One week after the desilting of the Okoya bridge menace, shop owners and business operators in that axis have raised alarm over the heap of debris yet to be cleared.
They praised the Lagos State government for coming to the help of the community who have suffered untold hazards from floods that result in the bridge blockade. However, they felt the exercise would have been accompanied by immediate plans for the evacuation of the debris.
Some of the residents and business owners who spoke to Lagos Focus newspaper lamented that they have suffered heavy displacement from the exercise, and the yet to be evacuated debris is causing more discomfort, especially as we are in the rainy season, any serious rain would return the debris into the canal.
The shop owners noted that if the debris had been shared between the two sides of the canal, it would have reduced the impact on their shops. However, they alleged that an unnamed hotel gave a bribe of about ₦1m to the dredgers to heap all the debris on one side of the road, which spoiled a lot of their wares.
A shop owner who sells beverages said her drinks were splashed with dirty water, and for two days now, she has been washing the packs.
Another shop owner, a nursing mother with a two-month-old baby, was advised to close her shop because of the health risk the debris poses until they are cleared, but she complained that the shop was her only source of daily survival, noting that her family will starve if she locks up the shop
Lagos Focus newspaper’s investigation showed that about 20 shops were disrupted by the canal clearance, and the road through Okoya/Cemetery street has become impassable because the gamut of the debris covered the entire road.
