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Tag: residents

  • Council distributes gas cylinders to residents

    Council distributes gas cylinders to residents

    Mindful of the negative impacts which unchecked environmental degradation have had on our environment, governments and groups the world over have come to terms with the need to prevent or mitigate their effects for a safer world. One of the means through which man harms the environment is through felling of trees for charcoal for cooking.

    A United Nations’ Conference on the Human Environment notes that “a time has come in history when we must shape our actions throughout the world with a more prudent care for their environmental consequences. Through ignorance or indifference, we can do massive and irreversible harm to the earthly environment on which our life and well-being depend.

    “Conversely, through fuller knowledge and wiser action, we can achieve for ourselves and our posterity a better life in keeping with human needs and hopes…”

    Efforts are therefore being made by government to find ways of mitigating or preventing actions that would have uncomplimentary impacts on the environment and the well-being of mankind.

    This may have informed the Lagos State Government’s efforts towards ensuring cleaner and safer environment through the Eko Gas initiative through which it makes available portable gas cylinders to residents of the state.

    Determined to ensure that residents embrace the use of cooking gas as against charcoal, the state government makes the facility available to all the local government areas for distribution.

    •Samples of the Eko Gas cylinders
    •Samples of the Eko Gas cylinders

    Recently, it was the turn of Oriade Local Council Development Area where the Eko Gas cylinders were distributed to residents of the council.

    Speaking at the occasion, the Executive Secretary of the council, Hon. Bola Badmus-Olujobi noted that the programme was initiated and launched by Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) to promote a cleaner and healthier environment for residents of the state.

    On the benefits derivable from the cooking gas cylinder, she said: “The liquefied cooking gas cylinder has lots of advantages over the traditional systems of cooking such as firewood, coal and electricity. It is cheaper, cooks faster, safer, portable, healthier and cleaner.

    “In view of its effectiveness and efficiency, it has been adopted by developed and developing countries the world over. There is no gainsaying that Lagos State Government, being a pace-setter in matters concerning the welfare of its citizens, has equally adopted and is promoting the use of the liquefied cooking gas cylinder by the residents at the grassroots.”

    She urged beneficiaries to use the cooking gas cylinders as instructed by the manufacturers, saying “you have no need to ignorantly abandon, sell or rent them out to your disadvantage”.

    Also speaking, the representative of the Permanent Secretary in the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Adeniyi Steven said there was the need to create awareness on the benefits of the use of cooking gas.

    He also said the use of cooking gas will reduce the heat that emit from kerosene stoves, even as he added that it will also ensure healthy living condition as our kitchens where meals are prepared will be clean enough; it will reduce soot and carbon emissions and general air pollution.

    He further said: “Scientists have also indicated that cooking gas has no adverse impact on the environment compared with the traditional energy sources such as fuel wood and coal. With the use of kerosene, women and children are directly exposed to pollution.”

    Noting that it requires rigorous sensitisation for people to key into the campaign on clean environment, Mr Steven said “educating Nigerians on the need to switch to this clean and abundant energy service is very necessary for Nigerians, especially women to adopt the cooking gas as their energy service for all their domestic energy needs.

    He further said with the use of cooking gas, there would be less attack on the environment. He, however, expressed his confidence that with “government’s efforts towards cleaner environment, we are sure that adequate sensitisation on the need for people to adopt cooking gas as suitable alternative source of energy for domestic use will be sustained. Fears on the part of some landlords concerning the use of cooking gas are unfounded as most often, fire outbreaks are as a result of improper installation.”

    High points of the event were demonstration by Mr Steven on how to assemble the cylinder for use and for safety and distribution of the cooking gas cylinders to beneficiaries.

  • Residents tackle violence in Ebira

    Residents tackle violence in Ebira

    Residents of Ebira, Kogi State have taken steps to scale back violent crimes in their land.

    Ebira land comprises Okene, Okehi, Adavi, Ajaokuta and Ogori Magongo which  form Kogi Central.

    Several people have been attacked, some killed in a manner that mystified the residents. Appalled by the development, the people pledged to mitigate the ugly trend.

    Several hideous crimes, including mysterious killings many of which are yet to be unravelled, continued to be experienced in parts of Okene, while the rate of kidnappings has been on the increase.

