Home | Columnist | The Burden of Homelessness

The Burden of Homelessness

By newswatchngr.com 18/11/2011 01:28:00

Font size:

Residents of Ago-Egun who lost their waterfront houses to demolition are battling to cope with their burden

It was a bright Friday afternoon that occasionally seemed as if the heavens would open up, given the intermittent cracking sound and cloudy weather that hovered in the sky. Honsun Kodonu, one of the inhabitants of Ago-Egun, a swampy settlement in the Bariga axis of Lagos, emerged from a closet where he had been busy with two other men erecting a wooden structure for his displaced family. He was an unhappy man and his demeanour, however calm he appeared that November 4, proved this.

Kodonu soon began to narrate how a task force team of the Lagos State government descended on the community on August 21 and pulled down structures of many inhabitants of the community. Since then, the father of ten has virtually lived at the mercy of people, as his children have had to squat with friends and family members. Kodonu’s desperate attempt to build a new home for his family is part of his effort to restore his pride as a father. His new uncompleted structure is situated on a land close to the lagoon where his initial house stood. The Lagos State government demolished the structure, along with many others because they were considered to be “shanties” that posed “environmental nuisance.”

Apart from Kodonu, there were others like Nwinti Hugbeme, who lost three of his houses to the exercise and Akapo Ageme, who said 12 of his were also destroyed. But the casualties are many. According to Adisa Eshilokun, a native of Ago Egun. “more than 500 houses” were destroyed, leading to the displacement of about “ 3000 people.”

The victims are understandably sad at their fate and wonder how the state government could have chosen to render its citizens homeless. “ It’s just so painful,” said Ageme. The victims also claimed that the government did not inform them of the impending demolition well ahead of time to enable them relocate. “We were only given three days notice,” said one of the men. Proof of this is the letter that was served the Ago Egun and Ilaje communities, both of which overlook one another.

Dated August 18, 2011 and signed by the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit, the letter gave the “owners/occupiers of the shanties on the lagoon... 3 days” to “abate the nuisance and restore the land to a conducive environment.” This followed the “ inspection of the property”(lagoon) which shows that the “provision of the Environmental Management Laws of Lagos State” had been “contravened.”

On August 21, three days after they received the letter, and just while the people were still contemplating the directive, a demolition squad, consisting of armed security personnel, stormed the communities to effect the order. It would, in the minds of the victims, remain an unforgettable day. Three months after, fear still persists among members of Ago Egun and Ilaje communities as no one knows who could be next. Their anxiety is further hightened by the fact that the Lagos State government recently carried out another demolition in Ago Egun. That was on October 28. The target, this time, were some structures that were erected, not on the lagoon now, as there are probably none left on the sea , but on the periphery of the street overlooking the lagoon. “We do not know the government’s real plan. We fear that they could come again and send us all packing,” said one resident of the area.

But according to a source, the second round of demolition was prompted by the discovery that some people in Ago Egun were seen trying to erect new structures within the water shores. “It was discovered that some of the people were trying to rebuild some of the demolished shanties. Unfortunately, one of the commissioners in Lagos was passing through the Third Mainland Bridge and saw them. So, he turned and came to see what was happening. That led to the second demolition,” said the source.

The latest demolition happened inspite of an appeal letter written by concerned residents of Ago Egun and Ilaje Bariga to the Lagos State governor asking for a “stay of action” on government’s plans. The letter notes that the communities had been inhabited “since 1936,” and that the uproar caused by the demolition exercise led to the “drowning of a three-year-old boy and the hospitalisation of a 23-year-old, Nosiru Kudedo at Afolabi Memorial Hospital, Oworonshoki.” If not checked, it said, “fifteen thousand inhabitants, including children,” risked losing their homes. The governor was further urged to stop any further demolition “so that together with the state government, we can restore sanity to the area.”

Many residents of the area who spoke to Newswatch said that the decision to live close to the lagoon was informed by the nature of their occupation. “People here are mostly fishermen and the decision to live close to the sea is to enable them go hunting at will,” said one of the inhabitants.

