Category: Sunday magazine

THE Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has called on residents of Lagos to support the call to stop the Lagos State Government from privatizing water supply in the state.

Speaking at a meeting attended by several non-governmental organisations at the weekend, the Director, Corporate Accountability, ERA/FoEN, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi called on the civil societies to unite and call on the state government to halt its attempt to privatise water in the state.

According to him, “water, a free gift of nature which may soon not be as free as it is intended to be because corporates have decided to capture it and determine the fate of about 21 million people.

“Lagosians already burdened with huge costs of providing alternative water because of empty public taps, may be in for a shocker as facts at our disposal indicate that the Lagos government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Bank to privatise water supply.”

He added that since 1979 the state government has obtained loans from the World Bank, the French government and several international donor agencies to fund water supply expansion schemes. These monies, according to him were said to have been sunk into the Iju, Adiyan, and Isashi Waterworks, and expansion of current distribution networks in the state. However, “Ironically water supply has not improved, forcing the richer segment of Lagos residents to resort to drilling boreholes to meet their water needs, while the rest us accounting for about 95 per cent of the population now use unsafe sources of water with huge health impacts.

As we speak, the Lagos State government is said to have appointed the World Bank’s private arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to design a “public-private partnership” (PPP) water privatization scheme. The project details are shrouded in utter secrecy, without a verifiable Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and input from critical segments of the population that the project will supposedly benefit.”

He said the IFC is currently being paid by the Lagos government as an official advisor to develop a plan for the city’s water privatization and this advisory contract is undisclosed by both the World Bank and the Lagos government, and both the privatization the IFC is designing and the advisory contract itself are being carried out in secrecy, without public participation and input from Lagosian stakeholders. This lack of transparency leaves residents with very little information about important developments that will affect them directly.

He said this was unfair as no government should do or carry out any project on behalf of the people without involving them in the planning and execution. He added that the IFC has been known to be misadvising governments around the world on various issues and called on the state government to be careful.

Drawing from what has happened around the world in such cases he observed that, “Like in Manila, in Ghana World Bank corporate partners attempted to privatise and profit from water. Poor service, limited access and chronic quality problems forced the Ghanaian government not to renew a bank-backed contract for a private corporation to manage the country’s water.”

He regretted that despite the World Bank’s 60-day disclosure policy, the Lagos contract has not been disclosed on the bank’s website and has been hidden from the civil society. He accused the state government of keeping the details of the project away from citizens as attempts to obtain documents related to the project continue to meet brick wall from officials of the Water Works.

Civil society groups and activists across the United States had last week called on the World Bank demanding full disclosure of the Lagos water project. Dozens called World Bank key decision makers including Dr. Kim Jin-Yong, Jin-Yong Cai, and the Nigerian country director Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly.

What privatization mean to Lagos Residents

According to ERA, all people have a fundamental human right to water and Lagos citizens are no exception. In 2010 the United Nations recognised the human right to water as fundamental to the realisation of these rights. It is afraid that the water sector may turn out to be the same with the electricity sector where consumers pay huge sums but are supplied with lack of electricity!

It said, “The IFC’s track record in the water sector is frightening: prices skyrocket, utility workers lose their jobs, water quality suffers, low-income communities have their water shut off, governments incur devastating debt, and public sovereignty is threatened by undemocratic arbitration. Privatization is not the solution for Lagos: it leads to corporate profits and has never provided universal access.”

It called for a halt to the process of privatization saying, “This latest water privatization plan is yet another white elephant project that will neither provide additional funds for necessary infrastructure improvements nor provide the water that Lagosians require,” saying it is the responsibility of the Lagos government  to guarantee the protection of the rights of Lagosians to water by ensuring not only full disclosure of the PPP with the World Bank, but also a halt to the project because of its negative impacts on Lagos citizens as seen by examples of IFC deals on water globally.