    Recently, the Director of Local Government (DLG) of Adavi Local Government Area, Alhaji Abdullazeez Ohere and the octogenarian American missionary, Rev. Phyllis Sortor, were abducted by unknown gunmen, who stormed the Hope Alive Nursery/Primary School which she runs in Emiworo, Ajaokuta Local Local Government Area.

    An old Islamic scholar was alleged to have been killed in Adavi. Those who gathered to sympathise or mourn the cleric were also killed by unidentified gunmen who disappeared and are yet to be apprehended.

    There was also the story of an old man who was returning from the 5.30am prayers who was also killed on his way to his home.

    Incidents such as these and others unreported led to the stakeholders’ meeting on security which was conveyed by the Ebira Peoples Association (EPA). At the meeting, far-reaching decisions were taken in a bid to reduce the rate of crimes.

    •Rev. Sorton
    •Rev. Sorton

    The meeting held at Hill Top Hotel, Lokoja and was attended by many interest groups, including elders, politicians, government officials, traditional and community leaders and representatives of women organisations. Some of the vices which dominated discussions were kidnappings, organised crime, assassinations, thuggery and religious fundamentalism.

    In their separate speeches, the President of Ebira Peoples Association (EPA), Dr Musa Abdulrahaman Adeiza and the National Secretary, Arudi Yahaya Isah, observed that leadership failure at all levels of the society is the cause of breakdown of law and order in Ebira land.

    The stakeholders stressed the need for the revival of existing vigilance groups or establishment of new ones to assist law enforcement agents for community policing.

    It advised that from then on, apprehended criminals should not be bailed, saying that such criminals should be transferred to police authorities with 24 hours for prosecution.

    It also noted that most crimes are committed by most motorcycle operators, even as they stressed that there was the need to enforce time limit for motorcycle operators from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in order to check the activities of criminals.

    Investigations revealed that not only has movements by motorcycle operators been restricted in Adavi and Okene, human movements are also resticted during the period.

    They stakeholders urged that law enforcement agents, particularly, the police on official duties should wear their official uniform to distinguish them from impersonators.

    Politicians, they said, should be prevailed upon to stop encouraging the use of thugs for political activities and that the Supreme Council of Elders (SCE) and turbaned traditional title holders should rise up to the occasion by addressing press conferences and seek audience with state and local governments and law enforcement agencies in order to minimise crime rate in Ebira land.

    They also called for an investigation on the activities of masquerades in Ebira land in line with the tradition of the Ebira people, even as they would want regular oversight of hotels and hotel owners as a means of checking activities of criminals who use such places as hide outs. They also expressed their worry over the proliferation of drugs in the society and influx of mentally challenged persons among other measures to checkmate criminal activities in Ebira land.

    The forum also expressed dismay over the alleged criminal activities of Fulani herdsmen, saying it has sent people out of their farmlands in Ebira land. They called for strategies to engage them (the headsmen) before possible breakdown of law and order. One of the strategies they suggested was to explore peace and reconciliation on issues that breed unhealthy rivalry among Anebira in general.

    Interestingly, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Samuel Ogunjemulusi had warned those who use masquerade as subterfuge to unleash terror on innocent citizens to desist or face the wrath of the law.

    Mr. Ogunjemulusi had called on traditional rulers in the area to keep their masquerades in check to avoid being used by hoodlums, even as he called for synergy between the command and traditional rulers in the Kogi Central to curb the incessant killings and kidnappings that have become nightmare in the district.

    The CP, who made the appeal when he paid a courtesy visit on the Ohinoyi of Ebira land, His Royal Majesty Ado Ibrahim in Okene, said Kogi Central poses a major problem to the police.

    According to him, clannish animosity and unnecessary masquerade display which lead to loss of lives and property had hampered the peaceful co-existence of the people, adding that incidents of kidnapping and killings in recent time have become worrisome.

    He described as unhealthy the situation where politicians stockpile dangerous weapons to harm perceived opponents, saying that the command would not tolerate such acts.

    He said: “We are here to tell the royal father and other traditional rulers in the district that a new policing era has come to Kogi State. I am in the state to uphold police professional excellence and we are not be partisan because we are not politicians.

