Category: Arts & Life

Professor Tanure Ojaide is a prolific poet and writer.  He is noted for his unique stylistic visionary works and the infusion of Urhobo culture into his works.  He is a Professor of Literature at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA, where he has been teaching Oral and African literature for 27 years.  Last year, the federal government conferred on him the Nigerian National Merit Award based on the literary excellence of his works.  He spoke to Edozie Udeze on the award, his works, upbringing and more.  Excerpts.

You have been recognised by the federal government of Nigeria, with the conferment of the Nigerian National Merit Award.  What does this award mean to you?

I think it means a lot.  As you put it, if you have won many other awards whether from other professional bodies, this is more important.  When you have been recognised by your country, I think it means much more than any other award.

When you heard that your name had been submitted for this award, what was your first impulse?

I knew I was recommended or nominated.  But I forgot about it until I had a letter that said I should be prepared just in case my name finally came up for the award.

How was your name submitted?

You see, it is Nigerian National Merit Award, overseen by the Nigerian National Order of Merit.  Therefore you should have achieved a milestone in your profession, reasonably so before your name is submitted or nominated.  It is a combination of a body of work done by you in your profession.  It is very academic.  It is for the humanities – for scholars who have done so much in their areas of profession.  It is for writers, for artists generally.  You also have for the sciences – technology, medicine, engineering and so on.  Therefore when there is a body of work put together over the years, then you can be said to be deserving of it.  And of course there is the competition.  They put your works besides others to see if you’ve got to the level of wining it, that you’ve achieved so much that you now deserve to be recognized.

You seem to be more versed in oral literature.  How did it start?

Oh, I didn’t really study oral literature.  I took interest in it along the way. You see, I studied written literature, mainly poetry.  In fact, my dissertation was the poetry of Wole Soyinka.  So, I write a lot about poetry.  But the point is that you can’t then look at modern African literature without looking at African traditional literature.  This is so because modern literature is informed by the oral traditions of the people.  This is the fact we have to face.  There is no author you’ll mention in African writing that did not rely on African tradition.  Is it Soyinka or Achebe or Ngugi Wa Thiong’o.  Soyinka and his Yoruba culture, Achebe and his Igbo culture, Ngugi and his Kikuyu culture and so on.  And even those of us who are the so-called younger ones, there is this indebtedness to our own cultures.  So to really have an identity in your writing, you have to infuse your own culture into your written literature.

Now, what do you teach your students in the US?

I teach many African literatures nowadays, including traditions and cultures.  Of course, if I teach African literature and culture, I teach them how this literature is informed by oral traditions and the other folkloric traditions in literature.  Yes, my classes are also full.  The students show a lot of interest.  I also teach another course.  It is literature, music and art.  They come together.  And I have taught this course for over 27 years in the USA.  It is offered almost every semester and the class is always full.  So there is this interest shown by Americans especially the younger ones in things other than their own.  They are curious, eager to learn about other cultures outside the American culture.  It makes them very curious, what is there outside, we want to know, we want to learn, they keep saying to themselves.  And I teach this in a comparative way, for I studied American literature.  I know American music, American art and so on.  And so I put it in Western and African perspectives to help them understand and appreciate it better.  In it, you have to stress the difference between Western and African literatures.  This is very unique in its approach and style.  It is almost like a weapon.  Arts is functional – ours is more functional.

Has any of your students ever of thought of coming to Africa to research into these areas you teach them?

Eh, well, I think there are many Americans and outsiders who come to Africa to study what we have here.  For my students I have not seen that.  But many of them have gone on to study African literature and became specialists in that area.  But it is not necessarily in the area of oral tradition or literature.  No, you can learn a lot nowadays without visiting a place.  You know about this Udje of the Urhobo people without going there physically.  Even Yoruba Ijala and Oriki are known all over the world and those people never came here.  You can read about these things without coming over here.

Okpara Inland town where you grew up influenced your literary world view a lot.  Can we share a bit of it?

