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Eyo masquerades dancing during the Eyo Festival that was held Saturday 26th of November, 2011, in honour of Late Abiodun Oniru, at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos.

Photo: Kunle Ajayi

Eyo Festival

Eyo masquerades dancing during the Eyo Festival that was held Saturday 26th of November, 2011, in honour of Late Abiodun Oniru, at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos.

Photo: Kunle Ajayi

Lagos

Eguns: Agony of a displaced community

Eguns: Agony of a displaced community

By Kunle Ajayi,
Senior Photojournalist

Despair, frustration, pain or agony cannot be said to be the right word to describe the psychological trauma that was facially expressed by the Eguns in Ago Egun at Ilaje-Bariga riverside area of Lagos last Sunday. They could now be best referred to as displaced persons as a result of the ongoing government-ordered demolition exercise of their makeshift houses built along the lagoon.
The Eguns who are predominantly fishermen claimed to have settled on the area for decades. The Lagoon has formed nucleus part of their lives. Their social and economic landscapes have always been revolving around the water. The male folks are almost 24 hours on the water hunting for fish while their women smoke the caught fish and prepare them for sale in the market.
A letter dated 18th of August, from Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement Unit), Office of the Governor, Alausa in Ikeja, instructing them to vacate and remove their houses within three days, had ushered in panic and tension as well turned to the entire community into comatose.
The government considered their natural habitat to be running afoul of its environmental law.
As stated in part of the letter that was made available to Daily Independent by the Baale of Ago Egun, Chief Samuel Joseph, the government was not comfortable with the shanties. “Upon inspection of the property at shanties on the lagoon, Ago-Egun Ilaje-Bariga, Lagos, it appears that the provision of the Environmental Management Laws of Lagos State that the regulations made under it has been contravened in respect thereof: Your contravention which has constituted nuisance to the environment include illegal erection of shanties on the lagoon,” the letter read in part.
In what appears a loggerhead between customs and policy, in which the government seems to have taken the upper hand, the situation has virtually thrown the affected people into a sort of helplessness.
Based on the letter that said occupiers should clear the structures in three days, the task force swung into action and started the demolition on Sunday. “You are hereby ordered to abate the nuisance(s) and restore the land to a conducive environment within three day,” the letter had further ordered.
The arrival of armed policemen, who accompanied the task force officials with black Maria and another group on boats confirmed it was not a mere statement, but that the government meant business.
The residents could not believe that the day that ought to be their resting day would be the most turbulent one in their lives, an event that seemed a recap of the black Sunday on which the controversial forceful eviction that befell the old occupants of Maroko axis on the Victoria Island occurred.
When Daily Independent visited the community, the residents were seen removing their properties to avoid being burnt down. It was gathered that the enforcement squad who came with kegs of petrol threatened to set the community ablaze if they residents failed to demolish their houses. The fear of losing everything forced the residents to start removing their belongings and scattering their buildings themselves.
According to the residents, the notice that mandated them to quit and remove their structures was so sudden, too short and left no room for anybody to make any meaningful arrangement for alternative accommodation. All their properties were packed in canoes and stationed in the water.
The exercise has landed one of the residents, Mr. Lamidi Wahid, who fell from the roof top in the process of removing the roofing sheets into his hospital. It was learnt Wahid was badly injured and went into comma before he was taken to hospital.
The Baale who pleaded on behalf of his kinsmen wants government to halt the exercise because of untold hardships it has unleashed to his people. “I was away in Apah Badagry when the letter came. On my return I had a meeting with Asogbon family where I was briefed that my people had just three days to leave otherwise their houses would be burnt down. I was perplexed. We kept vigil so that we would not be burnt while sleeping. On Sunday we saw policemen led by on Assistant commissioner. They came with petrol and wood cutting machines. They acceded to my plea not to use petrol but if you go into the lagoon you will see how they cut my people houses. I am begging our Governor Babtunde Fashola to intervene because we have no place to move to. I was moved to tears when I saw the agony on the face of a woman with three day old baby; others are seeking refuge under the bridge. The situation is worrisome and has rendered us helpless and dejected,” the chief lamented.
Before the exercise, Commissioner for Waterfront and Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesegun Oniru stated that government could no longer tolerate a situation where its waterfront is turned into a slum by the Ilajes and that they have to quit the place.
“Those shanties on top of that water have no street address for anybody, so the state government is here to warn them to move from the water body because we are coming to clear all the shanties on the water bodies. Be it on the water and along the water front, the state government is here to make sure that people
On whether they would be relocated, Oniru said that there were no plans to assist the dwellers relocate to other areas, saying, “Why will you relocate someone that is not supposed to be in this area in the first place? There are people here along the water front, they are not supposed to be here; they should move away from there and I don’t believe that a plan should be put in place to relocate them”.