    “We are appealing to the Ohinoyi of Ebira land to talk to his subjects not to indulge in any form of violence as police would not spare any one found disrupting societal peace. The era of arrest and release without prosecution is over. We cannot allow miscreants to be tarnishing the good image of Ebira people.

    “We want to emphasise more on community policing and we need the people to give us support through useful information.”

    Responding, the monarch said the problems of Ebira people started when the crop of politicians in the land “use every available means to win elections without recourse to peace and unity of the people.”

  • Electricity bill: Residents insist no payment

    Electricity bill: Residents insist no payment

    Residents of Papa Ashafa and Alagba Community Development Association (CDA) in Agege, Lagos, last Saturday stick to their words that they will not pay electricity bills to Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) until the distribution company improves the condition of service.

    At a meeting with the IKEDC’s officials, the aggrieved residents came out in hundreds to lodge their complaints before the officials. These include “outright cancellation of power shedding, bills amnesty, stoppage of crazy billing, immediate circulation of pre-paid meters, poor maintenance of transformers and electric cables, nonchalant attitude of officials to the residents, among others.

    The residents had on February 23, marched to Dopemu Distribution Centre of the IKEDC to protest  the poor situation of the power supply within the area.

    Youth Alliance for Better Nigeria Coordinator, Moruf Niniola told the IKEDC officials that the residents are fed up with the poor service, noting that they are paying for the electricity which they didn’t consume.

    Niniola said gone are the days residents spent their incomes to buy generators, fuel it and pay for electricity at the end of the month, even at higher billing.

    He urged the officials to quickly proffer solution to the problems, saying that the residents didn’t mind removing all the electricity poles and the cable within the area if that would provide solution to the problems within the maximum of four weeks of their projection.

    A community leader, Chief Afolabi Oniyide, demanded to know the reason for the delayed of the prepaid meters paid for over 7 months ago.

    Oniyide said he paid N12, 000 for the prepaid meters when he discovered non-transparency in the company’s billing.

    He presented documents to back his claim.

    Another resident Olawale Orebayo, described the company’s over-billing as broad-day robbery.

    “There was a time I travelled out of the country for over two months, I could not believe my eyes when I met N28, 000 bill despite that all my home appliances were switched off even the electric cut-out was removed,” he said.

    He wondered why residents should be levied heavily when there was not electricity supply.

    Orebayo said the company is yet to attend to his complaints after several messages and mails concerning the outrageous bill.

    A widow, Mrs Taiwo Adedoyin called for a quick revisit of crazy bills accumulated in her house. She said her tenants have refused to continue paying for the electricity due to the monthly high billing.

    She said the tenants had switch to generating set instead of electricity due to power outage and paying higher amount for electricity bill monthly.

    Mr Nzebude Uzoma told The Nation that the community have spoke in one voice that no house within the area will pay for electricity bill until the authority solve the crisis.

    The Marketing Manager, Dopemu Distribution Company, Mr Victor Amaraegbu, said most of the problems were caused by the country’s low power transmission, but pledged to deliver their message to the company’s higher authority.

    He urged the residents to stop tampering with their metres.

    Tampering with metre, he said, might cause high-speeding.

    He also appealed to them to shun employing local electricians to work on the electricity cables, transformers or connection in case of disconnection.

    These, he said, added to the problems of poor maintenance.

    The Branch Team Leader, Mr Banji Ogunleye said the branch had been doing all it could to ensure the damaged cables within the area are replaced.

  • Council chief compels residents to clean homes

    Council chief compels residents to clean homes

    Council chief played the enforcer last Saturday, getting some residents of Ikorodu, Lagos, to participate in the monthly environmental sanitation.

    Princess Adunni Oyefusi, Ikorodu West Local Council Development Area Executive Secretary Stormed Houses 2 and 4B Olayinka Jumbo Street to compel the residents to join in the exercise.

    Residents of House 4B argued with her; those in House 2 ignored her.

    She threatened to get them arrested before some of them saw reason with her.

    A resident told the council chief that he swept House 4B.

    “Can you imagine a house where a man sweeps the surroundings while the female are standing aloof? The women in this house don’t bother to join the exercise. I was the one that swept this compound earlier on,” he said.

    Princess Oyefusi warned the residents against incurring the government’s wrath with their attitude.

