Category: Southwest

Decades of seeming government neglect could be about to end for the people of the Island communities of Agboyi I,II and III, Ketu, Lagos as the Rotary Club of Ogudu Government Reservation Area (GRA), drawing support from sister Rotary clubs in the United States, has pledged to ameliorate their suffering. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports.

Four months after the searchlight was beamed on the deplorable living conditions of the Awori people of Agboyi  in Agboyi-Ketu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State by The Nation newspaper on April 9, help is  on the way for the three riverside communities.

Moved by the report, which revealed poor sanitation, lack of potable water, dilapidated health facilities, crumbling classrooms, poor public toilet facilities and other public infrastructure, including transportation in the 500-year-old communities, members of the Rotary Club of Ogudu GRA went on a fact finding mission to the area last Tuesday and were shocked by what they saw.

Asked about her impression after the  mission to Agboyi I, II and III, a Charter member of the Club, Chief Mrs Onikepo Oshodi, was damning in her verdict: “Life (at the three Agboyi communities) is brutal, bad and unfortunate.” For her, the standard of living of the residents  is unacceptable.

Not that they had expected to meet some comfort at the communities having read this newspaper’s earlier report on Agboyi, but what they saw was even more shocking than what they read.

To them, it was mind boggling that a community so close to Ketu in the metropolis, and with even a Local Council Development Area (LCDA) named after it, could be so backward in all indices of development, just because it is an island.

Though Mrs. Oshodi said she had been to Agboyi in the past for a similar assessment, she like other members of the club’s project committee, among who were the current president, Mrs. Fikayo Tunde-Ojo, the in-coming president, Mrs. Fidel Oguwazor, Treasurer, Mr. Hakeem Adesanya and Chairman, ‘We Care’ of the club, Mrs. Ojinika Okeke, were shocked at the very low standard of living of the people.

Done with the initial fears as they entered the canoe that took them to Agboyi III – which was just a shouting distance from Alapere jetty, which the people have re-Christened  Agboyi-odo – they were appalled that the corrugated structure that dots the waterfront were toilets, where the people defecates. Same structures, three in all, built on stilts, were also replicated in Agboyi II and Agboyi I.

One of the elders of the town, who had come to welcome the August visitors, and guide them around, Prince Adewale Seriki, told the Rotarians: “70 to 80 percent of residents of these communities use these toilets, which also serve as bathrooms. Others make use of potty, which they come to empty into the river, but everyone uses these places to bath. Early in the morning, women could be seen with wrappers tied round their chest as they take turns to take their baths.”

Seriki had barely finished his narrative, when the visitors were assailed with some children splashing away in the water, as they take their baths, applying soap on their bodies and swimming to wash the foams off. “In this era of infectious diseases, this place is a rich reservoir for any outbreak of epidemic,” Mrs Oshodi stated with some finality.

The team made the short distance between Agboyi III and Agboyi II, on dung of wastes as the entire environment was littered with all manner of waste, prompting the team to inquire whether the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) PSP waste operators ever visit the communities.

At Agboyi II, the project team inspected the Agboyi Primary School, (which houses primary four to six), which was still in good condition.

In front of the school was a borehole facility that residents said has never been used since it was commissioned. Though the facility which was said to have been executed by a foreign group had a water treatment facility, it was never put to use as the water produced was salty. “We couldn’t drink the water because it was salty. Borehole fails here, not because we do not have underground water, but because the water is bad. It is heavily polluted by iron, which makes it salty,” Seriki said.

The group later visited Agboyi 1, where they inspected the only Maternity Centre that serves the three communities. They were told the electricity generating set provided by Path 2 in collaboration with the United Kingdom Aid agency (UKAid), (two foreign health based non-governmental organisations) is in top shape, and works anytime the LCDA provides the fuel.

The group expressed happiness that Agboyi Primary School which houses Primaries One to Three which was in a very bad state last April when The Nation was in the settlement is undergoing some rehabilitation. Not only was the four-room one block of classrooms being rebuilt, the roof has been removed, as new logs were being put in place to give way for new aluminum roofing sheet. The project it was learnt began on July 14.

The group which ended their tour with a visit to the palace of Baale of Agboyi II, Alhaji (Chief) Taiwo Lamina, praised the chief for keeping the communities peaceful in spite of the dehumanizing challenges that their residents have been facing.

Speaking for the group, Chairman of the Projects Committee, Mrs Oshodi said though the Club has compiled a list of 10 riverside communities within its area of jurisdiction which it intended to assist, it decided to begin with Agboyi communities because their living conditions have been one of the most parlous.

