• Fear grips residents over health implications of unbearable odour from dumpsites
By Sunday Ani and Romanus Okoye
Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria and arguably, the fastest growing city in the world, is no doubt, faced with lots of environmental pollution, coming from vehicles, waste dumpsites, generator emission as well as industrial pollution.
A recent report noted that traffic-related air pollution as a result of traffic congestion is a major issue in developed and developing countries like Nigeria. The report further stated that emissions from passenger vehicles are largely on the increase due to massive importation of second-hand or fairly used automobiles to developing countries like Nigeria.
“In reality, some of the vehicles that manage to appear in the local market are not road-worthy due to over-age and inefficient engine performance. Expectedly, there has been soaring increase of pollutants in the cities of Nigeria. The bulk of energy for powering vehicles is sourced from fossil fuel, which is renowned for emitting carbon into the atmosphere,” the report said.
Among all the agents of air pollution, waste dumpsites pose greater threats to the health of Lagosians. For instance, residents of Igando community in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State are crying blue murder over the existence of multiple refuse dumpsites in their community. They are crying to the authorities about the looming health danger that the community is exposed to if urgent steps are not taken to address the situation.
The residents are complaining that the two major dumpsites, Solus 3 and Bola are giving them nightmares. Solus 3 is located near the Igando General Hospital while Bola is at Lanre bus-stop. The stench from the two waste sites is unbearable.
When Daily Sun visited the surrounding communities, residents poured out their hearts in lamentation. They said they were helpless, as the odour continued to torment them every second of the day.
From the observation of our reporters, the entire area along Isheri-Lasu road, stretching over three bus-stops, is under serious threat of air pollution. The stench from the dumpsites, located over 200 metres from the road, pervades the entire area. While passersby try to cover their noses with their palms to stave off the odour or to lessen its impact, some people are comfortably seated around the area, doing one business or another. Such people as vulcanizers, transporters, food vendors, sachet water sellers, okada (motorcycle) riders as well as those who sell mineral water and biscuits, among others carry on with their businesses in a supposedly relaxed mood as if all is well.
However, the same cannot be said of a stranger or a visitor, especially those going to the area for the first time. Such people are easily noticed because it is either they are frowning and pouting or they are struggling to cover their noses with handkerchiefs or their palm, and increasing their pace in order to escape from the scene.
Unfortunately, escaping from the scene is not very easy because the distance is a bit long. That is for those who do business along the road and those who pass by. For those who live around the dumpsites, life has become tough and uninteresting, as they live at the mercy of the offensive odour that the sites emit all through the day.
Aside from the stench from the dumpsites, it was also discovered that the entire vicinity had been invaded by various kinds of houseflies. All the restaurants and beer parlours around the place are in constant battle with flies. It is either the operators are spraying kerosene around the floor and on their tables or they are applying other chemicals to disinfect the environment and possibly drive away the flies that have become a big source of embarrassment to them before their customers.
However, checks by our reporters revealed that the customers no longer complained about the flies; they have accepted them as inseparable and an integral part of drinking at pepper soup joints as well as restaurants in the area. In fact, a customer, who was observant enough to notice the surprises on the faces of our reporters, politely said to them: “Please, young men, don’t mind the flies. In this area, that is how we see it and there is nothing anybody can do about it so long as these dumpsites remain with us here. In fact, if you go to any beer parlour or restaurant around this area and you don’t find flies, then something is wrong and I would advise you to run away from such place. Even if a fly enters into our cups of beer and dies or into our plates of soup, it doesn’t mean anything; we cannot throw such soup or beer away because of that.
“I believe that God has a way of protecting us in this area because all the germs from the flies no longer have any negative effect on our system. We are so used to the flies such that our body systems are already immune to any kind of bacteria they may carry.”
When Daily Sun reporters visited surrounding communities to Solus 3 dumpsite, residents described the situation as unbearable. To capture the condition of the residents, the former General Secretary of Igando Estate Model Phase 3, and school proprietor, Hon. Mayowa Ogunsola, said they had been abandoned to their fate as all efforts to get the state government’s attention to their pitiable plight had not yielded any positive result. He insisted that the estate was approved by the state government and wondered why the same government would approve the existence of waste dumpsites where human beings live.
“We have tried our best, regarding this problem. We have written series of letters to the state government through the ministry of environment and we were promised that the community would be fumigated by Lagos Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) officials. But that has not happened,” he said.
Describing the odour as intolerable, Ogunsola said: “When it rains, it becomes worse because the refuse and contaminated water from the dumpsite would be flushed down by rain water and the entire road would be blocked, rendering it impassable. No vehicle would be able to access the road. It even becomes difficult for pedestrians to walk through because the whole place would be covered by dirt and the stench would rise to high heaven. Only those who could tiptoe or jump-frog, would be able to pass through at such times.”
