Flood control and Aregbesola's proactive steps in Osun

Over the years, floods in Nigeria have pushed rivers over its banks and submerged hundreds of thousands of acres of cropland. In just over five years, floods had forced 1.3 million people to flee their homes and claimed 431 lives, according to Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. The Niger and Benue rivers used to be fine rivers that flowed through twisted channels, with bodies of isolated water splashing across the alluvial plains. Years later, both rivers had burst their banks, engulfing the small lakes and ponds, the river Niger had swollen in an extensive temporary lake. Reasons for this included neglect and negligence on the part of the government. Sudden floods are common in Nigeria during the rainy season (May - September), parts of Nigeria have witnessed fair participation in the dangers caused by floods over the years. The Nigerian Red Cross reported that about 120,000 people had been left homeless. Thousands of displaced residents had to flee temporary shelters as floods also outpaced the efforts of governments in fire-affected states. President Buhari Reveals What He and President Trump Discussed During Lunch Aregbesola Flood Control and Proactive Steps in Osun - By Kingsley Omoyeni Author: Mitchelle Okuku UPDATED: 21 HOURS AUGUST 18882 Category: Local news SHARING Along Over the years, floods in Nigeria have pushed rivers past their shores and submerged hundreds of thousands of acres of cropland. In just over five years, floods had forced 1.3 million people to flee their homes and claimed 431 lives, according to Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. The Niger and Benue rivers used to be fine rivers that flowed through twisted channels, with bodies of isolated water splashing across the alluvial plains. Years later, both rivers had burst their banks, engulfing the small lakes and ponds, the river Niger had swollen in an extensive temporary lake. Reasons for this included neglect and negligence on the part of the government. Sudden floods are common in Nigeria during the rainy season (May - September), parts of Nigeria have witnessed fair participation in the dangers caused by floods over the years. The Nigerian Red Cross reported that about 120,000 people had been left homeless. Thousands of displaced residents had to flee temporary shelters as floods also outpaced the efforts of governments in fire-affected states. In addition to destroying buildings and lives, floods have the devastating ability to devastate crops and destroy the transportation routes of any community that are unlucky enough to have the unwanted flood visit. Osogbo residents, especially the people around the Rasco de Oke-fia area, can not easily forget the devastating flood of 2015. The flood, caused by more than 12 hours of heavy rain, wreaked havoc on the state capital. The buildings were submerged; precious lives were lost, while worthy properties of millions of naira were also wiped out by the devastating flood of that particular year. The Rasco de Oke-fia area is an area of ​​Osogbo that has always been prone to flooding over the years, due to the construction of houses on the road to erosion, in streams, blockage of drainage and the total disregard for environmental laws. This is the case in some parts of Osogbo. The scratch bridge that was built many years ago has become too small and not large enough to contain the volume of water that follows during the rainy season. The annual flood in the area has resulted in loss of property; is a commercial area where there are complexes, shops and containers. However relief came to the people of the area when the current administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has demonstrated its commitment to flood prevention and erosion control in its first term by embarking on the dredging of streams and rivers through the state, the flood of Rasco. The Rasco flood control project began with the separation of buildings and shops that were built on waterways and those that were very close to the river. The separation cost the government millions of naira.

During the exercise, it was discovered that the cause of the floods in the area was because the original water path had become too narrow to contain water whose volume has increased over the years. There was need to expand the waterways, the river rasco was later dredged to clear the debris that impede the free flow of water. A reinforced retainer and a concrete conduit about 12 meters wide and 2.5 meters high was made to have a smooth control and river flow. Significantly, a much larger bridge corresponding to the broader range of the water path to control the huge volume of water, a triple cell bus with each cell built to a specification of 2.5 meters wide and 3 meters high was put in place to direct against a situation where the flood overflows the road. The bridge that has been under construction for about four months has now been completed and opened for use. While the bridge was mostly rebuilt to accommodate the now high volume of water passing under it, the state government also thought it prudent to build the bridge to meet the global standard as the road over the bridge has now been rebuilt with paving stones to add beauty to the area. Residents of the Rasco area around Oke-fia in Osogbo are full of praises to Aregbesola to come to their rescue as they can now sleep with their two eyes closed without fear of their features being swept away by the flood.


When the administration of Aregbesola came into force in 2010, one of its first areas of intervention following the recruitment of 20,000 young people through the Osun Youth Empowerment System (O'YES) was control of floods and erosion. Osun had witnessed a terrible and devastating flood before the appearance of Aregbesola. The wreckage on the citizens of Osun in 2009 and 2010 by the floods is such that you can not forget in a hurry because it left a lot of homes and families in pains and sorrows that many of them are yet to recover. There have been persistent floods in the state during the rainy seasons, with cases of loss of lives and submerged housing. But the administration of Aregbesola took the bull by the horn and the state summoned the phenomenon of the flood. The Aregbesola administration immediately took as a point of duty to do everything possible to protect people from floods as millions of naira were released between 2011 and 2012 for dredging of the notorious streams and rivers they had caused through the years floods in the state. During the past seven years, the Aregbesola administration has not looked back on the determination to avoid flooding in Osun as rivers and streams such as the Okookoo and Ogbagba streams in Osogbo have never been left intact on an annual basis. Currents and rivers in other cities such as Ikire, Ikirun, Iwo, Ile-Ife, Ode-Omu, Ilesa and other cities in the state are also not left out in the scheme of things. There is virtually no current or river in the state that the Aregbesola dredging machine has not touched on the bid to ensure that the state does not have to start spending billions of naira in providing shelters of change, purchase of aid materials and the ugly situation of having to deal with a food crisis. For a state that is prone to flooding due to the many rivers and streams it has, it will not be out of place for the state government to forever put the issue of dredging waterways in the foreground, just like the Aregbesola administration is doing and is gratifying to know that the efforts of the state government are paying off.

Running at about 75 km, the water ways that Aregbesola dredging machines work annually include; Esimirin, Agbara, Opa, Gbalefefe, Ogboku, Osun on the Ile-Ife and Modakeke-Ife axis. We also have the Opopo, Ogbun, Amino, Akeri in Ila-Orangun. In the axis of Ilesa are the streams Omiru, Olutokun and Adeti. The rivers Mogimogi and Aiba in Apomu and Iwo, respectively, are not left out either. A number of streams and rivers of no less than 30 kilometers in villages like Ipetu-Ijesa, Ejigbo, Yakooyo, Ipetumodu, Asipa, Ikirun, Iragbiji, Ede and Igbajo are also being dredged annually to avoid flooding. A trader at one of the stores near the "Rasco Bridge" in Osogbo, Mr. Orim Nwachukwu, while reporting his experiences on past flood incidents in the area, said that it used to be difficult and horrible for people in the area. area during the rainy seasons as they always had to leave their homes to other places for fear of being swept away by floods. Once the rain starts around May / June and begins to come thick and fast, we have no choice but to pack outside our stores or our properties will be swept away by the floods. "

It is now the responsibility of citizens to ensure that waterways are kept clean and free by not throwing litter in streams and rivers. In doing so, they would have come a long way to complement the government's efforts to ensure that the status of the virtuous is free from flooding.