She said: “We hope that the communities would assist us in seeing to the realisation of our dreams of a better life for riverside dwellers. Though we have read of your plight in the newspapers which informed the moves we have made to ensure that we secure international support from other sister Rotary clubs in America to collaborate with us; we have come and we have seen with our eyes and we have come to the conclusion that indeed you deserve an intervention and urgently too.”

She said the committee embarked on the visit not only to assess the needs of the people but to also hear from them what their needs are.

And after listening to them, she told the Baale that her group had reached the conclusion that the people needs among others, a concrete footbridge linking Agboyi III to Alapere. Beside the bridge would be laid water pipes from the Lagos State Water Corporation’s water mains across the river at Alapere, which would be a final solution to the unavailability of potable water to the over 3,000 residents of the three communities.

Other needs of the people she pointed out were sanitation which was divided into two-fold – provision of two blocks of six pit latrines and bathrooms each; for the three communities and the provision of at least three incinerators one each for the three communities to address waste disposal.

On health, Mrs Oshodi lamented the trouble the communities’ pregnant women go through during child birth as the maternity runs only between 8am and 5pm.

She said one of the nurses told the team they give referral notes to pregnant women once they get to week 36, adding that it is unacceptable that women would be put inside canoe and paddled to Ketu or Alapere before they could access healthcare.

Mrs. Oshodi who expressed dismay that many of the pregnant women still patronize traditional birth attendants (TBA) at this age, said the Club would look into the request of the nurses to provide at least one labour room and two extra rooms for expectant mothers’ relations, so that the nurses could work also at night and relieve the women the agony they go through at child birth.

She wondered how the maternity had been meeting its mandate to serve pregnant women and take deliveries when the only room provided for the purpose had allegedly been turned into a pharmacy where drugs were dispensed to patients.

She assured that these projects would begin within the next six weeks provided the people are willing to provide her team with land to site them. She equally expressed the desire of the Club to provide classroom furniture and exercise books for about 300 primary school pupils in the three communities, who she said needed to be supported with such materials to make learning fun.

“We saw some pupils who are being taught by some of your children in higher institutions and we are happy about that development. We, however, observed that the classrooms need more furniture and some of the pupils do not have exercise books while others who had only had one. We are therefore assuring you that our Club would provide your children with classroom furniture and these pupils would be given exercise books,” Mrs Oshodi said.

She sought the community’s assistance and support to ensure the smooth take off of these projects adding that as part of encouraging local entrepreneurship, residents of the communities would be engaged by the Club to put these things in place. Mrs Oshodi said the Club would equally address the link footbridge between Agboyi 11 and Agboyi 1, which has become a death trap.

The bridge, she said, would have aluminum railings to protect lives and prevent accidents.

In his response, the Baale, Alhaji Lamina praised the group for their interest in alleviating the plight of the people of Agboyi. Lamina who prayed for the team asked God to make all their dreams for his people achievable, even as he pledged the commitment of all the elders and people of the three communities to the projects.

He said the people would be willing to donate land to the Club for the execution of the projects as everyone is interested in ensuring a lift in their standard of living once the projects are in place.

“We are very happy when our children told us of your visit. We are honoured to have you because we know you and your antecedents. We have no doubt that you will help us just as you have pledged. We are equally committed to ensuring the success of these projects and we shall provide you with all that you need to make all these dreams possible.

“As you have identified, our main problem is potable water. We have relied over the years on sachet water (pure water) and bottled water for our sustenance. Only God knows how much we commit to this everyday in the three communities. If you can do the pedestrian bridge for us and provide pipe borne water it would have taken 70 percent of our stress in these communities away.

“If these are coupled with addressing the challenges our women face during child bearing and give us a labour room, you would have helped us greatly. This added to the steps you want to take on the pedestrian bridge and education would make us seriously indebted to your Club,” Lamina said.

The Baale who lamented the long years of neglect of his people by the government, urged other well meaning humanitarian clubs to take a cue from the Rotary International and partner with other blighted communities whose people are facing herculean challenges and life has become almost unbearable.

Also speaking Mr Kehinde Ladega praised the club for coming to the aid of the people of Agboyi.

“It is salutary that all these are coming to our people not because we pressed any special button, but because they read of our plight in the newspapers just like any other reader had.”

President of Agboyi Student Union (ASU) Comrade Yusuf Muideen Ajigi said the intervention of Rotary International in the town was a welcome development. “What is most welcoming to all of us especially the students and youths of the town is that the club is promising to address virtually all the problems besetting the people of Agboyi 1, Agboyi 11 and Agboyi 111. All of these we need to emphasize are coming because they read of our plight in The Nation newspaper. While we are thanking the club, we must equally praise that newspaper for being the vanguard of the downtrodden,” Ajigi said.