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RAINING SEASON AND NIGERIA |
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It's full rainy season again in Nigeria and we are as excited as we are cautious. It comes with winds,thunderstorms and lightening and of course,heavy flooding. We enjoy the moment but carefully. Very carefully. In Nigeria,raining seasons are usually not good times for most people because of the poor drainage systems and poor waste disposal strategies employed by the people. It's very obvious that one major challenge we have with raining seasons here is that most drainage systems are either poorly constructed or wrongly channelled. This have caused damages to many people in diverse ways. First,poor drainage systems have taken the lives of some Nigerians who while walking on the road when it's raining, fell into the drainage system and were carried off by the flood. How does this happen? Some drainages in Nigeria do not match the volume of flood that pass such area hence,when there's a heavy down pour,the flood easily fill up and completely cover the drainage channel such that people walking on the road will find it hard to point out exactly where the drainage channel is and in the process of walking and trying to get off the road, some people misjudged the location of the drainage system and thus fall into the gutters in which the flood current is high. When this happens,it's hard for the victim to be found or rescued alive. It has happened so many times here and the people and the government are becoming more cautious of that. Now,what causes the flood to completely cover up the drainage? In Nigeria,most people are very nonchalant in the way they dispose their wastes and owing to that,they easily take to the gutters to dispose their wastes. Top amongst the waste disposed are sachets of water, plastic bags, water proofs, empty cans and bottles. All these,they throw into the gutters from street to street, from shop to shop, the practice remain the same. It is this waste materials that when it rains heavily, block the drainage channel and forces the flood to flow out of the drainage and on the road. This makes it difficult to detect where the drainage channel is exactly located and when such happens,people fall victim. A perfect case to analyse this scenario is my university,Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka. During the initial stage of this current raining season, some of the gutters where filled up with not just flood water but huge wastes which had been disposed a long time ago and are non-biodegradable. So,when the first heavy rain came,it brought out everything and I wasn't pleased. It was an ugly site to behold. But then,with constant awareness on my own path and other concerned bodies,the situation is now changing for better. The university is massively constructing new drainages to cater for large volume of flood while the university community are becoming aware of healthy ways of disposing waste. The construction of this new drainages helps in no small way as little streams in my school that were hitherto threatened are now growing big and can breathe a sigh of relief. Also, the university now embark on periodic cleaning of the drainage channels to get rid of waste materials that were disposef thete by unscrupulous persons and this makes it easier for the flood to flow. Again, outside my university, people are now more cautious of how they dispose their wastes owing to fear of ending up in the hands of law enforcement agents who have been mandated by the government of Anambra state to arrest offenders who can then secure their release by paying some amount of money. It is now yielding results as we have not had cases of people being carried off by flood since this raining season but then,my advocacy continues.
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3 Comments
Thanks for sharing! I never knew littering habits could excerbate natural disasters. Great job for trying to manage the problem at your university! I hope you succeed.
Posted 24-07-2014 13:50
It is indeed a very descriptive article. Shocked to know that people die in drainage.
Agreeing with Christy I would also like to applaud initiations taken by your university in managing drainage and being a role model to others while its also good to know about the legal mechanism taken to control the disposal of waste in the drainge. May situation be better in coming days.
Posted 24-07-2014 13:03
Thank you for the informative and detail article about raining season of Nigeria!
It should be dealt in 2 ways: One in infrastructure oriented view and the other in level of awareness. It won't be totally improved lacking one of two.
Posted 24-07-2014 11:54