Efforts by Newswatch to get the explanation of Ministry of Waterfront and Infrastructure development at Alausa, under whose supervision the demolition exercise was carried out, failed. The commissioner could not be reached even after the magazine wrote a letter requesting for an interview with him. It received no reply to that effect.

But Christopher Okungbure, the secretary general of Ilaje community, told Newswatch that the Lagos State government gave reasons why the shanties had to go. “The government said that structures were being built on the lagoon and that they were extending towards the Third Mainland Bridge which is not good as it distorts the beauty and mega city image which they are trying to project to the world.”

Another reason given was the activities of hoodlums on the Third Mainland Bridge, some of who are believed to operate from Bariga.

While not denying that Bariga waterfront settlement has an unpleasant reputation, Okungbure said that the menace posed by social miscreants in the area has reduced drastically, and that the area is no longer as unsafe as people believe. “ Yes, Bariga was notorious for criminality and in terms of breakdown of law and order. If you visited here some years ago, you would, before long, find these area boys running up and down, fighting themselves and breaking bottles. But in the past three and half years, that has reduced to about twenty percent. That is due to the effort of the Baale (community head) and the co-operation of the community members.”

Although the number of shanties destroyed in Ago Egun were more than the figure recorded in Ilaje, Okungbure said the action, though painful, was a necessary measure meant to instil sanity in the communities.

Indeed, Newswatch investigation in the area showed that many people are yet to recover from the shock and loss of their homes. Some of the victims have taken refuge at the Methodist Church in Ago Egun as they have nowhere or better place to go to. According to a source, “about 80 people live there. In the morning, some of them leave for their places of work but come back at night to sleep there,” he said.

Many others, Newswatch learnt, squat with friends or family members, while some chose to live directly under the Third Mainland Bridge. “They live and sleep on boat on the lagoon,” said a source. While this might come as a shock to many people, it is proof that many of the inhabitants are not scared of the lagoon.

Within the land mass itself, some others have been busy carving out areas to erect new structures. This has led to empty spaces being snapped up, leading to the environment being further choked up. For a place long noted for its terrribly poor sanitary condition with no basic facilities, erecting new structures can only worsen an already bad situation.

Apart from its filthy environment, the waterfront settlements also get flooded during rainy season. “You know, this area, Ago Egun, is down a slope from the Bariga landscape. So, whenever there’s heavy downpour, the water flows down here,” said Borokini Omotayo, a distance learning student of the University of Lagos. He added that “at times, water floods the area and submerges rooms. From the month of August, it starts giving us signs of what to expect but it’s not usually serious until around September. That’s when we expect the rage.” But, he added, “ we still enjoy it here, it’s our home.”

Eshilokun also spoke of his love for Ago Egun. “Many of us were born here and have known no other place as home. Also, a lot of our people are fishermen and so living close to the river benefits us.”

However, some people wonder how owners of waterfront shanties came about the land on which they built their structure, be it on land or sea. According to a source, the main attraction of living in such squalid environments is to avoid paying house rents and associated bills in more conducive parts of town. “Many people conveniently chose to live in those places. Many of the lands in the waterfront areas were not allocated to anybody. All you find is somebody filling up a space close to the river and erecting a structure. He did not buy the land and is not accountable to anyone or government. He pays no bills to anyone.”

According to Eshilokun, Ago Egun waterfront had been inhabited for a long period of time dating back many decades. “It belongs to the Ashogbon family which I’m a member of,” he said. But he regrets that the area had been neglected by successive governments, a fact which reflects in the absence of basic amenities in the community. “We don’t have good roads and drainage is poor.”

Apart from the number of demolished buildings, a number of human casualties were also said to have been recorded. A resident of Ago Egun said that, “three people died from the shock of the incident.” Most residents of Ago Egun and Ilaje settlements, including Muyiwa Zannu Joseph, the village head of Ago-Egun, who were interviewed by Newswatch, want the Lagos State government to come to the aid of the people by providing accommodation to those whose houses were demolished.