    “I learnt the residents in those houses constitute a nuisance to the community. They even dare to remove government seal on their houses. I will report their matter to the state government should they fail to heed this last warning for sanction,” she said.

    At Ipakodo, Princess Oyefusi lamented the community’s refusal to stop dumping refuse indiscriminately.

    “This same place,” she said, “was cleared of refuse last month; the residents have dumped refuse there again. People should be concerned about their health.”

    She vowed to bring the Mobile Court to the community to handle the matter.

  • Emir to displaced Mubi residents: return home

    The Emir of Mubi, Alhaji Abubakar Isa-Ahmadu, has called on persons displaced from his domain by Boko Haram insurgents to return home.

    The call is contained in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja by Mr. Sani Datti, Senior Information Officer, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

    The statement quoted the Emir as saying this when he received a Federal Government delegation, led by the Minister of Youth Development, Mr. Boni Haruna, in his palace.

    The delegation also included officials of NEMA.

    The emir urged the residents to cooperate with NEMA personnel to assess the level of damage caused by the insurgents in Mubi.

    Isa-Ahmadu enjoined the people of Mubi to be vigilant, law-abiding and assist the Federal Government to maintain peace and security.

    The Emir thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for his concern towards the condition of the displaced persons.

    Haruna told the Emir that the delegation was in Mubi to assess the level of peace and security.

    “The commander of the Battalion based in Mubi has assured that soldiers have cleared the town and made it safe for law-abiding citizens to return home,” the minister said.

    Mr. Musa Zakari, leader of the NEMA team, said they would conduct thorough assessment of the level of damage in the town and recommend to the government the appropriate support to the victims.

  • Abuja Disco and Mpape residents

    SIR: I must begin by appreciating the efforts made so far by the federal government to ensure constant power supply in the country and at the same time be honest to say that the power supply in most parts of the country remains the same while some places even prefer what was obtainable before the privatization of the power sector.

    Permit me to use Mpape, one of the communities in Abuja as a case study.  Power supply in Mpape, Abuja is getting worse day by day most especially at the Mashafa Community by Okada Junction. If what residents of Mpape are experiencing now is worse than what we experienced when PHCN was yet to be privatized, then, what is the essence of privatization?

    For example, some residents of Mpape, get one day of power supply, two days off. That should not have been a serious issue except that we are always having power supply when people are already asleep on the only one day that we are supposed to have light.

    To be clear, whenever it is a day for us to get power supply, we do not have it until past midnight.  How can anyone wake up at that late hour of the night to watch television, iron clothes and so on? Would they ever leave the light till daybreak so that we can make use of it? It seems Abuja Distribution Company (Disco) would never allow that.

    I have been living in Mpape all my life and so can confidently say that what we use to get from the PHCN when it was not privatized is better than what the Abuja Disco is offering us now. When we heard of PHCN privatization as proposed by the federal government, we were very happy thinking that privatization is going to wipe away our tears of epileptic power supply.  Now we are wrong. The privatization of PHCN is now giving us double tears. We are still paying for what we haven’t gotten. We are yet to get something new, something different, something better, something befitting even though we were told that privatization of the PHCN would give us stable power supply.

    Time to tell ourselves the truth is now. We can’t continue living in darkness. We need light; we need stable power supply. Enough is enough.

     

    • Awunah Pius Terwase,

    Makurdi, Benue State

  • Council boss advises residents.

    The Chairman of Akinyele Local Government, Opeyemi Salami, has advised the people not to allow themselves to be deceived by selfish politicians.

    He urged the people to pray for peace in the state and the country. Salami spoke at the inauguration of a transformer donated to Gospel Faith Mission International Church (GOFAMINT) by the wife of the governor, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi.

    Salami said: “We are urging Nigerians to pray for peace. The people should not allow selfish politicians in the opposition deceive them. They failed when they were given the opportunity to serve and that is why we should all vote for Governor Abiola Ajimobi and the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

    Mrs. Ajimobi said: “You have supported my husband in the last three and a half years. I urge you to please support him again by voting for him. You should also vote for all the APC candidates.”

  • Residents to council: repair our culvert

    Residents of Gloryland Community in Isheri-Olofin, Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Alimosho in  Lagos have appealed to the newly appointed Executive Secretary of the LCDA, Sanyaolu Olowoopejo, to urgently attend to the abandoned culvert project in the community to reduce their suffering.

