FG lags as floods submerge University of Ibadan Zoo, student hostels threatened

Staff and students of Nigeria’s premier university, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, now live in fear as several parts of the 76-year-old institution have been submerged in flood water,investigations have revealed.

Following recent torrential rains, several parts of the school, including hostels and the famous zoological garden, were flooded, leading to substantial damage to property and the death of several rare animals in the zoo.

Three rivers, Ona, Awba, and Ajibode drain into the university. Last year, a substantial part of the school was threatened. This, The Authority gathered, promoted the university authority to appeal for federal government intervention, using the Ecological Fund.

A source in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OS GF), where the Ecological Fund is domiciled, said that the school’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Kayode Adebowale had early in the year appealed for an urgent intervention.

According to the source, the Vice Chancellor had in the letter to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, explained that the university had attempted to contain the problem. He, however, added that, being a huge ecological problem, the estimated cost of civil works to contain the flooding was way beyond what the school could bear.

The 2024 rainy season, added the Vice Chancellor, had heightened the threat level.

Acknowledging receipt of the Vice Chancellor’s letter, SGF Akume in a response dated 5th March, 2024, assured the Vice Chancellor that his request had been captured in the “Ecological Project Office Data Bank for further necessary action.”

In the response, which was signed on began of the Permanent secretary in the office of the SGF by the Director, soil erosion and flood control department, Abubakar S. Takuma, however, cautioned that the response should not be deemed an approval of any sort.

“Kindly note that this acknowledgement does not imply approval of the project and it is not a letter of contract award,” The SGF cautioned.

Eight months after assuring that the project had been “sent to the Ecological Project Office Data Bank for further processing,” The Authority gathered from sources in the OSGF that no approval has been made, and that the flooding in the University of Ibadan has worsened.

“A stitch in time, they say, saves nine. I guess this was how people in Alau dam raised the alarm before the flooding in Maiduguri that has now claimed lives and billions of Naira in damage to property,” noted the civil servant.

“Now that we have a golden opportunity to salvage University of Ibadan, we are sitting on it. We only wake from slumber when a huge disaster happens. Maybe they are waiting for a repeat of the Maiduguri scenario in the University of Ibadan? God forbid!” he declared.