Dr. Joe Okei Odumakin of the Women Arise, who said her organization was in support of the campaign because women are the greatest utilisers of water and therefore suffer more in case of its shortage said, “Water is a natural asset, an essential commodity and privatising it is inhuman. It is also wrong for the Lagos State Government to enter into a partnership that involves water without carrying the citizenry along. The citizens must also remain vigilant and organise for our rights and stop agonising. We are change agents. If the Lagos State Government can reverse to the old LASU school fees after the outcry, then we can make a difference even in this one. Unless we speak out and say no to privatisation, one day even the air we breathe will be privatised. I believe the Lagos State Government will listen.”

Another activist Francis Banji Abayomi  is of the opinion that, “As Nigerians, we must take our destinies in our hands. If we can get this right, it will go a long way to change the way in several other ways we are governed. It is good that ERA has obtained comprehensive information on how the IFC (World Bank’s International Finance Corporation) has entered an agreement with the Lagos State Government to privatise water. We cannot afford to be indifferent.”

In making his final appeal for a rethink iof the policy, Mr. Oluwafemi said, “Lagos State Government should be supporting universal access to water and not get involved in any spurious partnership with the World Bank whose interest is always selfish, and nothing more.”

Will the government listen to these pleads?

The public cemetery located in Ayobo, a Lagos suburb, has become a problem to the community in the past 14 years. The community is now pleading to the Lagos State government to save them from imminent epidemic. Taiwo Abiodun reports.

To residents of Ayobo community, indiscriminate dumping of dead bodies and unhygienic condition of the public cemetery located in their area has become a clear and present danger. They said it has become an eyesore and are pleading with the state government to rescue them from an impending doom  an epidemic, which is likely to envelope the community especially in this time of Ebola epidemic.

According to the residents “We are living in perpetual fear of an imminent outbreak of epidemic due to the indiscriminate dumping of dead bodies of different degrees at every available space without regulation.” They added that it has been causing unnecessary health hazards while recent downpour has also taken its tolls on the cemetery, digging up dead bodies buried in shallow graves. Coupled with this is lack of drainage and roads in the cemetery. “Some dead bodies were washed from their shallow graves to open space and nobody to take the necessary action thereby aggravating extent of nuisance being caused to innocent residents and passers by,” a resident told The Nation on Sunday.

The community however, decried the way and manner where all kinds of unknown people work at the cemetery, “We don’t know who is who, we don’t know who are the cemetery attendants, we don’t know the grave diggers but we see people digging graves on a daily basis in a nutshell we seemed confused over how the cemetery is treated anyhow,” they chorused.

The Ayobo community has for the past 14 years been crying and pleading to the local council who had failed to come to their rescue and now decided to inform the state government to come to rescue to avoid the Ebola virus from exterminating their lives.

State of Ayobo cemetery

Though the environment is serene, it is also bushy as all kinds of trees have sprouted on the graves. While one could hear the chirping of birds and see rats running across the cemetery. At the cemetery one could see clothing materials used to bury the corpses lying on some of these graves. While some of these weather -beaten clothes had become old and had turned brown. Not only this, some hand gloves were glued to the ground. Some of  the tombs  have caved  in while only mere sand were used to cover some  dead bodies presumed to have been buried (in shallow graves) as  a  little scratch of the surface will expose the  corpses. Sticks of different makes and sizes were used to mark some graves for identification while some relatives only inscribed the names of the deceased on graves that had already caved in. Some of the names inscribed on the tombs have either been defaced or removed. Suspected human flesh and bones were visible. Those who could not erect tombs for the dead only buried sticks and broken tea cups and stones to mark the graves where their beloved ones were buried.

