A CHOLERA epidemic looms large at Iponri Low Cost Estate in Surulere, Lagos State. A visit to the community, one of the oldest housing estates in the state, revealed the messy environmental condition the residents are grappling with. From one end of the estate to another, human wastes flow like a river, causing an odious stench to envelope the estate and its neighbouhoods.
Like the biblical plague in Pharaoh’s Egypt, the entire estate is infested with flies and other insects that feed on human wastes, fuelling fears among the people that they may soon be plagued by an epidemic that could cost many of them their lives.
The Nation investigation revealed that the ordeal of the residents started sometime last year but assumed a worrisome dimension about five months ago when the sewage plant that conveys their excreta stopped functioning. It was gathered that the plant managed by the Lagos State Waste Water Management Office had its power supply cut off by the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKDC) over unpaid electricity bills.
Some of the residents, who spoke with our correspondent, complained that they had been going in and out of hospitals as a result of frequent vomiting, stooling and swollen stomach from the stench of human wastes.
One who identified herself as Ojora Rashidat said she had been rushed to the hospital on two occasions because of the damage the stench did to her system.
Rashidat said: “The stench we inhale from the faeces that is flowing all over the place is doing unquantifiable damage to our lives. The stench has been unbearable. Personally, I have been rushed to the hospital on two occasions because I was seriously stooling and vomiting. If it is so for an elderly person like me, imagine what its effect will be on our children whose immune system is still very weak.
“Many of them pick things from this same ground that has been drenched and polluted by faeces and put them in their mouths. So, you can imagine the magnitude of contaminated things they would have put into their mouths.”
Aside from the health problems she has suffered, she said she was forced to shut down her business as a food vendor because of the stench. She said: “I am now jobless because it is not healthy for one to be selling food to people in a polluted environment like this. My source of the little income with which I support my family has gone for no good reason. It is really painful and condemnable.
“This will let you know that the challenges that this problem is causing us in this estate is multi-facetted. We can’t stay outside at night to receive fresh air when there is heat.”
Another resident who gave her name as Badmus Modinat said that two members of her household had been sick because of the stench which she described as a prelude to epidemic.
“I have two children who are presently sick because of the stench from flowing faeces. The problem is affecting their education because instead of going to school, it is the hospital I have been taking them to.
“As you can see, all the water on the ground is human wastes. When we flush the toilet, instead of the excreta going to the central sewage, it goes out through the pipes and flows into the streets. If you go round the whole neighbourhood, you will see human wastes flowing all over.
“This has been making life unbearable for us. Thank God, you are also perceiving it, and you understand the gravity of what we are talking about. What you are seeing right now is a child’s play compared to what it was last week when there was no sunshine as such.
“We were forced to contribute money to buy a pipe to channel the excreta to the canal, but the pipe was not long enough. There are flies everywhere and they put our lives at serious risk because they could perch on one’s food after feasting on excreta. It is really worrisome. Our fears are that the problem could result in intractable epidemic if it is not quickly addressed.”
Modinat added that their woes are compounded by epileptic water supply which makes it difficult for them to clean the environment when it is messed up by the human wastes.
“We pay for water supply every month, but we hardly get it,” she said. “When they eventually give us, the water is often not clean. I have all the receipts and will provide them immediately if you want me to.
“The water looks muddy and you have to leave it for almost a whole day for it to settle. If we have regular water supply, we would be able to wash the ground very well to reduce the stench, but we don’t. After paying for water supply, we still buy water from hawkers on a daily basis.
“Our children can no longer go out to play, because doing so will expose them to all manner of environmental pollution caused by the excreta in the neighbourhood. If they have been falling sick without playing in the contaminated neighbourhood, you can imagine what would have happened if they have been allowed to soil their bodies in the excreta. We are forced to lock them up. As soon they come back from school, we drive them into the house.”
Kayode Adeyemi, a visibly disturbed resident, described the condition of the estate as nasty, saying: “We are in danger of epidemic, which may not augur well for the people and the state in general. We have need of urgent help from the government to forestall the impending danger.”
On her part, Biola Jinadu, a middle aged resident, told The Nation that her stomach had been swelling frequently since the problem started, adding: “When I started having the feeling, it never occurred to me that the stench could be the cause. It was when other residents started complaining that they have been stooling and vomiting that it dawned on me that the stench oozing out from the excreta is the cause. Like other residents, I have visited the hospital several times. After treatment, the doctor said I should stay away from the stench.
“I learnt it was the same thing that other residents were told. But the question is, how do you avoid the stench? One cannot lock up herself in the house in this period that electricity is not available. Some people are considering leaving the estate pending when the problem is resolved but I don’t have anywhere to move to.”