Yes, you see, I was raised by my grandparents, especially my grandmother.  And of course, I listened to her songs a lot.  When you had that sort of background…  Someone born in 1948, you’d know what those songs meant then.  Then oral tradition was very vibrant.  And if you grew up in the village, you witnessed a lot of oral traditions – masquerades, masks.  And those things made me to realise at an early age that when I started to study that the literature, I studied even in England and other places, that we had more vibrant literature here.  So, I listened very carefully and for me and most writers, I think those formative years they tend to inform almost the rest of your years as a writer.  You grew up with those things you learnt and they help you to be a better writer.  I can’t run away from it.  Sometimes, I make conscious efforts to, but those things I learnt as a child would not go or leave me alone.  You carry those past into what is happening now.  And if you listened to those things, you will be a better writer.  The language, the proverbs, the songs, the folklore, the observations – these things will at some point come into your writing, they will inform your writing.  They do to mine.

How has your Urhobo culture, then, influenced your works?

I don’t want to overemphasise that.  I think because I grew up in Urhoboland, especially the rural side, there was so much to learn from.  It is for everybody.  Whether you grew up in Igboland or Yorubaland, it is the same experience but in different culture or environment.  You are bound to assimilate a lot of things.  They become a part of you, even in your language.  So apart from growing up in the area, the environment itself, the physical environment, especially the Niger-Delta area, very pristine then.  I knew when Shell – BP came to the area.  When they first came, I wrote about this thing in my memoire.  So you see, when you look at the pristine environment – we used to fish a lot.  The streams had fishes, then you had the cheery trees, so much to see then – nature at its very best.  Those things were there and they had spiritual significance for the people.

So these things once you know them, they are bound to be part of you.  So those pristine environment I saw as a young person which has been degraded by these multinational oil companies – there is always that nostalgia for the past.  You could see that may be I romantise that area well when everything was pristine, when we had fishes, good streams, good and clean environment.  Now, no fish, nothing.  Things have changed just within a generation, within a short time.

What was the most striking moment you had with your grandmother?

(Laughs).  I have many fun memories of her.  But what I have to explain these days is that people should not think only of material things they gained from such people.  The ideas, the humanism I took from her, were immense.  You see, what my grandmother taught me was the spirit of sharing.  You see, I was living on my maternal grandmother side.  At festivals, my mother and father would send me things and at the same time, my uncles would also give me.  So it came to a point that my grandmother would say, now it is time to share.  She would give some part of the gifts to the other children who did not get much so that they would also feel a sense of belonging.  This was so, according to my grandmother so that they would not be jealous of me.  That, to me, is the best way to show love to others, to share so that it would go round.  I think about this all the time.  That is a good thing which I learnt from her and it stays with me even now.

All these also boil down to your Catholic background…?

Oh, yes, I also served mass.  I was an altar boy.  I served mass at St. Georges’ Grammar School, Obinomba.  For four years, I did that.  That was from class one to class four.  But over the years I have become more secular-minded.  My wife is still very Catholic, but I have become more secular with time.  Yes, we married but only got the Catholic blessing only twenty years after.  My wife pestered me for it and we did it eventually.  My wife was asking for it and I said ok, let us go for it.  But for my children, I think they are also secular – minded even though some of them go to church.  Church is good, but I have some reservations about some churches these days.  Churches are becoming businesses rather than sources of succor.  Before, the Catholic I knew preached to people to make heaven, to go to heaven, to forgive sins.  Then the cardinal point was love your neighbour as yourself.  Do unto others as you’d like them do unto you.  If you want God to forgive you, then be ready to forgive others.  If these are the cardinal points, you can go to churches these days and nobody preaches about them.  These days it is more of collections, more of prosperity, God will bless you if you give more, how you can give, how you can fight diabolic things.  So, that bothers me; that most of the corruption we are talking about can be reducing if preachers lay more emphasis on those cardinal things of old.  But even all the churches, whether the Pentecostal or the conventional churches of Apostolic, Catholic, name it are the same nowadays.