The cemetery is under PHCN’s high tension wire which some also claimed owned parts of the land. The cemetery and its environment are unkempt as they have been overgrown with weeds.  Aside all this one could see fluid oozing out from some of the graves  thus  emitting  bad odour that pervaded the air as it went  up to high  heavens. Not only this, some of the grave diggers are said to be full of nefarious activities as they are suspected to be  using this place for their illicit business in selling human parts as  ‘strange small structures’  are erected in  some hidden  areas in the bush where they are suspected to be doing their evil job and since nobody guides the cemetery  they do their job undisturbed. That is the sorry and filthy condition of the Ayobo cemetery that has no gate, no security and no fence as it is open to all evil doers.

“People come here any time of the day to bury corpses and many a times would just drop dead bodies on the ground and leave thus making animals, birds  and ritualists  to have their field day undisturbed while only carcasses of the dead would be met the following week,” according to Yinka Oyetunde, a lawyer.

Last Tuesday  surprise was written all over the community  development members’  faces  as some were shocked to their bone marrows when they saw how the place had been desecrated when they  took this reporter  round  the cemetery to show  the sorry and embarrassing state  of  the place. The cemetery which was supposed to be a resting place for the dead is no more as the dead are not allowed to rest. What is going on at the cemetery shows man’s inhumanity to man and where no respect or honour is given to the dead. Grief and shock enveloped everybody as the entourage were welcomed with the stench from the environment. More worrisome was the gory sight of  the area  that was littered  with used clothes probably the clothes used to bury  the dead which  had turned brown. Some of the community members who could not control themselves burst into tears seeing the level of bestiality that confronted them.

Grave diggers at work

As this reporter and some of the CDA members got to the cemetery for inspection, lo  and behold  two young men  were met digging a grave  in the middle of the cemetery where  another corpse was suspected to have been interred  before. When this reporter asked what they were doing they claimed they were digging  the grave for a new corpse which will soon be buried there, two  of the community members in annoyance told  The Nation  “That is what we are saying, we cannot trust these men who dig here, we don’t know their identities and  could be using the place to perpetrate evil,” the CDA officers lamented .

However, this reporter  pretended to have come to erect a tomb on  his father’s  grave  who  was  buried there in  2012 and demanded for  the  two young grave diggers’ service, they quickly jumped at the offer and  started the unholy negotiation. One of them who claimed to be ‘Muri Thunder’  and the other ‘Wale Cemetery’ said the reporter should  pay N22,000 and N15,000 in order to erect permanent and temporal tombs for his father. After much bargaining (without suspecting the motive) they demanded for N20,000 and N14,000. While the reporter promised to call back.

However, a peep at what they were digging showed that they were digging another shallow grave where they would bury another corpse. The shallow grave had been emptied! Investigation reveals that after six months of burying a corpse  it would be removed while another  would be buried there again. No wonder when it rains the corpses are exposed and human carcasses scattered all over the cemetery while animals feast on them.

Complaints from residents

Madam Charity Nweke who lives directly opposite the cemetery said she is fed up with the indiscriminate dumping of human bodies on the road and on the cemetery without giving them proper burial. According to her, ” I live directly opposite the cemetery and could see man’s inhumanity to man. Some of these people would bring the dead bodies here and would dress them and just leave them on the road or would dump them in the cemetery without digging the ground to bury them. This amazes me and I had challenged them many times which often lead to exchange of hot words or verbal war. I used to see them dumping them on a daily basis. At times I had to use stick to push away the gloves they leave behind to avoid children from playing with them thinking it is a toy.” Not done yet, Nweke said she had reported them several times to the CDA to come and see what is going on there. “I have cried and cried to the Community Development Association but nothing was forthcoming. I am not afraid of the dead but I believe the dead needs to be treated well; not to be dumping them on the road or in the cemetery. Cemeteries should be fenced round and not be exposed at all. In fact, there is no road within the cemetery and that is why they bury dead bodies there indiscriminately. There is one tomb a vehicle hit and exposed the vault they later went to patch the open space with cement.”

