That Your Water Sachet is Causing Potholes.
By Oriola Odutoye and Ugochukwu Okafor
Pure water, aka, Sachet Water is skiomething that most Nigerians know and would have consumed at least, 1000 times in their life time. At least, Most Nigerians. It retails for 10 Naira, or 20 Naira on days when the sun is really hot, and the pure water is really cold and scarce. It is usually served in nylon or plastic sachets for my American friends. It usually holds 50 cl volume of water.
Lagos is Nigeria's economic center. If it were an African country of its own, it would be the 4th biggest economy. Multinationals, Industries, Government Agencies, you name it, they are in Lagos. If you are looking for something, tangible or intangible, and it doesn't exist in Lagos, it probably doesn't exist on the African continent. On any given day, at least before the Coronavirus Outbreak, all 21 Million People on an area less than the size of Manhattan are in a rush of constant movement, going somewhere, doing something.
But Lagos has a terrible problem. It's Grueling Traffic. A problem so bad, it causes inhabitants of the city to spend the equivalent of 3 weeks of their lives each year on the road. Various state administrations have come into power on the singular promise that they would solve it. Most leave office concluding that it is a spiritual problem.
A lot of reasons and solutions have been submitted as both the cause and remedies for these existential crises. But that is a story for another day. However, one major reason everyone can angry upon is that the bad state of roads in the state is responsible for a very large part of the traffic situation.
Lagos is an aquatic state. The Atlantic Ocean is on its southern border, while several lagoons and canals crisscross the state. In fact the longest bridge in Sub Saharan Africa, The 3rd Mainland Bridge is in the state at a length of over 11 kilometers.
Therefore, the construction and maintenance of roads in Lagos, just like in any other place in the world that sits just a few meters above the water level is way more expensive and technically difficult than usual, when compared to other areas with more solid surface structure.
Factor in that, with the fact that Nigeria has consistently ranked among the nation's with the highest corruption rate. Expenditure meant for National Development gets pilfered into the hands of politicians and their cronies.
That's why on the few occasions you see government presence, in these case, the construction of roads, the masses rejoice.
Now if such "gifts" such as constructed roads are that rare to come by, you can imagine the fate of regular maintenance. Maintenance for such infrastructure such as roads is budgeted for, but is usually never done.
Therefore the obligation usually falls on the citizenry to take care of such infrastructure once completed by the government.
So now you might be asking, Oriola, how does my pure water concern the roads?
Well, odds are, you, Okay maybe not you :-), but a lot, or let's say the vast majority of people, after consuming their pure water, fling it out of a moving vehicle, or even while walking. They just throw it out to the roadside.
You might argue, but you can't blame down now, the government has not provided waste paper baskets. Well as Falz Sang, "This is Nigeria".
Let us now take these thrown away Water Sachet as a representative of the entire waste generated by the inhabitants of Lagos which do not get properly disposed.
That is the tons and tons of waste generated daily, that is poured into the gutters, left on the roadside. Anything just to get it away from viewing distance. Out of sight, out of mind.
So where do they end up? They do not just disappear into thin air definitely.
They all make their way into the gutters and canals. Blocking all the channels where water is supposed to pass through. The wind blows them into these channels, where they begin their wait. Like the Night Watch in Game of Thrones. In the dry season, you won't notice them.
Then the rains come.
Lagos as i said before is an aquatic city. Therefore it receives a lot of rainfall annually, with a peak around the July - October period. Around 1900 millimeters of rainfall a year on average. Aka, a lot of water!
So where do all these water flow? Into the lagoon and ocean like they should?
NO!
NO! NO! NO!
Remember the blocked gutters and canals we spoke about earlier. The impede the flow of water. The water (which is usually very heavy) cannot flow. The water has no way to go but up. The pure water sachet has come back to haunt you. And your car. And your compound.
The water spills on to the roads, and causes a flood. The road usually built to the Nigerian standard which is usually average at best can't hold up. Repeated flooding and flooding causes cracks in the roads. Thanks to the "brilliant" maintenance culture we have, the cracks grow and develop to become potholes.
Or Craters. Just ask the residents of Jakande Gate, Isolo, Lagos.
These Potholes ruin the roads. The ruined roads cause traffic. In traffic you get hot and sweaty, you buy Pure Water, you finish drinking it, you throw the sachet out the window.
The Cycle Continues!
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