You had admission into the University of Lagos first but you preferred the University of Ibadan. Why?

Ok, yes, I got my admission from Lagos before Ibadan.  But my father said I should go to Ibadan because Ibadan was better known, older and all that.  Yes, I grew up in a village called Ibada.  It is a corrupted form of Ibadan.  It was a new village with corrugated iron roof like Ibadan.  So, to my father, it was better I went to Ibadan for my university education.  Even though my father was not literate, he had an idea of what his son needed to have a good education.  Then Lagos was new; Ibadan had a reputation already.  Ibadan had graduates already, so father knew better.  It was good that I went to Ibadan because I learnt a lot there.

There, I met Niyi Osundare who formed the poetry club that helped us to be where we are today.  There was one Babalola who used to be at Unilag.  I think he is late now.  We had friends.  There was one Uzor.  He died and it was fantastic.  There was one Professor Whitehall who came from Indiana, USA.  He made us to be really interested in poetry.  He was writing poetry then.  He instituted in us the persistence to write and never get tired.  Yes, this has paid off.

What triggers your muse?

Oh, the things around me.  You see the youths can be angry and have good reasons to be angry.  The environment has changed.  That sense of communal living is no longer there.  Issues like this trigger the muse.  When socio-political issues do not go well in the society, I feel concerned.  There was a time in Warri one small girl gave the only money she had to a beggar.  Such things could inspire me and some others.  That singular act, good acts, good things in human beings and so on, inspire me.  Relationships also inspire me.

Biodun Abe is the Artistic Director of Abuja Carnival.  In this interview with Edozie Udeze, he talks about the need for more festivals and cultural activities to add value to the economy and more

Biodun Abe is the Manager in charge of Business Development and Events at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.  He is also the Artistic Director of Abuja Carnival, a position he has held for three seasons now.  A prolific theatre artiste, known for his zeal for stage designs and sets, Abe has equally carved a niche for himself as one of the best artistes versed in the construction of carnival floats both for the Abuja assemblage and other places.

Looking back in time concerning the state of the art in the time of recession, he said. “This season, you can see that we enjoyed serious human traffic not only here at the Theatre but in all the event centres throughout Nigeria.  It shows that art is alive and that the National Theatre is back to assume its position once more as the number one event centre in Nigeria.  In a long time the National Theatre had not recorded the kind of crowd we are seeing now, in terms of activities.  Now you can come in and watch plays, films and all sorts of entertainments just because the place has been properly renovated to take its proper place for shows.  Even all the halls have been fully engaged to make Nigerians indeed feel the impact of the National Theatre in Nigeria,” he said.

Recalling the place of the private sector; how artistes, film-makers and dance impresarios have been in collaboration with the Theatre for it to function at the fullest, Abe said, “The community people are also involved.  People who have new artistic wares now know where to display them.  This place; this Theatre arena now appears like a carnival centre where people converge to have fun; to have the necessary ambiance for relaxation.  This is a good development.  From the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos to the National Theatre and other centres, people are defying hardship, economic recession to patronise art.  It is amazing; it is great.”

Praising the sector for its foresight and resilience in the face of obvious financial crunch, Abe decided, “I think this is good for Nigeria.  This shows the level of seriousness on the part of the leaders of the industry right now.  We should give kudos to them, for when others are in dire economic strait, the industry is thriving and sustaining itself, providing avenues and good programmes for its teeming lovers of the art.  Even then, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed loves what he is doing.  He is also doing his best to ensure that the sector is driven by purposeful programmes to keep it alive and afloat.  He is the first of all the ministers of culture so far who would sit and watch a theatre programme from the beginning till the end.  This is good and it encourages artists and stakeholders to see him as a big lover of the art.”