    The community said the immediate past administration headed by Waheed Bello left the project uncompleted despite several pleas by the residents through their representatives.

    The Chairman, Gloryland Community Development Association, Olumide Adewale, made the call while speaking on the major request of the people of the community.

    Adewale, who lamented the plight of motorists and residents as a result of the abandoned project, noted that the project was the only thing the community benefited from the Egbe-Idimu LCDA in the last six years under the immediate past administration.

    He recalled that Bello embarked on the project a month before his exit from office when much pressure was brought to bear on him.

    He said that the residents’ fears came to pass as the project later became abandoned and, therefore, called on the new council boss, to come to their aid.

  • Residents lament years of paying for darkness

    Residents lament years of paying for darkness

    Residents of Idimu-Shasha-Akowonjo live in utter darkness. They only had interjections of ‘light flashes’ supplied by the Bolounpe Power Station in the last 10 years. Since then, life and business in the areas have been one long stretch of slow and dreary darkness and stillness, reports Assistant Editor, Investigations, JOKE KUJENYA

    Many of the residents wanted to talk at the same time.  “I was an automobile mechanic for seven years, now I am a petty trader”, said a male resident called Waidi.

    “I had a hairdressing salon, now I am an apprentice to another woman in another location, far away from here,” said a lady called Eunice. She added, “My salon used to thrive but when we had no light for so long, my business collapsed”.

    “In my case”, said Mama Sola, “I was the only one in this area that used to have many grinding machines to blend whatever anyone wanted to grind such as pepper ingredients, beans for akara or moin-moin and others. Today, I have sold out all the machines since there was no light to operate my business.

    “On the business, I used three generating plants (generators) that had all packed up. Life became so hard for me. It has been terrible because government has not helped us in this area at all.”

    And there were more stories from several others in the community. The residents, numbering about 14, crammed the reporter on Wednesday, December 10 as she stood on Foursquare Road, Idimu. They faulted the Federal Government for the failed utility as well as the slow pace of work and scattered power restoration effort.

    An elder in the community, who spoke on the origin of the problem, said:”It began in 2004. At the time, they had someone called ‘special base commander’. We were invited to be part of the project to give us light in our area. So, we joined without a second thought. After all, it was going to be for our good. That was during the Olusegun Obasanjo tenure.

    “We were then told that the contract was awarded at N1.28 billion. I was one of those assigned to supervise it for the benefit of our community. So, I took it as a duty. And for the next three years, when the engineer assigned to work on it took some soil from a borehole dug at the location that they were taking them to Japan, China and Germany, for ‘soil test’, we never heard anything again. Those of us in this community got fed up with the whole thing and retired back to our normal lives.

    “Then, when the late President Yar’Adua came into power in 2008, we were told initially that the contract would be re-awarded. And even as civilians, we were posed to ask questions about what happened to the initial N1.28 billion for the project that was not done. We demanded to know what happened, but nobody was willing to listen to us. Even the then Business Manager (BM), Akowonjo Exchange, Engineer Raji, told us in confidence he had no answer, that he was as puzzled as us all.

    “Even another BM called Mohammed, who later came on board was as lost as the community residents. There were even other BMs such as Engineer Abayomi who was the one there when the project actually started; he too, had no answers.

    “But when they noticed that we persisted in our investigations, we were directed to one Engineer Olotu, Chairman, Niger-Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC). But the long-and-short of our prying into what we considered very crucial was that, we ended up being tossed back-and-forth.

    “However, the NIPP pile of hogwash was that while we were told the project was only for Idimu, some engineers from Alausa, Nwosu and Balogun, early this year, came to test the lines. They then called some of us community leaders and informed us that some of the materials used for the plant are ‘deaths-waiting-to-explode’.

    “On March 14, 2012, the whole of this community experienced a terrible burning at Bolounpelu Feeder Station near College in Ikotun behind the Synagogue, where we are being supplied borrowed electricity”.

    It exploded due to the load on it. The two panels supplying residents with electricity burnt an operator working on it beyond recognition as he tried to switch on the light.