Asked whether it was like this before, but Nweke who claimed to have been here since 2004 said she decided to come to the area when the house rent went up. “That is why I came to construct small house here. I don’t know this area is a cemetery at all. I am not afraid of the dead, I only fear God. Nothing will make me to fear. When we bought this place there was nothing like this, we did not know it was a burial ground. They started burying people here and we don’t know who even approved the place for them.”

The CDA vice chairman, John Mnye said he is not happy with the way things are going on according to him he has been living in the vicinity since 2007. He cried, “It wasn’t like this before. We have complained a lot about the desecration of this cemetery and the road is bad. The Lagos should come and remove or relocate the cemetery,” he pleaded

He added that the land was said to belong to PHCN, “This land is said to belong  to PHCN, and suddenly part of it was turned to a cemetery. I remember there was a time when the PHCN officials came here saying they would come with caterpillar to level the cemetery as the land belongs to them, but nothing was forthcoming.”

Oyetunde is visibly angry  over the situation, he  said ” it has become so worrisome to the extent that the offensive stench coming out of the cemetery, if  no proper urgent  attention is made by the state government, could bring another  health hazard.”

He continued, “People do come here at odd hours of the day to bury  their dead. Some people even come with bare remains of the dead and with hollow grave hurriedly perform burial rites without using coffin two metres away from the road. Ebola is here with us due to inadequate preventive measures and lack of political will.”

While lauding the effort of the state government on Ebola disease, the residents of the area are seriously appealing to the government to come urgently to their aid to  avert an imminent epidemic that could  lead to loss of  lives due to the over powering and offensive stench oozing out of the cemetery.

Oyetunde added “The Lagos State government should as a matter of urgency send the officials of the Ministry of Environment to assess the extent of these arbitrary and uncontrolled use of the cemetery. In fact, to say the least, the cemetery deserves to be fenced round to control the indiscriminate dumping of dead bodies and abuse of the use of the place by different people that come from far and near.”

On the efforts they had made so far, he said “the  Kajola  Community  Development Association lodged series of complaints in the past to both Alimosho Local Government and Ayobo/Ipaja Local Council Development Area but to no avail. Enough is enough. A stitch in time saves nine. To me there is no control that is why you see people there, we don’t even know whether they are doing genuine work there or not so anybody can go there. We pay our tax.  And now we don’t know the work of the Local Council if they are not interested in this case .Now we are pleading to the state government to wade in before Ebola starts here!”

Lack of security

Ebenezer Chiazor another resident said “What we want is security and fence, the dead needs atom of respect. We have been complaining before within our range, it is not hygienic the way uncouth people come here and dump corpses, there is Ebola now. We have complained and written letters but nothing has been done.”

On the efforts of the community to stem it, Ademola Okikiade said “What I met here is horrifying, we want the place to be removed. We had wanted to attack these people who bring corpses and dump them or bury them in shallow graves but did not want to take law into our hands. We could have stopped them but there will be fight. People do fall sick because of the stench only that it has not gotten to an alarming rate, and that is what we are trying to avoid. It is not until we start having the record of Ebola virus before we know the importance of being hygienic.”

Despite the inconvenience and complaints by the Community Development members who always covered their noses with their hands and handkerchiefs, the unknown grave diggers continue working without supervision and interference.

When will this waiting disasters and epidemic be stopped?

Many people seek to climb Mount Kilimanjaro annually. For Adedotun Eyinade and his crew, aside individual quests, they wanted to bring attention of the world to Down Syndrome and also use the adventure to raise funds for the patients. He relates the experience to Joe Agbro Jr.

Towering over the Tanzanian skyline into the clouds, Mount Kilimanjaro is simply magnificent. The tallest mountain in Africa, little wonder it is referred to as the ‘roof of Africa. ‘Kili as Mount Kilimanjaro is often referred to, is considered the easiest among the seven peaks that its summit can be attempted without oxygen, hence it attracts over 40, 000 climbers annually.