Not only that the minister loves what he is engage to do, it is obvious that the sector is fully back to offer this most sought after alternative source of revenue.  For more than two months, jingles, noises and advertisements were made to usher in varieties of programmes to keep the sector aglow.  This was deliberate because not only that most state governments wanted to walk their talk, some entrepreneurs joined hands to push for more laudable events to help in area of the national revenue.  Abe said, “We have been undergoing renovations.  Today, the Theatre is poised to be of immense use again.  This is one of those issues we have to play on, to place emphasis on the fact that we are here now to serve the public.  Before now we had to concentrate attention on the renovation of the halls.  The result of that is what we are seeing here now.  Artistes once again have found this place conducive to ply their art.”

Abe did not fail also to zero his attention on the Abuja Carnival which he hosted very well in December last year for the first time since he was appointed.  “Oh, yes, it was a good outing.  The kind of support the minister rendered to us for the carnival to happen is indescribable.  He showed so much love and enthusiasm so that in the end the carnival became a success.  His love was unprecedented.  He led the campaign from the beginning to the end and the residents of Abuja knew that something big happened in their territory.  This gingered me and my team to action.  In the past, you realised that economic recession and also that the government was trying to settle down – all these affected the hosting of the carnival.  However, last year, we said, no, we must do it with the efforts of the minister though.  Before now, there was that apathy on the part of the states that were supposed to participate.  This time around, we decided to appoint zonal co-ordinators to facilitate the preparations towards a successful carnival.  And we succeeded to an extent given the level of economic quagmire in the country.  We moved around the states to sensitise the people; to mobilise them and let the leaders in the sector see the need to key into the programme.”

Having successfully accomplished that feat, Abe and his team went to work.  And when the carnival finally took place, it was glorious.  Agreed, not all the states turned up, but the ones that did, put their very best to make the outing totally outstanding.  Abe who could not hide his joy said, “Abuja carnival is a major national art and cultural display; it is a unifying festival for all Nigerians.  Apart from that, it is usually our prerogative to move around to sensitise the people of Abuja for the need for them to be part of this event.  We did it last year; we will continue to do it, for the sake of continuity and the purpose of the festival.”

A seasoned stage and set designer, Abe has done more for this sector of the theatre than any of his contemporaries.  His style of stage designs still remain rudimental and close to the people.  His love for what captures and entraps the eye make him one of the best not only in Nigeria, but in Africa.  Today, no theatre stage is complete without his input either as a consultant or the designer himself.  In this regard, he opined; “I like it when my design explains the totality of the stage play.  I love aesthetics; I love to be innovative, different from the rest.  Yes, it is part of the themes of the play that I look out for.  When you give me a script to design a stage, I look out for the cinematography of the play.  I mean the scenes that would appeal to the eyes.  This is the first thing that I do.”

When this is done, Abe goes back to the drawing board.  He zeroes his professional attention to more details that would spell out the contours of the play and make it extra-ordinarily distinguishable.  He goes to town to purchase his materials.  Thereafter the goes out to look for the best hands in the area of construction.  This done, he begins to mediate, infusing life here and there to bring out an eloquent design that befits the symbols of the play.  He said, “often I see rock, rock formations. At other times, I may see footpaths, huts, masquerades, village settlements and so on.  It has been due to many years of being in this.  Many years of consistency; years of total concentration on the issue of stage lighting, stage designs and set.  And it has been moments of giving life, real life to the images on stage where the audience comes in and feels at home to watch the show.  We should always design stages that draw level with the content of the work, that explain what the artistes are saying on stage.  This is what I basically set out to do each time I design stage for a play.  This also involves aesthetic values too so that the work would be good to the eye.”

Always out to produce a set that has aesthetic appeal, Abe is more concerned to remain in his traditional cocoon of style and approach.  “My work has to be aesthetically pleasing to all.  That one is basic and sure.  My work also has to be in conformity with the elements of the play.  Let the people see the play in the designs.  This is what I set out to do and most often I achieve that.  It is not just to tell the story, No.  Nigerian audiences and even world-wide have begun to see stage as part and parcel of a stage play.  This is also what we have in mind when we build a stage for our audiences to enjoy.  Even when I do floats for carnivals it is often the same approach in terms of aesthetics.  I love aesthetics so much,” he said.

