Osun govt must adopt master plan against Osogbo flooding – Adegoke

The 2027 candidate for Osun Central Senatorial District, on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), Kunle Adegoke (SAN), has called for a comprehensive long-term flood management strategy for Osogbo, the state capital.

He made the call after a recent flooding in Osogbo and other parts of the state.

According to him, recurring flooding in the city has become a major infrastructure and urban planning challenge.

Adegoke stated that the government must move beyond periodic drainage clearing and emergency interventions to developing a coordinated system for managing the Osun River and other waterways influencing flooding in the city.

The recent flooding, he said, which submerged roads, homes, businesses and public infrastructure in parts of Osogbo, including Ijetu, Sasa and Famson, should serve as a wake-up call for authorities to adopt a sustainable flood-resilience strategy.

He added that residents in some affected communities were forced out of their homes as floodwaters entered residential buildings, while roads and drainage channels were overwhelmed.

“How much longer will Osogbo continue to treat flooding as an annual emergency, rather than a long-term infrastructure challenge requiring a comprehensive and sustainable solution,” he stated.

Adegoke acknowledged the importance of immediate measures, such as clearing blocked drains, repairing damaged roads and bridges, supporting affected residents and issuing timely warnings. He argued that such interventions alone could not permanently resolve what he described as a river-system problem.

He advocated a comprehensive hydrological and flood-management strategy for metropolitan Osogbo, including scientific channelisation and management of critical sections of the Osun River and other waterways.

The measures, he said, could include strategic dredging, widening constrained river sections, reinforced riverbanks, embankments, flood-retention basins, improved culverts and bridges, storm-water diversion channels, upgraded drainage networks and erosion-control structures.

But he cautioned against indiscriminate concreting of rivers and streams, stressing that interventions must be based on hydrological modelling and sound engineering.

Adegoke also called for special consideration for the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in any intervention involving the Osun River.

He said flood-control measures must protect lives and property without compromising the ecological, cultural and spiritual significance of the grove.

The legal practitioner made a case for a hybrid approach that would combine civil engineering, environmental science, urban planning, hydrology and heritage conservation.

Adegoke further called for the immediate commissioning of an Osogbo Urban Flood Management Master Plan to map waterways, drainage channels, bridges, culverts, floodplains and vulnerable communities across the metropolitan area.

The plan, he said, should identify flood-risk corridors, encroachment zones, infrastructure deficiencies and priority intervention areas, with solutions tailored to each location.

He also urged the government to strengthen development control and enforcement against construction on waterways, obstruction of drainage channels and indiscriminate disposal of waste.

On dredging, Adegoke said it should no longer be treated as an occasional emergency exercise but institutionalised, as part of a regular maintenance programme, with annual inspections, publicly available maintenance plans and disclosure of project costs and performance reports.

He urged Osun State to pursue federal ecological interventions and other legitimate funding sources, while collaborating with relevant federal agencies, neighbouring states, river basin authorities, technical institutions and other stakeholders.

Adegoke also recommended an integrated early-warning system using weather forecasts, river-level monitoring, satellite imagery, geographic information systems and community-based reporting.

He said flooding should be treated as a generational responsibility rather than a partisan matter.