    By then, they had changed their name to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and Engineer Akamnonu was then the CEO. So, after the explosion, he said it was impossible for them to replace the two panels because they cost N500 million as at that time; that they could only afford one for N250 million.

    “Akamnonu said the only available option was to manage with load-shedding. And that was how they started giving us lights one day on or off. Sometimes, we could even be off for three to four days because we are not Bolounpelu feeder’s first priority residents. So, they may even decide not to give us light on our ‘on’ days.

    “Sadly, as at Tuesday, December 23, officials of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) who visited the area told Idimu community residents they still have to wait much longer. They kept telling us that once the energy plant is completed, we would enjoy uninterrupted power supply. But for now, we are suffering.

    Another resident, who spoke in confidence, told the reporter that: “Most of those contractors only front for the President as we later discovered. I am not a government worker, a politician and neither do I belong to any party; I’m just a concerned community member.

    “So, when some politicians came to woo me, I told them no, that all I want is the development of my community. And they left and had never returned to me. I even told one of them they are the people in government sabotaging these laudable projects for their personal benefits. He only pretended not to hear me”.

    Calm but angry at the whole shenanigan is Alhaji  Olatunde Badmus, 64, Chairman, Community Development Association (CDA), Sunshine Estate, Idimu, Lagos who moved to Idimu in 2002, said: “Since I moved in here 12 years ago, I packed into a community in darkness. I was told they had been in darkness for nine months. But I shared three months with them. Then, the electrification of this area was awarded to DFRI. Later, DFRI allegedly transferred it to a woman called Mrs. Tetede, an ex-NEPA official. She left the works uncompleted. It was members of this community that completed what she left when we went to the Mines and Power, Lagos office, around 2003 to know what was going on.

    “We were in that terrible trend when in 2004; Obasanjo came with the NIPP and said they would give us one in Idimu. By then, I was the Chairman, Transformer Users of Idimuland. So, I went with our king , Oba Abdulazeez Olayemi Dada-Aluko, the Onidimu of Idimu, went to the Air Force Base to meet with Commander Balogun, who was the then Air Force Commander. He then gave us the portion of land on which the plant was sited along Foursquare Road. The contract was then awarded to Engineer Okonkwo of Njonas Engineering Firm. They later began work, dug a borehole, brought our specimen which they said they needed for soil test.

    “They said the soil test will enable them to know the type of plant to install. We were told they were taking the soils to Japan, China and Germany. For almost three years or so, we didn’t hear anything. Years later, life is worse for us that it was back then.

    “Our worst three years have been from 2010 to 2012. According to records I kept, the number of hours of electricity supply given to us in Idimu was 1, 477 hours for the three years. That means for the three years, we didn’t have light for up to two months.

    “Economy collapsed in this area more than the entire Nigeria put together. Businesses collapsed. Welders, electricians, auto-mechanics, all became motorcycle operators. Tailors and fashion designers became petty traders or sales persons working for others. This is why our area has nearly become so empty because many went to other sides of Lagos to seek business and populate okada business.

    “And because bills kept coming, those who do not have metres were given estimated or coded bills. As they explained, coded bills are done each month after they had taken count of consumed energy from Bolounpelu from a meter at Ejigbo through which they read Bolounpelu injection station. That is what they also call crazy bills.

    Ourreporter made several attempts to meet with either the CEO, IKEDC, Engineer Biodun Ajifowobade or the MD, Alausa, Ikeja, Engineer Balogun through the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Pekun Adeyanju. He asked for questions to be sent to his e-mail. He later informed our reporter that the agency to speak on the issue is NDPHC and forwarded the contact name of the Lagos PRO, Mr. Yakubu Lawal.

    On seeing the questions forwarded to the NDPHC by Adeyanju, Lawal sent a text to the reporter and said he had forwarded the e-mail to their PRO, Abuja office, Emeka.

    Later, the Abuja NDPHC, PRO asked that a correspondent from Abuja visit their 17, Nile Street in Maitama, Abuja. Two days later, one of The Nation’s correspondents in Abuja visited him and he declined an interview, claiming that his boss was not in the country. He, however, asked the correspondent to return for the interview in January 2015.

    However, contact with another top official at the NDPHC, who said he is not officially competent to speak with the media, said the actual agency to power the plant is IKEDC and not NDPHC. He said that the plant had been handed over to IKEDC for some years and whatever failure is being experienced by the communities where the plants are not working should be addressed by them.