Great Hope Walk

Colour and Messages from 10km walk of Hope Worldwide, tagged ‘Support a Child; build a great Nation’, staged in Lagos last Saturday, December 11, 2010.

Fire in Lagos

Fire Razes Multimillion Naira Stu

dio In Lagos

Kunle Ajayi

At exactly one week, when Lagosians are trying to put past behind them the ugly man made multiple auto crash that claimed dozens of lives at Otedola Estate along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, another disaster struck at Omole junction area of Lagos causing panic to the passersby and the residents in the neighbour. The Ultima Studio, a multimillion naira Studio, where MTN records its ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ and ‘Project Fame’ are being recorded, was completely razed down.

The cause of the fire could not be immediately ascertained because everybody was running for his safety and the Studio officials were not on ground, or probably lost in the crowd, to give explanation on what caused the fire.

It is still unfortunate that our uniform men have not mastered the skills of controlling crowd when a mishap of this nature occurs. The mammoth crowd at the premises and vicinity made access to the scene tedious for the fire fighters. The Mobile Police had to fire into the air to scare onlookers away to pave way for the Fire Service vehicles.

Thank God that the incident did not claim live but the worth of properties lost would be running to billion on Naira considering the sophisticated studio equipments and the massive building located at prime area of Lagos.

Coping With Erosion Menace In The East

Coping With Erosion Menace In The East By Kunle Ajayi, Senior Photojournalist •A deep gully at Bende Photos: Kunle Ajayi Experts have rightly called for urgent steps to be taken in the fight against climate change to save mother-earth. The effects of climate change have been felt all parts of the world in varying degrees. Many attribute the change to activities of man that have impacted so negatively on the ecosystem. In some parts of the world for instance, inhabitants have been plagued with various natural calamities such as tsunami, hurricane among others. Nigeria and particularly the Eastern part, is contending with erosion which has become life-threatening. The recent visit to Amakama, Amieke, Isieke, Bende, Isuikwuato communities in Abia and Ikeduru Local Government area of Imo State indicated that a lot of work needed to be carried out to arrest the devastating impacts of erosion. Roads were in deplorable state, houses caving in, vehicles crashing into erosion-made-valleys and the cash crops that were supposed to serve as source of income to the residents being submerged as a result of persisting erosion. To a first time visitor to the area, the Sam Mbakwe International Airport, in Owerri actually paints a false impression of what is obtainable in the zone. The clustered green vegetation made up of palm trees and other top trees offers a near perfect look of nature and can easily make one say all is well. However, the entire Bende community in Abia State has almost been cut off into two; the major road is nearly cut off. According to residents, they have done all they could to check the erosion but to no avail and have consequently resorted to God to touch somebody’s heart in the government to come to their aid. They confided in our correspondent how various vehicles had fallen into craters occasioned by the erosion and how they had erected sand-filled bags to demarcate the road so that innocent motorists would no longer fall victim. It was observed that, apart from the damaged road, houses have been submerged and others may cave in anytime except urgent steps are taken before the raining season commences. When would the government come and fix the road was the rhetoric question they kept asking. “When I saw camera and some of you entering into the gully, I thought relief had come, thinking that government officials had come to see and find solution to our plight. I never knew you guys were journalists but as it is, please help us call on them to come and save us before erosion consumes the whole community,” Emma Chidi, one of the residents pleaded. Between Uturu, a town that hosts the Abia State University and Alata, there are more than five serious gullies, making transportation more tedious, thus forcing motorists to take alternative routes to get to their destinations. For instance, it will ordinarily be shorter and easier to travel from Umuhia straight to Uturu but because of bad road worsened by erosion, the journey is prolonged through Enugu Expressway via Okigwe. In Isuikwuato Local Government Area, about one kilometre stretch of land had been lost to erosion and has been neglected for over a decade. According to residents, the on-going sand filling, which is expected to involve more hectares of land to fill up the exposed portions of the road would further open up the area and may lead to loss of more trees and cash crops. A young woman, Joy Mathew, lamented that greater part of her family farm land has been claimed by the reconstruction project. Matthew , who was seen breastfeeding her baby at one of the erosion sites, where she had gone to fetch firewood stated; “These cashew trees that ought to be our source of income have become firewood, what then does the future hold for the next generation.” Beyond road, businesses are no longer thriving as in the past. Petrol stations have folded up, it was learnt, while school buildings have also been abandoned because of threat of erosion. The ugly trend is equally affecting power supply in the area. Electric poles and cables were seen lying on the floor without any hope of being attended to.