And there are varied reasons people seek to climb it. But for Adedotun Eyinade, a 2014 Global Acumen Fellow, aside the bragging rights, he wanted to attract attention and funds for the cause of Down Syndrome in Nigeria. Working in conjunction with Inspired by Charity, an NGO that strives to create awareness for unsung causes and charities, and with Down Syndrome Foundation, Lagos, he and two other climbers embarked on the six-day hike to the summit of Africa’s tallest mountain.

Eyinade lived in Tanzania for a year as a part of the Global Acumen Fellows programme which builds leadership development in young professionals to imbue them with the skills to use business as a tool to tackle poverty. Prior to that, he was an employee of KPMG Lagos and used to organise monthly book readings.

According to Eyinade, 10 professionals initially planned the hike, but owing to the time frame and cost, the number was whittled to three – himself, Thierry Mbimi, a Cameroonian and head of Financial Risk management units at KPMG, Lagos, and Umar Farouk, a United Kingdom-based Nigerian software engineer.  However, because he and his crew wanted to make a case for Down Syndrome in the country, apart from actual preparation for the hike, he also had to reach out to the media for publicity. This, he said, took a toll on him.

Preparing for the task

“The weeks leading to the hike were pretty hectic,” he said. “I was spending hours in front of the system shooting emails to potential media partners and also calling folks in Lagos whose support was critical to the success of the climb. It didn’t help that I was based in Dar es Salaam at that point.”

But climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is an exhausting task, which tasks the mind as well as the body.

“Before the climb, I ran on the average of 10kilometres daily for about three months. I also did a lot of reading about the hike, speaking to folks who had attempted it; watching documentaries all in a bid to prepare myself mentally for the task.”

However, being physically fit is not all there is to reaching Kili’s summit. They set out on August 16 and it was by 9:00am on Friday, August 22. It took six days to reach Uhuru peak.

“Kilimanjaro requires an even mix of physical and mental stamina,” he said after their successful ascent. “Some extremely fit people have failed in their attempt to summit because they succumbed to altitude mountain sickness (AMS).”

For Eyinade, who had never even experienced camping, climbing Kili was a brutal welcome to the outdoors. By the second day, altitude had started taking its toll on them. The trek which saw them go through four ecological zones of varying topography followed a routine; hiking to a camp, eating, sleeping, and repeating the grind all over again.

“Hiking for an average of six hours daily for six days is no mean task,” he said. “Between the fourth and the fifth day, we hiked for 18 hours.  It helped that there was a great deal of mental preparation else I would have keeled over from the  stress and strain of living in the elements for six days without a bath; I quickly add that it was my fist time of camping outdoors. I was especially difficult getting out of the tent in freezing cold at night to take a leak. It was clearly living on the edge. From one camp to the other, with no access to all the basic things we take for granted on this side.”

At high altitudes, the human body strains with altitude sickness. And as Eyinade neared the summit, he suffered bouts of headaches and coughing, symptoms of altitude sickness.

“I questioned my sanity severally on that hike because I saw the inherent dangers involved in climbing at that altitude with limited oxygen supply,” he said. “After summiting, I started to hallucinate; we had to make a quick descent to ameliorate the effect of the high altitude. In addition, there were a few dangerous cliffs along the route that I expressed shock to the chief guide when I learned we would need to scramble past the cliffs. It helped that I communicated my fears in advance as it showed to the guide that they needed to pay attention to me and to give me a helping hand to prop up my courage.”

Seven routes lead to the Uhuru summit but the party chose the Machame route, Eyinade said because it is the most scenic route. It is also referred to as the ‘Whisky route’ because of reputation for being tough and unavailability of sleeping huts along the way unlike some other routes. One of the routes, the Marangu route is called ‘Cocacola’ route. However, despite the physical strain before and during the hike, Eyinade said he enjoyed some remarkable moments.

