one million passengers in 219 days to April 10, 2024, said an official of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), which constructed the first phase of the rail, Mr John Zhao.
When operational, the red line (another rail line) will convey 500,000 passengers daily, Mr Sanwo-Olu said in February 2024.
“The LRMT Red Line rail system, the first phase of which we project will move more than 500,000 passengers daily, stretches over a distance of 27 kilometres from Agbado to Oyingbo, with eight stations at Agbado, Iju, Agege, Ikeja, Oshodi, Mushin, Yaba, and terminates at Oyingbo,” Sanwo-Olu said in a post shared on his X handle on February 29, 2024.
