Jakumo: Maybe some folks feel at home in a piggery.

I love the smell of open gutters in the morning - it smells like NIGERIA.

Rossikk: What a load of crap. What Kingston is doing is no different from what the rest of the civilized world is doing. 99.9 percent of New York City's roads have covered drains, as in covered with full concrete - not slabs or grates - and with side vents placed on the actual roads for water to flow into the drains. Same as every other city in the US.

naptu2: I feel the same way about Awolowo Road. In the late 70s/early 80s that road was relatively smooth. Then came the wonder bank era. Every bank wanted to be on Awolowo Road because it was seen as a status symbol. Unfortunately those banks were not financially stable, so it was as if there was a new bank on Awolowo Road every 6 months replacing an old bank that had collapsed.

The problem was that they would cut the road every time a new bank was being built in order to lay water pipes. Awolowo Road was a mess. Ginormous craters appeared on the road.

The LASG rebuilt the road between 2001-2003 and ensured that there were service ducts embedded underneath the road. The road has not had a pot hole since, neither has it needed any major repairs.

Why don't they embed these ducts beneath every new road?

naptu2: I feel the same way about Awolowo Road. In the late 70s/early 80s that road was relatively smooth. Then came the wonder bank era. Every bank wanted to be on Awolowo Road because it was seen as a status symbol. Unfortunately those banks were not financially stable, so it was as if there was a new bank on Awolowo Road every 6 months replacing an old bank that had collapsed.

The problem was that they would cut the road every time a new bank was being built in order to lay water pipes. Awolowo Road was a mess. Ginormous craters appeared on the road.

The LASG rebuilt the road between 2001-2003 and ensured that there were service ducts embedded underneath the road. The road has not had a pot hole since, neither has it needed any major repairs.

Why don't they embed these ducts beneath every new road?

iterator25: why do you keep asking us questions as if we work at alausa

Jakumo:

I'm so sorry, Mayor of Lagos, but I'm going to have to pull out my bullchit whistle and call you out, because open sewers are found EXCLUSIVELY in cities and slums of the Third World, and nowhere else on this green planet. I have either lived in or visited Los Angeles, San Fancisco, San Diego and New York, ALL of which are low-lying coastal cities, and I can attest that there are NO open sewers in ANY of those cities. Having spent time in more than a few coastal towns in the UK as well, I failed to spot a SINGLE Lagos-style open sewer there as well.

In short, your second claim above is blatantly false in every regard, and does not correlate with any reality that can be seen in the developed world. All the same, your valiant attempt to pass off pseudo-science as verifyable fact is understandable, given your obvious love and PATRIOTIC loyalty to Lagos and Nigeria.

Your first assertion about Nigerians being chronic litter-bugs may be true as a stand-alone point of fact, but it still does NOT amount to a plausible reason why Nigerian urban developers have so far failed to adopt the sub-terranian sewage networks that are ubiquitous in the cities and towns of the developed world. The truth is that trash accumulates in ALL sewage disposal networks, and is routinely vacumed out of specially designed UNDERGROUND sumps, by purpose-built city trucks manned by trained crews.

Mayor_of_Lagos:

Ive been off the web since and just happened to see this.

The open chanels shown in these pictures are functional water retainers. Im not asking you to look in London or New York, but go look at cities at or below sea level , places like Miami, New Orleans, see how they plan their storm drainage system. I lived in Florida and spent two weekends every month in Miami for four years, never lived in New Orleans but i visited frequently enough to tell you that when you enter these cities and in certain areas of the city you can smell their drainage. Same thing in Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC.

They dont have gutters like we do but they create what is called storm retention areas. At first look they appear to be ponds..but they are not, they are gutter water held back to control drain flow and they are in the open. Thats exactly the same function these gutters in the OPs pictures do.

In a city that gets a lot of rain and where the subsurface water table is high, there is always problem with run off water. If you dont control the flow rate you will end up where there is more water on street surface than there is emptying into canals and streams, a negative drain/flow rate and the water retains on streets thereby degrading road surface and as well creating flood problem.

The gutters you see here in the picture are in a way like mini canals. You leave it open for water evaporation and to minimize gas build up and health problems for population.

You can argue that they could cover it up with slabs. You can see in the picture that some portions indeed have slabs. You can also see where someone had driven over the slabs to park on the grass on a front yard. They are strong for pedestrian weight and traffic but perharps not for vehicles. Repeated drive-over results in damage and cost to replace.

You can also argue that why not use subsurface drain system and then install fluid level valves and pumps to help accelerate emptying. We all know the valves and the pumps will be stolen and govt will be burdened with cost to replace.

My last two paragraphs address behavioral changes in society. The government can do whatever we want, the money is there..but do we have the right state of mind and culture to leave things better than we found them?

Kairoseki77:

I don't know, but I am sure Lagos will eventually get it sorted out.