 

The once barren Magboro, along Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, Ogun State, became active about 16 years ago, with hundreds of people migrating from parts of Lagos and Ogun States to the place. Now, the peaceful and fast-developing area has become a hell on earth for residents of the community. Taiwo Alimi and Dorcas Egede tell the story of a government deprived and neglected urban.

Not one native of Magboro, young or old, can tell how the name came to be. However, one thing is certain: Magboro, meaning ‘spreading out’, is living out its name.

Caught in the middle of Ogun State and Lagos State, Magboro, about 30 kilometres from Lagos State, is the fastest growing community in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.

According to Alhaji Salaudeen Waheed Olayinka, a.k.a. Oluwo (Chief Priest), Magboro was no more than a sleepy settlement first inhabited by ‘sons and daughters of the soil’ only 16 years ago. These settlers came from the neighbouring highbrow city of Abeokuta and their local dialect is unmistakable. It is quite similar to that of ‘Egba,’ one of the dominant tongues of Abeokuta.

‘It was in the year 2000 that we began to experience outsiders venturing into Magboro, Oluwo recalled. ‘That was about the same year the Lagos toll gate was shifted towards the state secretariat in Alausa. They wanted to buy our lands and because we wanted development and expansion, we just gave it away at very affordable prices. A plot of land was sold for N5, 000. When we realised that it was attracting big churches like Mountain of Fire Miracles (MFM) and Redeemed Christian Church of Nigeria, we jerked it up to N20, 000.’

Within four years, Magboro land became hot cake, sought by individuals, companies, groups and cooperatives. ‘The prize jumped to N75, 000 and roadside plot was sold for N150, 000.’

By 2015, the number of houses had increased by ten times and the population had skyrocketed. Housing estates, schools, departmental stores, super stores, hospitals and private schools sprang up in their numbers and population sharply increased.

Asked to hazard a guess as to the population of the growing town, Oluwo puts it at a staggering two million people. “Because I am into buying and selling of properties and real estate, I can tell that there are about 200,000 residential houses in this community. Conservatively, if ten people live in each house, then we should have two million people living in Magboro.” Oluwo’s permutation cannot be taken as precise, but other residents’ guesses were not too far from his.

Opeoluwa Feyitimi, a property owner at Gasline-Magboro said, ‘Over one million live here. Lagos State Civil Service retiree, Mrs. Adenike Odunuga, also put the figure at about one million, while Surveyor James Oresanya, who has worked with Ogun State Inland Revenue revealed that about 90,000 landlords from Magboro obtained and submitted forms during the 2015 Home owners Chapter Programme by the Ogun State Government for issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O). “I would put the current population of Magboro at half a million (500,000),” he said.

Going by the definition of United Nations, any settlement that is over 500,000 in population is termed urban.

The ballooning size of Magboro is helped by more than 10 other communities bordering the town. These communities; Shofolarin, Ibasa, Ajegunle, Makogi, Abule Oko, Gaun, Magada, Igodo, Sote, Isefun, Isefun Elede, Oke Ayo, Agungi and Papanra, others, share the same road and infrastructure with Magboro. You can only get to these communities through one route, Magboro road, and they are growing in size and population too.

Magboro also shares boundaries with notable towns like Ibafo, Mowe, Akute, Arepo; and might come in handy in decongesting the ever-busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway if feeder roads are constructed there.

As expected, the rise in population has had a multiplier effect on amenities, as elementary schools of different sizes and status spring up yearly in every nook and cranny of the town. The same can be said of hospitals, departmental stores, bakeries, super stores, fuel stations, banks, retail stores and other business outfits catering for the people of Magboro.

Now, Magboro can boast of a private university, a mega church, a mega manufacturing company worth $5billion, an agro-allied company, hundreds of private primary and secondary schools, and scores of smaller companies and factories.

