Triple Green Environmental Development Foundation (TGED Foundation) in collaboration with Ekiti State Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Ekiti State Waste Management Board and the Nigerian Red Cross Society embarked on a Sensitization and Awareness Campaign on Flood Preparedness and Mitigation in Ikere and its Environs on the 17th of September 2021. Ikere environ is one of the Annual Flood Outlook Report 2021local government in Nigeria that is predicted to be flooded. The aim of the campaign visit was to help raise awareness on the causes and impact of flood disaster and also, the mitigation and adaptation measures to be taken before and during flood occurrence.
Ikere-Ekiti also called Ikere is the second largest city in Ekiti State, South West Nigeria. It is an agrarian community, known for production of cocoa, yams, palm oil and cassava with a total land mass area of about 202.38sq kilometers. The 2006 National Census puts the population of Ikere-Ekiti to be 147,255.
Ikere local government suffers from flood disasters annually. In August 2019, areas like Ogbon in Oke-Osun and Alade filling station in Odo-Oja recorded severe floods which rendered many people homeless while property worth millions of Naira were destroyed. It was based on this ground that the flood sensitization program was embarked on by the management of Triple G, in collaboration with other government parastatals.
When the team arrived at Ikere, some of the major observations that were made includes;
β Indiscriminate waste dump inside drainages;
β Some parts of the drainage were already silted with solid waste and sand debris.
β Large concretes were also observed inside the drainage blocking the free flow of water.
β People living down the slope seem to suffer from the bad practices of disposing waste
inside the drainage as the majority of their drainage system was already silted by waste.
Although flood is a natural phenomenon, it is no news that anthropogenic factors contribute to it and one of such factors in the urban area is improper waste disposal systems. When the Nigerian Meteorological Agencies (NiMET) predicted in 2019 that over 20 states would be overrun by a massive flood, some of the latest victims in Ekiti State did not expect to be named among the victims. They had their reasons- Ekiti State has not been witnessing such magnitude of flood in the past. But alas, the August 29, 2019, heavy downpour, which started at about 9:20 pm, and lasted for about six hours, made sure that they became part of the pathetic data of 2019 flood victims in the country.The impact of flood is often severe as it results in not just loss of properties but also human lives. The Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has again listed Ekiti State as among the 28 States in the federation that would be heavily flooded by rain in the year 2021.
It’s based on this prediction and the subsequent flood hazards occuring at Ikere and other local government in the State that the management of TGED Foundation seeks to call on the attention of the Ekiti State Government, the State Ministry of Environment, the State Waste Management Authority, the State Town Planning Authority and other concerned environmental agencies to come to the aid of the Ikere community and other flood prone regions in the State by ensuring enforcement of town planning codes to allow for the appropriate construction of houses, and drainage structures. In addition, there should be provision for adequate waste disposal facilities and waste collection services for the people of Ikere as this is important to public health, livelihood, and a useful proxy indicator of good governance.