When Anafi Ibrahim decided to relocate to his newly built four-bedroom bungalow in Isale-koko community of Ilorin, Kwara state, in 2011, he never thought a time would come his family would return to his family house in Okekere community. He was proud of his home and the sense of peace and security it brought him. Until the floods hit.
“The problem started in 2014. Many houses, including mine, were submerged by water, and I had no choice but to ask my wife and my children to return to my family house. “Just imagine how a mother with four grown-up children will cope in one room. That has been the situation till now. Nothing has changed”.
According to Ibrahim, floods have rendered him and his family homeless and at the mercy of others since 2014. “Floods have not allowed me and my family to enjoy the house I used my hard-earned money to build,” Ibrahim narrated.
Ibrahim’s community, Isale-Koko, is an area prone to flooding annually. During the rainy season, the Asa river overflows its banks, resulting in the loss of properties.
“Anytime there is rain, our properties are not safe. I lost much of my furniture to this flood,” he added.
Like Ibrahim, Olayinka Idris is another resident of the Isale-Koko community displaced by the floods. He said he could not live in his house for more than five years as the flood situation became unbearable and too serious to manage. He said, “Even though I used all my life savings to build the house, it reached a point I was forced to choose between my life and my property because of the flood. The water chased me away from my own house to squat with a friend.”
A man who simply identified himself as Usman explained how the floods have stopped him from being a homeowner despite the millions of naira he had spent to build a house in Isale-Koko.
“I later abandoned my site in that community because of the water. I spent close to N5 Million to ensure I had a roof over my head. But the floods keep destroying it. So I abandoned it, hoping the government may find a solution to it soon,” Usman stated.
Another community resident identified himself simply as Muhammed, and said there is no peace anytime there is rain in the community.
He narrated how the floods have turned building projects in the community into abandoned ones.
“Anytime there is rain in here, everybody would be scared because we can’t say what would be the damage”. Mohammed said many people have abandoned their sites here because of this problem.
Sodiq was one of the few dwellers still living at Isale-Oko. He has gotten used to the yearly flooding incidents and he expected his community to be flooded this year, but the level of flooding exceeded his expectations.
“I can’t count the number of our neighbours that have left us because of this flood. Particularly this year, what we experienced was a bit strange. There was a lot of water, which made most of our tenants leave this area. “We would also have left if we had where to go. We have no option but to stay, ” he declared.
This community experienced the devastating effect of floods in 2014 and 2018, and again in 2022 where about 72 communities were flooded, destroying crops, properties and other valuables.
Failed Dredging Project Aids Flooding
Reports have attributed the consistent flooding in the community to the failed river dredging project at Isale-Koko.
After the 2018 flooding, the State Ministry of Energy included the dredging of the Asa river from Isale-Koko to Harmony Carnal in its master plan for 2019. The contract for execution of the projects was awarded to Niyi Oyeks Nig Ltd on the 4th of May 2020, with an expected completion date of 4th of August 2020. The contract award was N8 million.
This is, however, not the first time the project had been awarded. On the 4th of July, 2020, the ministry had earlier awarded the same contract to the same contractor for N4 million. The initial date of completion was the 4th of October 2020.
The state Ministry of Environment and Forestry had also awarded N8 Million for an additional three (3) kilometres of dredging and desilting of Asa river from Isale-Koko end to Harmony Bridge in Ilorin Metropolis to the same Niyi Oyeks Nig Ltd. The contract was awarded on the 27th of April, 2020.
The total contract value for the dredging of Asa River, awarded to Niyi Oyeks Nig Ltd. is N20 million.
According to community members, the dredging project was done, but it has not stopped the flood’s menace.
Although not in clear contravention of the letter of the procurement law, the award of the same project to the same contractor over an overlapping time period is puzzling. It is unclear whether the subsequent awards were an expansion of the previous project or what components were added to justify fresh awards.
The Kwara State Procurement Agency Chairman, Abdulbaki Abdulraheem, could not answer these questions either. “I cannot offer any explanation on those contracts you have mentioned because the contracts were before the establishment of the KW-PPA,” he said.
All efforts to get the current Kwara State Commissioner for Environment and Forestry, Remilekun Bamigbe’s comments on the project were unsuccessful. She did not respond to any of the calls and text messages sent to her at the time of filing this report.
Kwara Flood Predictions Proved Painfully True
The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), in its 2022 annual flood outlook (AFO) had listed Kwara state among the highly probable flood risk states in 2022.
As predicted, 35 states in Nigeria have been affected by floods with Kwara, Adamawa, Taraba, Rivers, Kogi, Delta, and Cross River states being hardest hit by the recent floods. As of October 24, approximately 612 people had died as a result of the disaster.
Seven of these deaths happened in Kwara State and three happened at Asa River.
A popular Islamic cleric, Abdulganiy Al-Adabby Aboto, alongside his two students, died while returning to Kwara from Minna, Niger state, when their car fell into the river at Harmony Area along Sobi Army Barracks road, Ilorin.
Between 2021 and July 2022, Kwara State received N814, 413, 508 in ecological funds designed to cater to flood mitigation, among other environmental preservation projects. These funds have however not translated to safety or security from flooding and its effects on the residents of Isale-Koko community.