The Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA, has said Abuja’s drainage infrastructure is adequate to handle heavy rainfall, but human activities have continued to undermine its effectiveness and worsen flooding across the city.
The Acting Executive Secretary of the FCDA, Engr. Richard Dauda, stated this on Thursday while inspecting drainage infrastructure and ongoing desilting operations along the Airport Expressway.
Dauda said the heavy rainfall recorded in the city two days earlier was consistent with warnings from meteorologists, adding that the Abuja Master Plan also recognises the city’s flood-prone areas.
He, however, said the drainage infrastructure provided across the city was designed to cope with the volume of stormwater generated by heavy downpours.
“Some downpours are a bit unusual, but basically, that’s in fact, the Abuja Master Plan itself recognizes that this is a flood plain, and so there will be some flood points from time to time.
“But the infrastructure provided already is sufficient to drain this water.”
According to him, the major challenge is that the capacity of the drainage system is being compromised by refuse dumping, silt, vegetation and other forms of human interference.
Dauda said debris washed from surrounding communities, including polythene bags and other waste, often ends up inside drainage channels and blocks culvert outlets.
“However, as you can see from one of these locations, the culvert provided has been filled with debris and overgrown grasses and failed to silt in.
“Some debris that have been washed from the neighborhood, polythene bags and so on, they all end up in the drain. People have their waste, they drop it in the drain, and they all end up at the outlets of these culverts.
“And when it comes like this, it begins to block the outlets. And once the outlets are constricted, the volume of water it is designed to drain may not be achieved anymore.”
He said the problem was not limited to refuse dumping, as illegal construction and vandalism of drainage infrastructure were also affecting the system’s ability to function effectively.
Dauda identified a waterway carrying stormwater from Galadima Roundabout as an example, saying a developer had constricted the channel downstream of the Airport Expressway by constructing retaining walls.
He said the obstruction reduces the volume of water the channel can carry, resulting in detention, backflow and eventual flooding.
“So, what needs to be done is to remove this structure that the developer has put there so that we can have the adequate volume of discharge and adequate width of the stream channel.”
The FCDA boss also blamed the theft of gully inlet covers for allowing debris to enter drainage systems unchecked.
He explained that the covers were designed to sieve debris before it entered the drainage channels, but their removal by vandals leaves the system vulnerable to blockage.
“When these gully inlets covers are stolen, it opens the drains. Now, the inlets are supposed to sieve the debris so that it can be swept up, but once it is no longer there, all debris now goes into the gully inlets.”
Dauda said the FCDA was considering replacing the stolen covers with materials that were not recyclable, unlike steel and cast iron, to discourage further vandalism.
The development followed Tuesday’s flash flood on the Airport Expressway, after which FCT Minister Nyesom Wike directed relevant agencies of the FCTA to commence city-wide desilting of drainage channels.
Dauda said the directive covers trapezoidal drains, U-channels and culverts across the city, with new construction to be undertaken where necessary.
“The authority has reported to the Minister, and the Minister has directed that all the drains, the trapezoidal drains, U-channels along the road, as well as the culverts are to be deployed and they are being desilted and cleared, and where new construction is required, that will be done.”
He said the desilting was already ongoing along the Airport Expressway as part of efforts to restore the drainage system’s capacity ahead of further heavy rainfall.
Dauda appealed to residents to stop dumping refuse into drainage channels and waterways, stressing that infrastructure alone would not be enough to prevent flooding if residents continued to undermine the drainage system.
