…Seek Lagos’ assistance
Always faced with terrible environmental hazards in different seasons round the year, slum dwellers in Lagos have cried out to the state government to improve their living condition.
Just like other cities in the country and across the world, Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria, has many slums in areas like Ajengunle, Mushin, Oworonshoki, Orile, Shomolu and Amukoko.
Thousands of people, mostly the poor in the society, as well as low-income earners reside in shanties located in swampy areas along canals and sometimes around refuse dump sites.
For most of them, living in these areas is not a matter of choice but because it is the only place they can afford a shelter for themselves amid the rising house rent in the city. There, they pay between N800 and N1, 000 per room for the batchers (‘kpako’ houses) and N2, 000 per month for the poorly constructed brick houses.
While these people are daily exposed to disease in their filth-infested environment, they also have the changing weather conditions to contend with. During dry season and harmattan, it is the problem of dust they grapple with, while in rainy season they are faced with flood which often displaces them as their makeshift houses drift away with flood.
In these areas, malaria causing mosquitoes, airborne and waterborne communicable diseases like cholera are very common, due to the filthy environment and their toilet system. Residents either defecate into nearby rivers or use poly bags which they later drop on same environment where they live; a system popularly known as ‘shot put.’
The Lagos State government has made moves to demolish these slums because of the threat of climate change, but the residents insist that the areas can be improved upon to make them more habitable instead of total demolition which would render them homeless.
Residents of a slum settlement in Ajegunle in Ajeromi Local Government Area of the state, popularly called “Dustbin Estate” are calling on the government to save them from the impending danger they face with the approaching rainy season.
These people fear that they would once again be displaced by flood if nothing is done before the rains set in.
Speaking with CityFile in front of her resident in Akinyo Street, Anthonia Gabriel, a mother of five, who has spent over 20 years in the slum settlement, relived her ordeals during rainy season and called on Governor Babatunde Fashola to assist the residents in forestalling the hard times ahead.
“We are appealing to the government to come and dredge this canal before the rainy season starts. You know, this place used to be a swamp but we have been able to fill it over the years. We would like the government to assist us in covering the surface with sand, to reduce our exposure to these unhealthy things,” Gabriel appealed.
Adisa Salami, another resident, called on the government to build public toilets for them as a way of reducing the environmental hazards they face due to the absence of toilets.
The residents are also requesting for the provision of water to address their water challenges as they cover distances daily to where they can buy water.
Meanwhile, while some residents are complaining about continued dumping of refuse in their surroundings by the cart-pushing refuse disposers, some other residents as well as the popular itinerant ‘scavengers’ are making huge income from the rubbish heaps.
A particular family in the area is known for the supply of broken plastics to companies that use them as raw materials. The woman and her children go round the refuse heaps every day to pick up their goods for sale.
For this group of slum dwellers, everything is good about the slum life because they can boast of a roof over their heads as well as make fortunes from the hidden treasures in the refuse heaps.
