To save a road leading to Kuto Market, one of the most popular markets in Abeokuta metropolis in Ogun State, from flooding, residents have turned it into a dumpsite.

Located in the heart of Abeokuta South Local Government Area, the market, which is considered the epicentre of bustling commercial activities in the state, serves a population of over 400,000 people.

READ ALSO: PHOTO STORY: A Walk Around Ibadan Explosion Scene

Speaking with FIJ, Damilola Tinuola, a recent graduate of Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, said that the road had the larger part of it chopped off by rain over a lack of proper drainage and improper waste disposal.

“When a car is coming from the market and another one is coming from the other side of that road, one has to wait for the other before any one of them can pass. That road is supposed to have two cars drive through without any hindrance, but sadly, that is not the case anymore,” he said.

“Residents have tried to fill up the large hole created by the heavy rainfall in recent times using sandbags, rocks. Some even dump their refuse on it in the name of helping, and we now have a dumpsite and an existing road that motorists frequent all the time.”

READ ALSO: PHOTOS: Over 40 Fake Products Shared on Social Media

Our source feared that the erosion and indiscriminate dumping of refuse would result in floods around the area, “considering the fact that there is a river that often gets flooded during rainy periods”.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has revealed that about 45 people died and 171,545 were displaced as a result of widespread flooding experienced across the different states of the nation in 2023 alone.

READ ALSO: PHOTO STORY: Dam Water Released by Ogun Gov’t Turns Lagos Residential Area to Swimming Pool

“Flood has affected 13 states, with 22,666 homes partially damaged and 5,358 totally damaged homes while 9,179 hectares of farmlands were partially destroyed and 8,754 hectares of farmlands totally destroyed,” said Dapo Akingbade, an official of the agency, while calling for increased collaborative efforts to mitigate the impacts of emergency situations.

Kilaso Emmanuel, an environmentalist and founder of Securecycle Initiative, an Ogun-based nonprofit organisation, told FIJ in an interview that the inaccessibility of this particular road had mounted pressure on the other roads that lead to the market, putting more financial burdens on traders, buyers and people living around the market.

“With tons of waste generated from the market daily, keeping it clean becomes a huge challenge. The state government designated a dumpster at the market for easy disposal of waste, but the traders still dump them in the river near the market,” said Tinuola.

“The Ogun State Ministry of Environment should ensure that the market users follow the laid-down rules on the proper management of the waste generated in the market as well as the communities around it and work on the erosion-hit road.”

READ ALSO: PHOTOS: Hundreds Trek in Lagos As Public Transporters Begin Anti-LASTMA Strike

FIJ shared its findings with the Ogun State Ministry of Environment. Ola Oresanya, the Ogun State Commissioner of Environment, told us to give him some time to verify the claim.

“I will need to visit the site tomorrow for a proper understanding of the cause of the gully erosion at the market. I will be in a proper position to answer your question after the investigation. I want to avoid the pitfall of assumption,” he texted on Sunday.

When called in the evening on Monday, Mr. Oresanya told FIJ that his ministry and the Ministry of Works had “captured the affected area of the market in their budgets and they would surely work on it”.

FIJ learned that the Ogun State Government shut down the market in the wee hours of January 2022 over noncompliance with the environmental laws of the state on waste disposal.