I cant remember what kind of gutters Banana Island has. Do you know?

They built that whole thing from scratch, so I hope it has nicer gutters. They are also the same people that are building Eko Atlantic, so I hope to god they don't use open gutters.

iterator25: why do you keep asking us questions as if we work at alausa

Kairoseki77:

Kingston obviously uses a different system.

If we are talking about an open drainage system, then we must compare with other open drainage systems before we say that they ONLY exist in third world countries.

Can you steal the grates in NYC, YES!

Why?

Because they have an open drainage system like we do in Lagos. I have no idea what they do in Kingston, and don't really care.

If you think we should CHANGE to Kingston's system, that is different. But comparing the two is ridiculous and pointless.

Mayor_of_Lagos:

Eko Atlantic is zoned. It is expected to have its own grounds facilities management and security with closed circuit tv. The facilities will be buried and due to high visibility not much is expected in way of vandalism, thereby a somewhat high level of safety and guarantee that any investment in facilities will be sustainable.

redsun: All i see there are opportunities to create jobs for life.Nigerians street pavings,drains constructions and maintenance are worth billions of dollars.While oyinbos are crying of recession and economic downturns,we are swimming blind in eldorados that are crying out to be tapped.

Mayor_of_Lagos:

Ive been off the web since and just happened to see this.

The open chanels shown in these pictures are functional water retainers. Im not asking you to look in London or New York, but go look at cities at or below sea level , places like Miami, New Orleans, see how they plan their storm drainage system. I lived in Florida and spent two weekends every month in Miami for four years, never lived in New Orleans but i visited frequently enough to tell you that when you enter these cities and in certain areas of the city you can smell their drainage. Same thing in Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC.

They dont have gutters like we do but they create what is called storm retention areas. At first look they appear to be ponds..but they are not, they are gutter water held back to control drain flow and they are in the open. Thats exactly the same function these gutters in the OPs pictures do.

In a city that gets a lot of rain and where the subsurface water table is high, there is always problem with run off water. If you dont control the flow rate you will end up where there is more water on street surface than there is emptying into canals and streams, a negative drain/flow rate and the water retains on streets thereby degrading road surface and as well creating flood problem.

The gutters you see here in the picture are in a way like mini canals. You leave it open for water evaporation and to minimize gas build up and health problems for population.

You can argue that they could cover it up with slabs. You can see in the picture that some portions indeed have slabs. You can also see where someone had driven over the slabs to park on the grass on a front yard. They are strong for pedestrian weight and traffic but perharps not for vehicles. Repeated drive-over results in damage and cost to replace.

You can also argue that why not use subsurface drain system and then install fluid level valves and pumps to help accelerate emptying. We all know the valves and the pumps will be stolen and govt will be burdened with cost to replace.

My last two paragraphs address behavioral changes in society. The government can do whatever we want, the money is there..but do we have the right state of mind and culture to leave things better than we found them?

naptu2: So the question is, why can't we have the same design. These pictures were taken just a few metres away from each other.

I'd like to see a system in which all gutters look like the gutter in the last set of pictures. Yet some roads are being built at the moment with the same design that we have in the first set of pics.

Jakumo:

Thank you for this explanation, Mayor of Lagos. The physical peril posed to pedestrians by the presence of open concrete drains in any urban environment is absolutely enormous. Statistics are not kept, but a good guess would be that THOUSANDS of Nigerian pedestrians fall into the open drainage canals that line urban roads throughout Nigeria, resulting in hundreds of permanent injuries and scores of fatalities ANNUALY. Many foreign visitors to Nigeria, un-used to walking down booby-trapped streets, have fallen into those death traps and wound up dead. Any nation that places such a low priority on the physical safety of pedestrians will have an uphill battle .

Nigeria's largely un-covered and un-fenced sewage or drainage gutters generally contain a mix of stagnant, pathogen-infused waste-water and raw sewage that serve as a perfect breeding ground for a variety of deadly illnesses that contribute in no small measure to the country's low life-expectancy, but that major health still ranks a distant second to the ever-present danger of sudden falls into those DEEP open trenches, breaking bones and claiming lives with sickening regularity.

While it is encouraging to see that some parts of some Nigerian cities are beginning to install underground drainage and sewage networks, the sad truth is that MOST roads within the Nigerian federation are STILL lined with the same [b]open sewers that have already cost so dearly in terms of emergency medical care bills, and in human lives. Along the streets of any city you care to mention in the developed world, there simply is no comparable danger to those un-covered drainage/sewage gutters found in Nigeria and other Third World countries. That singular point appears to be lost on the Nigerian PATRIOTS in this forum, who doggedly continue to insist that there ARE open trenches lining streets in the West of their qauint imaginations.