“The feeling of being above the cloud was immensely heartening,” said Eyinade. “The most memorable for me was the summit night. In the wee hours of the fifth day we kicked off the summit hike from the base camp. We had hiked for about eight hours during the preceding day and we were completely spent. We were layered up with over five clothes because at that altitude we were at sub-zero temperature and freezing. It was an extremely tiring hike. I hiked for over six hours and was very exhausted by sunrise still I hadn’t gotten to the summit.  I was counselled by the guide to return to the base camp as the other members of the party had gone hours ahead of me to the summit. I declined his advice and that continued.  Eventually, I found the strength to get to the first milestone: Stella point (5,745m); I had thought I would just get to the Stella point and then take some pictures and commence my descent but it turned out differently. I caught a glimpse of the signage of the highest (Uhuru) peak (5,895m) and I sought to know how long it would take to get to the peak from the Stella point. I summoned the courage and commenced the final leg. Against all odds, I got to the summit.”

Upon getting to the summit, Eyinade said he was in a riotous state of mind.

“My mind was a swirling with a lot of thoughts at that point,” he said.

“It was a mixed bag of exhilaration and relief. Relief that I had achieved the goal. At that point I had suspended all the concerns I had about safety and was more focused on ensuring that we took new set of pictures because my team members had gotten to the summit and had taken pictures with all the banners that we brought without me in the hope that I wouldn’t make the hike since we had parted for over four hours during the summit night. Understandably, I was thinking about all the naysayers and friends who had said it was a silly expedition. I spared some thought by the little difference we would make with the climb to some persons with Down Syndrome. Notably, I recalled a conversation I had with someone who having attempted Kilimanjaro successfully twice. He had expressed pessimism about the chances of our reaching the summit since we didn’t follow his exercise routine. During that discussion, I came close to telling him off. I was excited that we had proven him wrong; it was a realization of the dream of turning the various disincentives for success on the head and achieving our goal that excited me the most. I was happy that we summited and we climbed Kilimanjaro for Down Syndrome.”

Mount Kilimanjaro is generally referred to as everyman’s Everest because out of the seven great summits, it is considered the easiest to climb without oxygen and other specialised mountain climbing gears.Usually it costs about 3000 dollars to climb Kilimanjaro, but with a guide he had relationship with, the party paid less.

“Outside of air fare ticket, the expedition set us back each by a little over1500 dollars,” Eyinade said.  “If you add some of the hiking and camping gears that we bought or rented it would be close to 2000 dollar per person.”

Though the group didn’t raise the N10m it set out to raise Eyinade said; “we got some good media mileage and that for us was very gratifying. Quite a number of people came out openly to talk about their loved ones and sibling with Down syndrome and explore ways of engaging with the condition and helping those with it. We enjoyed the support of the Down Syndrome Foundation Nigeria and that made a great deal of difference in helping to use the hike to publicise Down Syndrome and getting the public to know about the good work Down Syndrome Foundation Nigeria.”

However, to group says that in order to supplement the donations already received, pictures from the climb will be packaged into a coffee table book, and a public exhibition of the pictures will also be made. And proceeds from the sales of the book and the exhibition will be donated to support the work of the Down Syndrome Foundation Nigeria.

But on an individual level, Eyinade, highlighted three things he gained from the hike.

“At the risk of saying what is trite,” he said,“we need to keep taking pushing outside out of our comfort zones; you learn a great deal about yourself outside of your zone of comfort. The thing about risk taking and adventure is that it provides a memory bank from which we can draw strength from during subsequent encounters where you need to take more risk. It sort of reinforced for me the risk-return trade-off: the higher the risk; the higher the return. The second is to always speak out when we are afraid. We should never shy away from calling out for help when we are afraid. It sounds mundane but it made a lot of difference during the hike. The third is to continue to explore nature. It leaves you in awe of the immensity of God’s work. It is humbling seeing the beauty of nature and the realization that we are just a speck in the phenomenal work that is God’s earth.”