I've been following this guy since August last year, and it seems the PDP have found a gem. He just impresses me more and more with his innovative, but common sense suggestions. Does anyone actually know him in person?


http://www.facebook.com/notes/babatunde-o-gbadamosi/the-state-of-aquatic-horror/235039069859930

The headline is deliberate, an attempt to stimulate debate on the causes of, and hopefully find possible solutions to the perennial flooding that now seems to be the signature of Lagos between the months of May and October, at least for the last few years. It is not a finger-pointing exercise, so, please read with an open mind. It is an attempt to if not stop, at least minimize the incidence of flooding and the attendant and regrettable loss of lives and property.

The most obvious culprit is climate change, but I must say here that I remember such floods and relentless deluges as a youngin growing up in Lagos. As a matter of fact, I think around 1976, there was a serious storm that uprooted some ancient trees and removed not a small number of roofs in Ikoyi. It must be said though, that for as much expert opinion as there is in support of the climate change theory, there is an increasingly strident opposing view, also supported by empirical evidence that the whole climate change song is an elaborate fabrication. Either way, our reality in Lagos is one of water, water everywhere.

The Governor and his officials as well as prominent members of his party at the national level have also pointed fingers at the residents of Lagos State themselves, for blocking drains with refuse, and/or construction materials. I find myself having to agree with them. It is quite dis-heartening to see the amount of rubbish on the streets of Lagos State, despinte the huge amounts of money, both IGR and World Bank grants and loans, expended on waste disposal in Lagos State, especially in the last 4 years. Even more disconcerting is the way that refuse has taken over our drains, even to the canals. I saw one canal in the Lekki axis, recently re-embanked, chock-full of rubbish near the point where it drains into the lagoon. Of course, this meant that the water would not get to its ultimate destination.

The third and most obvious reason adduced for this recent and perhaps ongoing incidence of flooding is the sheer volume of rain that fell between the early hours of Sunday,10th July and the early hours of Tuesday, 12th July 2011. To say that it was unexpected would be stating the obvious. Even though flood warnings had been issued by the meteorological agencies, I don't think anyone quite grasped that the rain would be quite so torrential and prolonged.

Another reason, or myriad of reasons, not considered, is the grossly inadequate or even non-existent state of our drainage in Lagos. Again, I must stress that this is not an attempt to apportion blame, but to identify the problems, and proffer workable, practical solutions for them.

In my opinion, the solution lies squarely in a drastic re-design of the highways and drains in Lagos, using the last deluge as a benchmark for what we need to deal with. There are a number of things that need to be done in the areas of physical development, capacity building, municipal services, environmental maintenance as well as planning and regulation of the built environment.

First of all, government needs to become realistic about the sort of financial padding it can allow for political patronage when drawing up budgets for its physical development projects. This is not targetted at any political party, but you will agree with me that some of the costs being claimed for projects in Lagos State lately belong firmly in the realm of fantasy. With granite being sold at an maximum of N6,200 per ton, transport inclusive, ashphalt at a maximum of N29,000 per ton, and cement at N1750 per 50kg bag, it's really hard to understand costs of N2,000,000,000,000 (two billion naira) per kilometre of road that is not more than a total of 12 metres in width, even inclusive of proper storm drainage, street lights and flyovers, which, at any rate, are absent on the Lekki-Epe expressway.

If we are able to be more rational with our pricing, we can make the money go much, much further. I have costed the Lekki-Epe expressway, with a 4-lane expansion, turning it into an 8-lane expressway, 7 fly-overs, street lights in the median and on the sides, no fences (some of the cost savings come from here), no toll plazas (more cost savings), and it came to roughly N600 billion per km. That's N1.4b less per km than the cost being claimed by LCC for their 1 lane expansion with zero flyovers, pitiful drainage system and generator powered streetlights in the median only.

So, we now know that the Lekki-Epe Expressway could have been expanded right up to Eleko Junction (49.4km) to a more respectable 8 lane highway with the bottlenecks (roundabouts and toll plazas) removed, as well as superb drainage, taking into account the developments that would most likely follow immediately. Fortunately, there are at least 4 points to drain the expressway from. A drainage system with sluices and levees was part of the design I saw.

The inner city roads will involve a lot of growing pains. All the roads need to be made viable, both for vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The place to attack this is the design stage. The open drain system has not worked for us. It makes it possible for people to routinely stuff their garbage into the drains, and this must stop. I believe the time is ripe for a totally covered drainage system, punctuated by manhole covers availing access for maintenance, at say, every 5 metres. The size of the drains as well should be standardised to a minimum width of 1m, in-to-in and a minimum depth of 600mm, at any point. The covered surfaced should have a minimum thickness of 150mm, re-inforced with a minimum of 12mm rebar. The covered surface of the drain, a total of 1300mm, assuming a minimum wall thickness, depending on soil composition, of 150mm, re-inforced with 12mm rebar, should be supplemented with an additional minimum of 700mm walkway, giving us a total minimum of 2m pedestrian walkway on any trunk C road. Trunk C roads should by design, be not less than 8m in width of actual driving surface.