Aside from the health challenges bedevilling the estate, some other residents told our correspondent that they feared using the toilets when they were pressed.
“I always pray not to be pressed at home since this problem started, because the moment you flush, the whole thing will just flow into the neighbourhood. I hate leaving a splash of my excreta in the water cistern, not to talk of having everything that comes out of my body to flow out to the street and mess up the neighbourhood. I will never feel good to see that kind of rubbish.
“I must tell you that my toilet has been on break for some time, as I always make sure I empty my bowel very well in the office. I don’t stay around on weekends because I can’t afford to defecate in the toilet. Others can go ahead and do so but I cannot,” a resident who gave her name simply as Joy said.
Her views were shared by another resident who identified herself as Dupe. She said: “This is the first time I will be caught in this kind of mess. Imagine where you have a decent toilet in your house and you dread sitting on it to defecate. After forcefully defecating, the feeling I have when I go out and see the flow of excreta is that people will identify my own. It unsettles me and makes it difficult for me to use the toilet next time.
“I have devised methods of emptying my bowels without using the toilet in the house. But that is not something I would say in the public.”
Fears for children
Fear about the safety of the children is however the concern of Sola, a trader on the estate. She said: “The immune system of the children is not as strong as that of the adults. This makes them to be highly susceptible to any form of disease that may break out here. Besides, some of them pick things from the ground and put them in their mouth. This can cause a lot of health problems for them.
“No matter how much you try, you cannot totally monitor the movement of these kids. If you lock them up after they return from school, would you stop them from going to school? I think something urgent needs to be done to salvage the situation, because if adults are already falling sick, you can imagine the extent of damage the problem might have done to the systems of the children.”
Some of the children who spoke with our correspondent expressed sadness over the development, wondering when the problem would be over.
“The problem has denied us our freedom and the opportunity to play with our peers,” said 15-year-old Usman Ojora.” We can’t play football on the street again because of the stench. Everywhere in the estate is covered by excreta. When we go to school and come back, we are made by our parents to stay indoors.
“We really feel bad about it but there is nothing we can do because the decision is in our interest. A number of our friends have been falling sick because of the stench, and if we are not prevented from coming in frequent contact with excreta, the development could lead to a problem that would claim lives.”
The chairman of the Community Development Association, Aderemi Shabi, is not happy over the state government’s alleged delay in rectifying the problem. He said: “The problem is not good for the health of our people. What has probably prevented us from having an epidemic is that most residents don’t have wells or boreholes in their houses. If most people were to have wells and boreholes, the excreta would have found its way into them and whoever uses such would be in grave health danger.”
Enumerating the efforts the community has made to address the challenge, Shabi said: “Initially the engineer handling the job blamed the problem on power supply. He said the power distribution company that supplies power to the area had disconnected their supply. We offered to buy diesel for them to power their generator and clean up the mess but they said the generator has broken down.
“The estate is in serious mess and our fears are that all forms of sicknesses might be rearing their heads if the problem is not immediately tackled. We want to appeal to the relevant government agencies and Governor Akinwumi Ambode to quickly come to our aid.”
A member of staff of the Lagos State Waste Water Management Office, who did not want his name in print, said: “The power distribution company didn’t just disconnect our wires. They removed our fuse from the transformer. Unfortunately, the generator that we would have used to suck the excreta from individual houses to the central sewage has been down for almost a year.”
Dr Rotimi Akinsanya, a public health physician, said the community is already open to myriads of health problems because of the development.
He said: “The community is faced with so much danger because of the situation the residents have found themselves in. The development is an avenue for cholera and dysentery to affect the residents because it involves the admission of fecal contaminated matters.
“Flies will perch on excreta and can cause typhoid and other sicknesses, especially when they have access to what the people eat.”
Even after the government agency might have succeeded in rectifying the problem, Dr Adesanya advised that efforts must be made to fumigate the community to avoid outbreaks of diseases.
“Fixing the problem will not be an end to the health challenges the community may suffer from. The government must fumigate the entire community to make sure that all the lava of flies that may be in shell are destroyed and not allowed to hatch and begin to wreak havoc in the neighbourhood.
“Besides, the children should be de-wormed and given vaccines to prevent outbreaks. All these are important to safeguard the lives of the residents.”
At the time of filing this report, a top official of the Lagos State Waste Water Management Office said the problem had been fixed.
The official, who chose to be anonymous, said: “We have resolved the problem and I can assure you that everything is in order right now. The problem was caused by bureaucracy, which hindered our activities.
“Like I said, the problem has been fixed and we hope it will never reoccur.”
