Sad tales from Games village

It used to be coveted, but not anymore. The sewage system at the Games village in Surulere, Lagos has engendered fears of cholera epidemics, writes ROBERT EGBE

 

Mrs. Doyin Olajide can still remember with nostalgia her arrival at the Games village in Surulere, Lagos mainland. It was in the 70s. She was 27. Like many others, she came in with very high hopes.

Mrs. Olajide, who is now 64, was dazzled by the architectural master piece of the estate built by the Yakubu Gowon administration for athletes and officers of the All African Games.

Civil servants, who were lucky to be allocated flats at the end of the games, must have counted themselves lucky to be among the chosen few who struggled for space as government officials in the former nation’s capital.

All that is now history as the once sprawling estate has since changed negatively, after many years of neglect, and now has a major issue to contend with.

The flats have been sold by the Federal Government to buyers, including civil servants, but the residents are faced with the blockage and the take-over of their waste plant.

Residents have had to make alternative arrangement for sewage disposal and the estate’s water channel has been cut off.

The challenges have led to the altering of the village’s master plan with residents resorting to construction of sewage facilities amid space constraints.

The challenge has shown its ugly side to some who could not afford the facility channeling their waste into the drainage. This has raised health concerns. Expatriates are said to be leaving the estate over fears of cholera outbreak.

This sad state of the Games Village is unlike the scenario at the 1004 flats on Victoria Island, which the Federal Government also sold through the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC).

Till date, the 1004 community is in charge of its sewage plant, which is just a few metres from the estate.

Several efforts were said to have been made by the Games Village Community Development Association to take control of the plant without success in the last few years.

Curiously, instead of the PIC, which sold the estate to residents to take charge of issues connected with the plant, it was said to have been sold to an estate company, Princely Estate, by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

Residents of the estate staged a peaceful protest to show their displeasure with the scenario last Monday.

Speaking with reporters, the Chairman of the CDA , Mr. Johnson  Oguns, lamented how they have been treated over the sewage plant.

According to him, rather than allow them unfettered access to the facility, some elements in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing blocked their sewage channel.

“The property was sold in 2014 and the sewage system connects all the buildings in the estate because it is a central system.

“The facility was functioning at the time it was sold. If you go there now, it is like football field, the multi-million naira facility there have been cannibalised.

“We want the sewage plant to be returned to us as the rightful owners of the property.

“We want President Buhari to intervene now. Whoever bought the sewage plant bought a bad market,” he said.

Oguns wondered why a property would be sold to somebody and the toilet of the property would be sold to another person.

An effort to inspect the facility which is on Eric Moore Road, Surulere was foiled by policemen from Bode Thomas Police station. The station’s Divisional Police Officer (DPO), ASP 1. Fasesan, told reporters that his men were at the complex to forestall breakdown of law and order.

Consequently, he said, no form of protest by the estate residents would be allowed as it may be hijacked by street urchins from the neighboring Orile Iganmu.

The Chairman, Salvador Towers, owner of some high rise buildings in the estate, Hon. Moshood Salvador, however, threw his weight behind the protest.

According to him, the sale of the plant was unfair to the 5,000 residents of the estate.

He recalled that the facility was designed for Surulere sewage treatment and nothing else.

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Aside that, he said the government has sold all Games Village and therefore, cannot sell the treatment plant.

“The Federal Government in 2012 said the sewage plant should be reactivated by Dock Management Nigeria Limited to serve the community. On this we stand,” Salvador said.

A source at the Ministry’s office in Lagos said the Ministry would make its position on the matter known soon.

For Chris Obinna, another resident of the estate, his anger is largely due to the silence of the authorities on the matter.

According to him, it was rather unfortunate that vested interests were being allowed to oppress them over what rightly belongs to them.

Obinna attributed this to the fact that they had been soft on the matter and the fact that majority of residents were poor civil servants.

“Can they try this with those big men at 1004 flats and get away with it?  Is it because we have elected to be law abiding and diplomatic in our ways? This is most unfair.  How can government be treating us like this in our own country and at the same time be condemning the ill-treatment of Nigerians in South Africa?

“I make bold to say that we have been turned to slaves in our own country whose government daily tells us to be patriotic, yet they treat us like slaves.

“Do you know that we  even went to court and the court asked parties to maintain status quo?  Go to the sewage plant , especially at night, you will see work going on there despite the court order.  Where is our hope if the order of the courts cannot be obeyed,” Obinna said.

His position was supported by another resident, Mr. Tope Idowu, who took reporters to what used to serve as the sewage channel.  They have since been blocked with debris. Private sewage vehicle operators were seen making brisk business by the sewage plant.

Idowu said: “My people, this is what they have turned Games Village to due to their personal interest.  We know the seller and buyer of our Assembly Plant.

“I can assure you that we are ready to fight this injustice, coming from people who are supposed safeguard our interest.

“The Games Village is a legacy and we are not ready to trade our rights no matter those involved. This is another litmus test for APC/Buhari administration’s anti-corruption campaign because this is corruption walking on all fours.

“Though we have been psychologically battered, our heads remain unbowed because we are fighting for what is right, and we shall continue to fight, not minding the fact that we are fighting against some powerful elements in the society.”