Engineer Jimi Olusanya moved to his private residence in Gasline eight years ago. He was attracted by the quietness and serene condition of the place. “It was a quiet environment and I desired a quiet ambience, where I can grow my business. In addition, unlike Arepo and other communities on the expressway, it has a direct access to Lagos Expressway, which is less than 15minutes’ drive away. That attracted me and made me settle for Magboro.”

Many read Magboro like him and followed the prospect of a growing community. But, ten years down the line, Olusanya, who is chairman of Magboro Community Development Council (CDC), is about to flee his home and Magboro.

Raped

Olusanya said living and working in Magboro has become a hellish venture. “There is no government presence here. We don’t have electricity; the roads are bad, no pipe-borne water, no government hospital or health centre and no functional government school. Yet, we are talking of an area of over 500,000 people. Some parts of the community are suffering  flooding due to lack of drainage.

Going down memory lane, Oluwo said the flooding problem was not natural but man-made. Magboro was figuratively raped by the combined forces of land grabbers and government agents. “It was in the early 90s. Out of ignorance, we were made to sell off the top soil of our land to some money bags and government people. According to what was passed down, they took thousands of tons of soil from here to fill Alausa, the present seat of power in Lagos State. That is what we are suffering from now. Whenever there is rain, Magboro 1, Cele Area, Shofolarin, Gas Line and Powerline are flooded, partly from the removal of top soil, rendering the areas impotent.”

To check the problem, Oluwo informed that drains were constructed that would lead floodwaters out of the community, but ‘Omo Onile’ as landowners are locally called, sold off the areas along which the drains run. “We used to have a drainage system that passed through Magboro 1 and 2, but some landowners sold them off and desperate landlords simply built on them.”

Malik Adeshina moved into Magboro seven years ago and is of the opinion that Ogun State Government has ripped off the environment of all decency. The business centre operator noted that Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State courted Magboro as a bachelor would a spinster, making sweet promises, only to abandon her after getting her votes.

“When I moved in seven years ago,” stated Adeshina, “the road was bad, and we were crying to the Ogun State Government to do something about it. We thought our prayers were answered when Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, came here for campaign and promised to construct it. The entire road is about 7.5 kilometres, and all they could do was drainage that did not get to two kilometres. Before, what we did was  to grade it to make it passable for our people. Then, Ogun State Government came and made a mess of the whole place. The project kicked off in 2011 with completion date of two years; as I am talking, this is 2017, and it has not been completed. The contractor abandoned it to further worsen our condition. Apart from the fact that we could not grade it again, it is now very narrow. When you are constructing a road, you should think of future expansion. Government did not consider this and we are really suffering. This hardship is not what Amosun promised us when he came to campaign last year. We recorded the meeting and this was the only thing we put forward to him. We voted for him en mass, but he has not fulfilled his own part of the deal. It is a rape on Magboro.”

It is common place to find damaged and broken-down vehicles on the bad road every day. Sometimes some are quickly fixed and taken away after some days, while others have become a permanent features on the road. Trailers, Lorries, and sport utility vehicles are not left out.

Oluwo complained of deficient infrastructure and the roads have robbed him of his vehicles. ‘I’ve lost three cars to this road and because of the damages to the joints and engine, I now park them in the house, so I won’t have to spend money on repairs every time.’

For Tunde Adekunle, an aluminum contractor and house owner, he no longer uses his car, a Toyota Camry. “It is parked for the time being. I prefer to take okada (commercial motorcycle) to get out of Magboro. Whenever I use my car, I have to spend a lot of money to fix damages on it. I have told my family to do the same too.”

Feyitimi has also lost two cars to the poor road. Both now board okada to get around.

