•Lagos backwater communities make case for connectivity
Hidden behind the waters off Shibiri, a community in Oto-Awori LCDA in Lagos, are a number of villages. The villages are peculiar in that they are scattered among water channels and yet boast of a host of modern amenities that may put some major towns to shame. They however lack one thing, which in their opinion, is holding them back. Medinat Kanabe reports.
Ese Ofin, Egan, Origele, Ojota, Ishagira are some communities ensconced in between a number of tributaries of the Badagry creeks, a major water channel which flows into the Lagos lagoon from the Badagry end. They can be accessed via Shibiri, a little Awori settlement in Oto-Awori LCDA in the old Ojo Local government Area of Lagos. Because of their natural topography, the communities are connected by water and like a people connected by destiny, the people live the same pattern of life, share the same primary school, secondary school and hospital; except for a few who prefer to patronise private schools and hospitals in nearby towns across the creeks.
According to the indigenes, the communities have existed for over 80 years and have grown from one little village to a number of villages that can now be called a town, based on its growing population, development and energy.
According to Chief Yusuf Salami Abiodun, the Baale of Egan, one of the constituent villages, who says he was born in the community over 40 years ago; the community has steadily progressed over the years that there is nothing the inhabitants want in the outside world that does not exist within the community.
Aside being born in the village, he claimed that both his parents and their parents also lived in the community. He also revealed that the community has been fortunate to have had contact with modern civilisation rather early. “Our village was discovered early by the government; that is why we have a government nursery, primary school and a secondary, which I attended.
“The primary school is in our community while the secondary school is located in Ishagira community, where our government hospital is also located.
“We also got electricity in this community as far back as 1988, during the reign of Gov. Raji Rasaki; and I can tell you for free that we enjoy good supply. Currently, we enjoy five days supply every week, which is better than what many who claim to live in the bigger towns and cities get per week.” Baale Abiodun said.
Another notable impact of the government in the backwater communities is the 240 by 2-metre solid concrete foot bridge, constructed by a son of the soil and former Commissioner for Rural Development between 2011 and 2015, Cornelius Oyefolu Ojelabi. It replaced the old dilapidated wooden bridge, which served them for years. The Baale recalled how conveying seafood and farm produce to the big markets, using the old bridge, was a lot of headache and cumbersome for his people.
According to Baale Abiodun, Ojelabi was born in Ese Ofin community and attended the primary school there. His father was a onetime Baale of the community, hence he was well acquainted with the biggest need of the people.
“Before he built the jetty for us, we used to cross the water through a wooden bridge while the children swam across since the river is not very wide,” Baale Abiodun said.
Explaining that he became Baale of Egan only about four months ago, he said the communities have designated market days when they transport all their goods to the market and also buy the things they need at home, pending the next market day, usually every eight days.
Introducing the other communities, Baale Abiodun said “We have other communities around us here and they are all surrounded by water.
Asked if the first settlers in the community had to sand fill the water, he said “No, it is the work of God. Nobody living here ever filled or had to fill their land to build their houses. Even when you dig, you dig very far before you get water. The rivers you see around the communities were created like that by God. The waters are on their own while the lands are also on their own. We plant here and we work here. Sometimes I stay here for one month without going out of the community because we have everything we need here.”
Fishing and agrarian
On the people’s main source of livelihood, Baale Abiodun said “It is mainly fishing, hunting and farming. We farm cassava, plantain, coconut. The women also weave mats and sell to customers who come from far and near.”
Asked if there are plans to have private clinics establish in the communities to complement the lone government hospital and serve the over 3,000 population better, Baale said, “We will allow anyone who has been certified by the government to establish. But we can’t just allow anybody to come and build a hospital here because we’re talking about lives; and we don’t want our people dying from wrong medical diagnoses.
“You may see this place as a village but we don’t; so we cannot allow just anyone to come here and start a hospital. I will first write to the authority and if such person is up to date, the government will tell us and we will allow him.”
Even as a backwater village, many modern houses are springing up in different locations, most of them being built by strangers. On this, the Baale said, “Yes the houses are being built by strangers who acquired plots of land here because of its affordability. They believe that the government will in the not too distant future build a motorable bridge here, which is not far from the truth. Once a bridge is built here, there will be nothing anyone is looking for outside that will not be available here.”
He therefore called on the government to look into this, so that more positive development can come into the community.
In the absence of a motorable bridge, the Baale lamented that “Building a house in this community costs much more than what it cost to build the same house in the up towns and cities because everything needs to be transported across water and some of the materials used in building these houses cannot be carried by boats.
“If a tipper brings sand or gravel, it has to be first offloaded at the river bank, then they will look for a way to get it across the water; and that is extra cost.”
Security-wise, Baale said the entire community enjoys absolute peace and the people can even afford to sleep with their doors open and their two eyes close. He however said he cannot predict what will happen when a modern motorable bridge is built and the communities are exposed to the outside world.
On the likelihood of wild animals such as snakes, crocodiles and the likes, constituting danger, he said that is not much of a problem since a good number of the indigenes are hunters, who constantly hunt the animals for economic purpose.
“There are days set aside for hunters from the different communities to come together and storm the bushes. On those days, they hunt the animals down, so they know better than to come close to the communities.
“Apart from that, there are traps that individuals set from time to time to cash animals.”
A young landlady of Igbo extraction, who goes by the acronym ‘Nurse’ on account of her profession in the community, told this reporter that she, together with her husband and children, have been living in the community for over a year and the experience has been wonderful.
“I am from the eastern part of Nigeria, Igbo if you like; we were first residing in the North but had to leave because of the problems of Boko Haram insurgency. My husband brought us to his brother’s house at Shibiri but because of the problems with his tenants, we left after my husband got a land and built his house here.”
On the experience so far, she said, “I love the environment because it is peaceful. Although when he first told me that he was bringing me here, I cried because I was scared for my children because of the water. But the first time I brought the children here, they liked it and were happy, so I relaxed. It’s been a year since we’ve been living here and we are fine.
“My children school across the water and I work outside the community as a nurse in one of the hospitals in Shibiri while my husband is a banker up town; so we cross the water every day and in all these times, I have not heard of any incident.”
Another elderly man popularly known as Baba Maria, who spoke with The Nation said he was born in the community about 70 years ago and his parents lived there all their lives.
He is quite hopeful and declared with the conviction of someone in the know, that the government will build a motorable bridge to link the villages with the outside world by 2018. “By next year, the government will help us build a bridge that cars can ride through so that development can come to the community.”
Going back memory lane, he spoke of how as a young boy, everywhere used to be all bush, noting that his parents farmed and fished for survival.
Another indigene, a boat operator, who gave his name as Omojesu said no-one exactly knows how long the community has been in existence. “My father was born in this village and I was born here too. We have always been crossing this water with boats even before this jetty was built a few years ago. The former bridge was made with planks before the commissioner came and made a concrete bridge for us.”
He explained that the boats ferry passengers as far as Agbara, Badagry, Eko (Lagos Island), Apapa and Mile Two. “Many people come here in the morning to take boats to various places to escape the traffic on the roads, and mind you, if you get on any of our boats, we make sure you put on a life jacket in compliance with government’s safety measures, however near or far your destination.”
On the indigenous language of the community, Omojesu said Yoruba and to a lesser extent, Ogu, more popularly known as Egun. “We heard that some people came to settle here many years ago before others came to join them. My father told me that his father was born here; so we cannot say exactly how old the village is, but the two major languages are Yoruba and Egun.”