    About 4:36 p.m. on Thursday, December 20h, this reporter called Engineer Asha for his comments on the issue. He simply said: “You can contact the PRO, IKEDC, Pekun Adeyanju. We have been told not to speak with the media and hung up the phone”.

    The reporter then returned to the Idimu/Shasha/Akonwonjo on Wednesday, December 24h, sadly, despite the Christmas celebrations being lights-soaked, the district was in utter darkness save for electricity being supplied by several generating plants in different homes.

    Many of the streets were dark. Children limited their plays to the front of the houses. Life was slow and dry.

    The Nation reporter also went in search of Njonas, the engineering firm that handled most of the projects; at their 9, Adeola Raji Avenue in Atunrase Gbagada, area of Lagos, but on asking to see Engineer Okonkwo, the reporter was turned back at the entrance that the man is rarely in Lagos.

    And as of Friday, December 27, Olatunde informed the reporter that he just got informed by Engr Balogun of IKEDC, Lagos, that the company is yet to purchase the ‘relay’, one of the materials needed to make the plant supply electricity to the Idimu-Shasha-Akonwonjo areas.

    “This means, we are automatically going to start another New Year in utter darkness”, lamented Olatunde.

    QUOTE

    Economy collapsed in this area more than the entire Nigeria put together. Businesses collapsed. Welders, electricians, auto-mechanics, all became motorcycle operators. Tailors and fashion designers became petty traders or sales persons working for others. This is why our area has nearly become so empty because many went to other sides of Lagos to seek business and populate okada business…And because bills kept coming; those who do not have metres were given estimated or coded bills

     

  • Save us from canal of death, residents cry out

    Save us from canal of death, residents cry out

    Residents of Abule-Oki and eight other adjoining communities in Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State have appealed to the state government to complete the dredging and the concrete lining of the Aboru canal.

    According to them, the non-completion of the walls of Arigbanla canal have exposed them to and put them at the mercy of a deluge of flood, which at its peak often rises up to nine feet, submerging everything and destroying lives and property.

    Rising from a meeting last Thursday, the residents urged  Governor Babatunde Fashola to; “save them and their properties from the ‘confluence of fury’ of the flood in their neighbourhood.”

    They argued that they had continued to suffer environmental degradation as a result of government’s effort to de-flood some parts of the state.

    According to them, their communities, which has been laid waste by flood had never experienced such and had been immune to the savagery of the floods until the area became a melting point for about eight separate flood water paths. Abule Oki, they specifically claimed, now receives waste water from Ahmaddiya, Agbelekale/Ekoro, Papa Ashafa/Mulero, Orile Agege/Dopemu, Oke Shagun, Akinola and Oke-Odo/Abule Egba.

    “Many more canals have been channeled into this area, leaving Abule Oki, Akinola, Raji Rasaki and adjoining communities more devastated by the flood abatement activities of the government,” a resident said.

    The Chairman of the Committee on Canal Dredging of the communities, Alhaji Kamarudeen Bamidele, said Abule Oki which is the confluence point for all the flood water channeled to the area, is worse hit as the contractor – Messrs Dully Dredging and Construction Company have abandoned the work.

    The chairman expressed the residents’ displeasure that the project which was awarded since February 2012 with a 12-month completion has been abandoned, with dire consequences to the people. According to him, the project ought to have been completed since January 2013.

    Bamidele, a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) retiree, alleged the loss of several lives and properties to the perennial flooding as a result of the neglect of the canal dredging.

    He said: “Personally, I lost over N14 million in a fish pond investment in 2011, when we experienced the worst devastating flood that necessitated this canal dredging. Several landlords lost their homes to the flood and many tenants relocated because the entire area became submerged. So many houses sunk and several houses were abandoned and were overgrown with weeds as if they were virgin lands.”

    But the area was never prone to flood. In fact, flood, according to Superior Evangelist Stephen Oduntan of the Celestial Church of Christ, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Canal Dredging Committee, was a rarity.

    “This area was never prone to flood when I moved into this area in the 70s,” he recalled.

    Continuing, he said: “We were never troubled by flood. In, fact, this same river that is now heavily polluted, was where we baptized new converts. Everything changed a little over a decade ago and since then, things have never been the same again.”

