Erosion on the Prowl in Lagos Neighbourhood

The affected protio of the road iin Magodo GRA, Lagos

The looming danger of road collapse from erosion is creeping up in the neighbourhood of Shangisha, a suburb of Ketu en-route the highbrow Magodo GRA, Lagos seemingly unnoticed.

The gully which residents in the bustling neighbourhood claim is as a result of channelization of the secondary drainage carried out over three years ago by “government people” is fast developing into a death trap as erosion of the walls of the channel is worsening by the day.

Apparently left unmanaged and unattended to since the channelization exercise, the walls of the deep gully which cuts across the long stretch Oba Akinjobi Road all the
way from CMD Road has not ceased to collapse at intervals so that it now threatens to cut into two the road leading into the highly respected Magodo GRA, even as residents in the area look on helplessly.
Alagba Joseph Adeoye, a cleric who claims to have lived in the neighbourhood for about 40 years gave details of the cause of the erosion saying, “ the government people came to open up the channel three years ago. Then they abandoned it and that was how the erosion started. It has become so bad that now we are afraid of what will happen when the rainy season starts in earnest because that is when it is at its worst. We used to watch from our windows as the walls just keep coming down. We are not even sure our homes can be safe for much longer”.

The home of Alagba Joseph and many others in the area located along the slope known as Odukomaya area have started to show signs of instability due to the continual erosion. Heavy rainfall, no doubt, is the major contributor to the washing away of the layers of earth into the gully leaving the entire neighborhood in a state of trepidation in the face of the approaching season of heavy downpour.

The expanding gully now eating away at the main motorway has left residents as well as petty traders along the roadside with a deep sense of foreboding at the possibility of a vehicle’s tyres accidentally missing its steps under the covers of darkness or heavy flood water and skidding down the rough, deep gully.

Sourced- TheGuardian