Beaten

Although Magboro has attracted some of the biggest corporations in the state, this change is yet to touch the community positively. Rather, Magboro has been boxed into submission with high concrete walls and cannot partake in the round-the-clock electricity and good roads enjoyed by the firms. On the left side of the community is Western Metal Product Company (Wempco), which moved into its 2.5 million square metres complex in 2006 and opened its $1.3bn integrated manufacturing complex in 2010. The Chinese company manufactures ceramic tiles, nails, and other building materials through its multi-billion naira steel and ceramic producing plants.

The multi-million naira complex of Mountains of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) occupies the other side of Magboro with tarred roads and well lit environment.

Kunle Ogunbanjo, chairman of Pathfinder CDA (Community Development Area), the closest community to Wempco, has this to say about the conglomerate. “Since the coming of Wempco to this community, we have not known peace. Their fence is obstructing the waterway and our community is suffering from the flooding they created. Before their coming, there was a waterway and rainwater was dispersed without hindrance. But since 2006, we have been experiencing high water level due to their massive fence.”

He said the concrete fence was constructed on the channel, thereby blocking off the water, while directing it to their homes, on the other side of the fence. This year, the rain water is so high that many residents had to flee their homes.

The Nation was confronted by gory details from Akinbusola, Pathfinder Way, and NEMA Estate. At Akinbusola Street, what remains of two abandoned apartments were remnants of furniture, plastic containers and rusted roofing sheets, windows and doors. Ogunbanjo said the co-landlords had to ditch their homes because of flooding.

On the MFM side, residents of Ezekiel, John Ogah, Adekeye, Community streets and Akintonde, suffer similar fate with those of Pathfinder CDA, marooned by the ‘wall of Jericho’ of their affluent neighbours.

Mrs. Odunuga said she often abandoned her home temporarily in rainy season. “During heavy downpour, my house is not habitable as flood often takes over the frontage. So, I usually relocate to my child’s place in Ikorodu and come back when the water clears.”

Economic index

While Magboro indigenes have suffered through poor roads and lack of integrated electricity, its economic index have been on the rise, leading to additional difficulty to dwellers, several business owners have to endure the hardship of power generation and low profits, while some have shut down completely.

Feyitimi has tried his hands on frozen chicken business on getting to Magboro. “It was tough staying in business because of power. I spent close to a million to start it, but lost the capital because goods got bad easily. I kept putting new funds to keep afloat, until my vehicles began to wear out due to the bad road. Without vehicles, it is not easy to run this kind of business. I had no choice but to pack it in.”

For Adeshina, it is not an easy task keeping his business centre floating. “No business can thrive without power. We are on generator day and night. Most especially, it is affecting our business. I spend an average of N2, 000 per day on fuel to sustain my business and that is a lot. In a week, we are talking about N15, 000, which comes to N60, 000 in a month. It is eating the whole profit, but we cannot shut down. We can only strive and pray that things would be better.”

Low business returns; however, does not translate to low spending. “It is not easy to be a breadwinner any longer. In-fact, the cost to light up my home has gone up since the recent increase in pump price of fuel. Before now, we used to spend an average of N600 daily, but it has gone up to N1000 and that means about N30, 000 in a month.  Moreover, we are not talking about a whole day here; it is just for some hours in the night for security purposes. This is coupled with maintenance of the generator, because generators are supposed to be a backup, but the backup has become the main supply.”

The power issue, he explained, has affected prices of things. “Generally, things are expensive here. Power generation has shot up cost of production. It has affected rent on shops and rooms. In Dopemu-Lagos, where I do similar business, I pay N9000 per month for the shop I use but here in Magboro, even with a smaller shop, I have to cough out N10,000 monthly. Cost of production is high and such cost would be placed on the buyers. For many businesses that cannot cope, we have seen many folding up. There are many shops locked up here in Magboro because the business owners can no longer cope.”

“It is also expensive to train your wards in Magboro. The private schools here are expensive and the schools take advantage of parents knowing that you may not want to take your children outside Magboro because of the expressway. Therefore, the charges are high, even higher than what obtains in Lagos. Adeshina pays on the average N80, 000 on a child every term. Feyitimi says he “dishes out N75,000 on each of my kids every term.”