    Bamidele claimed that everybody in the government, including the governor and the two concerned government agencies – the Ministries of the Environment and Information & Strategy, knew about the plight of his people in the hands of the confluence of fury.  He wondered why the government would fold its arms while a contractor who claimed (at a stakeholders meeting while the project was about to start) would walk from without any repercussion.

    He said: “Sequel to the flood disaster of 2011, government decided to dredge all canals around the state and Arigbanla was dredged and the concrete lining was done, since then, they never experienced flooding in those areas again.

    “When they met with us, we were assured that our canal would be dredged and a concrete lining carried out at three different locations. We were told a ‘gang’ would work from Ahmaddiya Area at Oke-Odo down to Agbelekale, the second ‘gang’ shall work from Pleasure Bus Stop along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway to link up with Arigbanla, from where waste water from Abbatoir and other canals have been channeled, into Abule Oki and the third gang would work from Akinola Area towards Command.

    “While work started at a slow pace at the Ahmaddiya/Agbelekale axis, nothing was done at the Abule Oki/Akinola end, and this axis, especially Abule Oki is where you have this heavy flood confluence.

    “One of the assurances we were given then, was that a concrete median lining would be constructed along this confluence to channel the flood water, but nothing of such has been done.”

    The chairman wondered why the contractor would fail to address the dredging and concrete lining of the Aboru canal from Abeokuta Expressway (Arigbanla end), where the flood hit hardest and nothing had been done till date.

    He said the two culverts constructed on Jimoh Street and Ige Street should be removed and replaced by bridges as the former have continued to worsen the people’s plights and pains because they are usually silted, leading to heavy flooding.

    He listed the demands of the communities to include the immediate dredging of the Aboru canal to reduce the pains of residents of the about 10 communities affected by the flood the population of which he put at over eight million.

    Every month, he said, residents spend between N18, 000 and N25, 000 to clear the canal and the culverts of debris which has resulted into a reduction in incidences of flooding anytime it rains.

    “We do not know our fate anymore. We have lived with this neglect for over two years now and that is why we are appealing to the government to come to our aid before the next rainy season,” he said.

    Another community leader, Mr. Solomon Agboghoroma, who have been living in Abule Oki since 1979, said the incidences of flooding was alien to the community until the last decade when government’s activities became more pronounced.

    He said: “Now, I spend between N300,000 –N400,000 yearly to reinforce my fence and protect my house from flood, yet, water usually submerge my house every time it rained heavily in the area. I no longer have tenants because the entire ground floor has been taken over by flood.”

    Agboghoroma said government should come to the aid of the residents to prevent grave loss of lives and property.

    Bamidele, who presented series of letters sent to the state governor on the aborted canal dredging, the latest of which was sent to the governor on September 29, 2014, pleaded with the government to revisit the Aboru canal dredging as further delay would further threaten integrity of the culverts, the base of which has been exposed and weakened by the volume of water passing underneath.

    All attempts to get any response from the supervising engineer, Mr Ajadi proved abortive as he neither picked his calls nor responded to the SMS sent to his mobile telephone devise.

    He said what the communities needed was not palliative measures such as the similar measures carried in August last year never solved the problem.

    He said the communities should be looking forward to steps being taken that would assure a lasting solution and save the residents from the yearly flooding that has put their existence in the area perpetual threat.

    But, the state government said: “Dredging of Akinola River is an ongoing project with the dredging work along the downstream of the channel to the discharge point at Aiyetoro Bridge in Ogun State completed.

    “The contractor was advised to concentrate on the dredging of the downstream in order to create adequate capacity for the channel and for effective discharge of other channels/drains (collectors and tributaries) that are contributing to the channel. It should be mentioned that one of the tributaries to the channel is Ilo-Awela River of which its dredging is at advance stage.

    “With the dredging of the downstream completed (from Ige Street in Akboru to Aiyetoro Bridge in Ogun State), the catchment of Aboru and Command are now flood free.

    “The Ministry has concentrated on the need to ensure that the entire catchment area of the channel is flood free.

    “What is uppermost to the State Government is the functionality of the canal and the need to reduce /eliminate the incidence of flooding in the areas.”