By Toye Olori
Lagos, Jul 26 2002 (IPS)

Heavy rains have paralysed Lagos, Nigeria’s sprawling commercial hub, forcing the majority of the city’s 12 million inhabitants to stay indoors.

The rains, which began two weeks ago, have made travelling within the city a nightmare.

Bad roads and fuel scarcity have added to the city’s woes.

‘’It is a sorry sight. People walking knee-deep inside water without knowing where the gutters are located. Some people, especially women, miss their steps as they wade through the flooded streets,” says Debo Oshundun, a civil servant in Lagos.

Transport fare, too, has gone up by more than four times, as a result of the fuel shortage.

‘’I paid 80 Naira instead of 20 Naira – just for a distance of about 15 kilometres – because of the heavy rains and fuel scarcity,” says Seun Ibironke, a government official.

One U.S. dollar is equal to 145 Naira.

Ibironke says she arrived at the office at about 12 noon on Tuesday instead of 8 O’clock as she used to do before the heavens opened its gate.

Samson Opeyemi, a bus driver, says he has been making only two trips a day instead of the usual five since the rains began.

‘’So I have to raise fares. The owner of the bus will not accept less than 2,000 Naira he collects everyday, simply because it has rained,” Opeyemi says.

‘’It is not my fault, but I know that as soon as fuel is available and the rain stops disturbing us, fares will come back to normal. But for now, we can not help,” he says.

Some residents are already praying for divine intervention to end the torrential rains, which have submerged many suburbs and rendered streets impassable.

Abiodun Bello, a landlord in Idimu, a suburb of Lagos told IPS: ‘’Our Landlord Association has agreed to organise prayers for residents to avert the impending disaster.”

‘’Our houses are old and under threat of collapsing, some already have cracks while the flood is causing erosion which is eating up the streets. We don’t have to wait for government, we have to help ourselves by all means,” Bello says.

‘’We are not just praying alone, we are also seeking the help of people (rainmakers) with powers to control rain,” he says.

The rains have paralysed economic activities throughout the city, as most shops have remained closed. Workers, who last week, at the height of the torrential rains, stayed off work, have begun to return to work in trickles this week.

Landlords in Alaka, a suburb of Logos, last month appealed to the Lagos State government to clear the drainage in the vicinity as the flood was already causing them sleepless nights.

‘’Tenants are abandoning this area as a result of the flooding. Presently, residents do not sleep each time it rains, we resort to God to take control of the weather and save us and our children,” says Nuruden Alao, a community leader.

Alao said their association has sent representatives to Governor Bola Tinubu, as they did not know what to do next.

Governor Tinubu’s administration has since taking office in 1998 taken steps to fix the drainage to allow free flow of water. The government says it has spent around 8.4 billion Naira on fixing the city’s drainage systems since 1998.

Health officials have blamed the blockage of drainage, by residents who dump refuse indiscriminately in the drains and landlords who build illegal structures across drainage channels, for the cause of the flooding. Lagos’s rainy season is between May and October, with the peak period being July and August.

To reduce the flooding, experts have urged the government to go beyond political rhetoric and empty promises. ‘’The issue of flood in Lagos require a purposeful effort and determination,” says Dan Adeniyi, a town planner.

‘’The city requires a fundamental re-planning devoid of sentiment or mere political statements,” he says.

‘’A city like Lagos that is witnessing additional population increase on a daily basis requires an urgent solution. This should involve the Federal Government (in Abuja), corporate organisations and international organisations involved in environmental issues,” says Adeniyi.

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