Trunk B roads should never be less than a minimum of 12m road surface, complemented by a minimum pavement size of 3m on either side with drains of minimum depth 1m and minimum with 1m. These specifications are achievable, even if it requires boundary adjustments for existing structures, as long as costs are not allowed to escalate on account of patronage pressure. All the canals should be properly dredged and embankments of greater height and sturdiness than at present built on their banks. They should also be immediately cleared of all debris in their courses, as these not only exacerbate the fury of nature, but wil pollute the lagoon and make it unviable for fish. This does it for physical development of infrastructure.

As far as capacity building, some potentially politically problematic actions need to be taken at once. Either the Lagos State Government gets the National Assembly to amend the constitution to reflect the additional 37 inchoate "LGAs", or just abrogate them altogether. The experiment of running unconstitutional political bodies alongside constitutionally recognised ones has failed in Lagos State. If the National Assembly passes the Constitutional amendment to the effect that LGA allocations be paid to them directly, rather than into a joint account in the state, we are in trouble in Lagos State. To prevent this trouble, the Governor would do well to do either of my suggestions above, in the interest of the people. If not one, then the other, regardless of how painful it may seem. LGA financial autonomy is coming, whether we like it or not. It is part of the evolution of our democracy.

Either of the above actions will release much needed finance to the LGA level, bearing in mind that the LGA Chairmen and Councillors have no constitutional immunity. All the revenue raising powers of the LGAs guaranteed under Schedule 4 of the constitution that were abridged by the state government on account of those purported letters of appointment from desperate LGA chairmen in 2002 should be returned to them. It will impact on the revenue available to the state, but it will also enable the LGs to plug a lot of the developmemtal gaps in their various domains. For those blaming the LGAs for lack of development in their domains, there is very little ANYONE can do without funds. LASAA, Land Use Charge and several other state statutory bodies that contradict the Constitution should be abrogated immediately, in the interest of LGA viability and the overall interest of the citizens of Lagos State.

In addition to the above financial capacity buildiing for the LGs, their Town Planning powers should be restored immediately. I doubt that the old Eti-Osa LGA Town Planning Committee would have approved the Civic Centre with the appalling parking arrangements it has. It is an oft repeated truism that the Local Governments are the closest tier of government to the people. In Lagos State, it would appear that there is a deliberate plan to demonise, and then abrogate the LGA tier of government altogether. In a federal arrangement, this is regrettable. Physical Planning appraisals by officers who work and probably live locally to the the LGA will see more sensible Physical Planning decisions made, and better monitoring and enforcement, to prevent the incidences, for instance, of structures springing up along drainage channels.

These measures require a healthy dose of courage and political single-mindedness, as well as co-operation from all the players in the political arena. It is a fact that the state is run by the ACN today. I hope their politicians, elected or not, can see the sense in these suggestions and take remedial action immediately. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.

Babatunde Olalere Gbadamosi
Lagos

Pure water nuisance should be address. The state should prefer a solution to that as well as the ongoing nuisance of these so called "developers" dumping there material on drainage paths.

erniewhez:

Pure water nuisance should be address. The state should prefer a solution to that as well as the ongoing nuisance of these so called "developers" dumping there material on drainage paths.

Gbadamosi already suggested a solution:

djustice:


The inner city roads will involve a lot of growing pains. All the roads need to be made viable, both for vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The place to attack this is the design stage. The open drain system has not worked for us. It makes it possible for people to routinely stuff their garbage into the drains, and this must stop. I believe the time is ripe for a totally covered drainage system, punctuated by manhole covers availing access for maintenance, at say, every 5 metres. The size of the drains as well should be standardised to a minimum width of 1m, in-to-in and a minimum depth of 600mm, at any point. The covered surfaced should have a minimum thickness of 150mm, re-inforced with a minimum of 12mm rebar. The covered surface of the drain, a total of 1300mm, assuming a minimum wall thickness, depending on soil composition, of 150mm, re-inforced with 12mm rebar, should be supplemented with an additional minimum of 700mm walkway, giving us a total minimum of 2m pedestrian walkway on any trunk C road. Trunk C roads should by design, be not less than 8m in width of actual driving surface.

Babatunde Olalere Gbadamosi
Lagos

The guy even went into technical details. I'm so angry with ACN right now, with this last flood and the rubbish our governor has been saying, blaming us for the problem, that if PDP present this Gbadamosi person in 2015, I will disobey my father and vote PDP for the first time in my life.

I'm convinced this guy is the real deal now. I used to go and abuse him on his facebook page, but his comebacks were always on point, and I was praying PDP didn't use him, so that Fash could return. Well, Fash hasn't done me too much good since he returned, and there is something about the way this guy just keeps saying the same sensible common sense things that makes me believe he is honest and will not take any nonsense from any godfather.

Fashola's boys, go and show this to your boss before the incoming rains drown Lagosians again.