Uyi Iredia: @ Rossikk: Very true. As I implied, it is preferable to walk beside such pedestrian walkways (which the slabs also function as) and on the road, than on the walkways. Given the risk of falling into the gutter due to missing slabs. In the case of the Pen Cinema job, the walkway is higher than usual which isn't the best, though the arrangement is MUCH BETTER than the prior one: anyone who know Pen Cinema before, say 2005, would know this.

Rossikk: The sad part is that there are so many wonderful streets in the country lined with myriad shops, eateries, and business establishments, many of the highest order, yet they have no sidewalks! Allen Avenue Ikeja is a case in point. Just sand and open gutters. That cuts out thousands of people who would ordinarily stroll the streets window shopping, impulse buying, and discourages tourists from venturing out their hotels and walking the streets (meaning lost tourist revenue) etc etc. I've no idea why we cannot see what we're losing from not making proper use of the space on the sides of our roads.

Imagine if Allen Avenue had this:



One could spend all day and night just strolling up and down Allen (an unthinkable idea today). Multiply that by thousands of folks and you can only imagine the boost in business activities there, meaning more tax revenue for govt. It's a win-win.

Atouke:

Bloody good idea.

iterator25: I've Got loads of them too, but who will tell baba fash?

iterator25: @all, love ur suggestions but unfortunately, it'll all die here lollllllzzz

Jakumo:

Un-fenced and un-covered open sewage gutters exist ALL OVER Nigeria,and not just in Lagos State, so there is no need to single out any specific present or past leader for exclusive blame about the existence of those death traps.

Jakumo:

Thank you for this explanation, Mayor of Lagos. The physical peril posed by the prevalence of open, un-covered and un-fenced concrete drains along pedestrian thoroughfares in any urban environment is absolutely enormous. Statistics are not kept, but a good guess would be that THOUSANDS of Nigerian pedestrians fall into the open drainage canals that line urban roads throughout Nigeria, resulting in hundreds of permanent injuries and scores of fatalities ANNUALY. Many foreign visitors to Nigeria, un-used to walking down streets riddled with gaping trenches and holes, have fallen into those death traps and wound up dead or deformed for life. Any nation that places such a low priority on protecting the physical safety of pedestrians will have an uphill battle attracting foreign investment.

Nigeria's largely un-covered and un-fenced sewage or drainage gutters generally contain a mix of stagnant, pathogen-infused waste-water and raw sewage that serves as a perfect breeding ground for a variety of deadly, contagious illnesses that contribute in no small measure to the country's low life-expectancy, but that major health threat still ranks a distant second to the ever-present danger of sudden falls into those DEEP open trenches, breaking bones and claiming lives with sickening regularity.

While it is encouraging to see that some parts of some Nigerian cities are beginning to install underground drainage and sewage networks, the sad truth is that MOST roads within the Nigerian federation are STILL lined with the same open sewers that have already cost so dearly in terms of emergency medical care bills, and in human lives. Along the streets of any city you care to mention in the developed world, there simply is no comparable danger to those un-covered drainage/sewage gutters found in Nigeria and other Third World countries. That singular point appears to be lost on the Nigerian PATRIOTS in this forum, who doggedly continue to insist that there ARE open trenches lining streets in the West of their qauint imaginations.

Jakumo:

Thank you for this explanation, Mayor of Lagos. The physical peril posed by the prevalence of open, un-covered and un-fenced concrete drains along pedestrian thoroughfares in any urban environment is absolutely enormous. Statistics are not kept, but a good guess would be that THOUSANDS of Nigerian pedestrians fall into the open drainage canals that line urban roads throughout Nigeria, resulting in hundreds of permanent injuries and scores of fatalities ANNUALY. Many foreign visitors to Nigeria, un-used to walking down streets riddled with gaping trenches and holes, have fallen into those death traps and wound up dead or deformed for life. Any nation that places such a low priority on protecting the physical safety of pedestrians will have an uphill battle attracting foreign investment.

Nigeria's largely un-covered and un-fenced sewage or drainage gutters generally contain a mix of stagnant, pathogen-infused waste-water and raw sewage that serves as a perfect breeding ground for a variety of deadly, contagious illnesses that contribute in no small measure to the country's low life-expectancy, but that major health threat still ranks a distant second to the ever-present danger of sudden falls into those DEEP open trenches, breaking bones and claiming lives with sickening regularity.

While it is encouraging to see that some parts of some Nigerian cities are beginning to install underground drainage and sewage networks, the sad truth is that MOST roads within the Nigerian federation are STILL lined with the same open sewers that have already cost so dearly in terms of emergency medical care bills, and in human lives. Along the streets of any city you care to mention in the developed world, there simply is no comparable danger to those un-covered drainage/sewage gutters found in Nigeria and other Third World countries. That singular point appears to be lost on the Nigerian PATRIOTS in this forum, who doggedly continue to insist that there ARE open trenches lining streets in the West of their qauint imaginations.