In the area of presence of government, Oluwa offered an answer. “In the whole of this community, there is only a public school and the government has not done much to equip it for us.” Community Primary and Secondary School, when The Nation visited, is made up of two buildings, which needed facelift and urgent repairs.  ‘That school cannot take more than 500 pupils and we are talking about an environment of over 500,000 people,” Oluwo added.

Sitting beside the school is the freshly painted Magboro Medical Center. “What you see here,” Oluwo stated, pointing to the building, ‘is the handiwork of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). It has been in state of disrepair for years, before the church took it upon itself to refurbish and rehabilitate it. What you are seeing is not the work of Ogun Sate Government. They chose to abandon it years ago.”

Abandoned

If Magboro road and infrastructure were said to be abandoned, the project of illumination of Magboro is at best locked up and its key thrown into the Ogun river.

Adeshina’s experience on this is moving. “It have been up and down. When we moved in, we felt that things would begin to look better with more people moving in. Unfortunately, our hope is dashed. I was eyeing a different place to settle my family but on seeing that there are electricity poles and wires, everywhere, I changed my mind and bought land here, with the hope that electricity would come soon. In 2013, after so many efforts by the community, they gave us what I can call a flash. This was due to the efforts of the CDA, of which I’m an active member. I felt I should help promote good development. I joined the CDA and we began to put money into development projects, specifically electricity. We installed the polls ourselves, on my own I bought about five poles, and others bought. We got cables and to crown it up, we bought a transformer and installed it. It was not easy, but we were able to achieve that.”

That was how electricity came in 2013, but it lasted for only about 50 hours. “Nothing since then and, it was very disappointing for many of us.”

The enormous noise of power generators, at least three to a house, is deafening. “Environmental pollution,” Adeshina explained, “is also an issue in Magboro. With the downturn in the economy, you will find out that not many households can cope anymore, and you will see that many homes cannot light up in the night again. Psychologically, we are living in darkness and it is not a good thing because darkness can dampen the spirit.”

Status symbol

Every corner and cranny you turn to in Magboro, you see electricity poles and transformers, yet no sign of integrated power anywhere. Each household makes it a point of duty to power its home. The very rich combine solar panel sand inverters and generator to gain more hours of electricity than the averagely rich, which depend on inverter and generator. The masses however, can only sustain their homes with generator-powered electricity, with the generators coming in different sizes, from the 4-litre capacity to 40-litre capacity. However, the super-rich break the tide with diesel powered generators generating up a capacity of to 5000Kilowatt.

Olusanya owns one of such generators and to power it he has to cough out between N100,000 and N150,000 every month. ‘Diesel is now N180 per litre and for me to power my home every day for one month, it is no small thing. The community has spent about N7million on electricity, yet there is no result. We can only call on the government to help us.’

When contacted, the Ogun State Government, through its Commissioner for Information, Dayo Adeneye, said the Magboro road problem would soon become outdated. He assured communities along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway that they have not been forgotten by the government.

“We want to reassure our border towns, like Ibafo, Arepo, that we have not forgotten them. In fact, it is the next on our agenda. We are doing operation 100-100 in which the government has said we are doing a hundred rural roads in, hopefully, a hundred days.’

He said even though oil prices and dwindling revenues are making it difficult to work as fast as possible, the roads still must be fixed and they will be very soon.

For Oluwo, these are mere political proclamation. He vowed to campaign against the ruling governor come 2019. “Governor Amosun has failed us. I was present when he promised us this one thing: to fix our road and he has failed us. I will lead an open campaign against his candidate and party in 2019. We voted en masse for him in the last election and we will vote massively against him next time.”

It is apparent that years of living without government attendance and support have stirred something in them. Magboro occupiers seem ready to take their destiny in their hands, just as they have been doing to generate power, water and fix their roads.

It may sound like the idlest of idle threat, but his rising voice and livid expression resembled a noise not empty.