Besides rendering the street that links the estate with the Isheri-Lasu Road when it rains, it also brings about serious flooding to residents of Odubanjo area, he informed, adding that people can hardly stay outside their houses for two minutes due to the odour.
“Also, at the express road, nobody can stay at the bus-stop to board a bus when it rains because of the odour,” he added.
Asked what the residents are doing to minimise the odour, Ogunsola, said: “People invite private firms from time to time to fumigate their houses. That only provides temporary relief, as the odour normally abates after each round of fumigation. But unfortunately, it can only last for two or three days. However, such services from private fumigation firms are only available to those who can afford them. Those who cannot afford such services do not have any alternative but to keep inhaling the polluted air, at their own health risk.”
Checks confirmed fears in some quarters that residents might face possible cholera outbreak, as the dumpsites are capable of contaminating the water they drink. But Ogunsola dismissed such concerns, although he agreed that such might be possible in future.
He said: “We are lucky that the refuse dumpsite has not affected the water we drink. The state government came down here sometime in the past to test the borehole water it provided for us, to know whether it is good for drinking. After the test, the water was certified safe. There are about 10 of such boreholes. So, for now, it has not affected the water we drink but that is a possibility in future and we don’t want that future to catch us napping. That is why we are calling on the state government to do something before it becomes late.”
However, against the rumour in some quarters that the estate around Solus 3 dumpsite was not mapped out as a residential area, Ogunsola said: “I want to tell you that some people have been living here before the dumpsite came. People had built houses here and were already living before the dumpsite. Initially, it was the ‘Omonile’ that were collecting money from people to dump their refuse before the state government officially declared the place a dumpsite.”
He lamented that the odour had caused a lot of damage to the residents of the area, especially the landlords, economically and health-wise.
“The odour is affecting us in so many ways,” he said. “It is only the landlords that are living here. The odour scares potential tenants away and even tenants that rented houses here in the past are leaving in droves. No educated person would want to live here as a tenant. It is just landlords like us who have no other place to go that are suffering this environmental pollution.”
Ogunsola lamented that refuse from every part of the state are dumped there without considering the health implications on the residents. “The refuse from all over the state are dumped here. Trucks from all over Lagos, such as the ones from Agege, Iyana Ipaja, Aja, Ikoyi, Mushin, Oshodi, Abule-Egba, Ejigbo, Egbeda, Ikotun and Ijegun among others dispose refuse at Solus 3,” he said.
The story of refuse dumpsites in the Igando area presents different options to different people. Or how could one explain the fact that while some are calling on the state government to close down the dumpsites and look elsewhere, some others think otherwise. Those who share such sentiments, though equally feeling the heat of the stench, would resist any attempt to close down the dumpsites. Their businesses are patronised by the workers in those sites, and closing down the dumpsites amounts to running them out of business.
One of such people is a woman known as Iya Taiwo, who runs a restaurant around one of the dumpsites. She said n Pidgin English: “I no like the odour but the workers at the dumpsite are my customers. So, I no go like make government close the place because e go affect my business. The odour no dey affect my customers because na dem dey work there.”
Efforts by our reporters to make her understand that her health was more important than her business didn’t make any impact. She insisted that if she fell sick as a result of the odour, she could use part of the proceeds of her business to treat herself.
At Bola dumpsite, another businesswoman, who gave her name as Rose, condemned the idea of dumpsites around residential areas, describing such sites as a reservoir for mosquitoes. She said: “This dumpsite is called Bola; it is exactly by the Lanre bus-stop. The odour is something else; it is too much, especially when it rains. We have complained repeatedly through the landlords association but nothing has happened. Aside fom the offensive odour, it also increases the number of mosquitoes when it rains. In fact, once it rains, mosquitoes would be breeding in millions and you know what that means to human beings. So, we want the governor to help us because the odour is too much. It is killing us.”
However, a new health angle was introduced when a resident, who wouldn’t want her name in print, revealed that the odour had deadened the olfactory lobes of many residents, noting that they no longer perceived the odour as offensive.
She said: “It has become part of us because we are already used to it. It is from the passersby that we remember the odour. In other words, we perceive the odour but not as strong as the passersby. I believe it has affected our sense of smell so much that they are no longer active.”
She said the odour diminishes in the dry season. In her words, residents would wish that the rainy season never comes, because when the rain comes, the people’s agony multiplies.
“The dry season is just like Christmas period for us, because as soon as we enter into the rainy season, the rains would bring out the dirt and splash everywhere. It is such a nightmare to stay around this area during the rainy season. In fact, I don’t think you would have been able to stay here and talk to me as you are now doing if it were during the rainy season. My brother, it is too bad,” he lamented.
People living around the Bola dumpsite at Lanre Bus Stop are even experiencing more woes than those around Solus 3. A resident told the reporters: “Another thing is that it affects some people’s boreholes. The colour of the water from the borehole is orange. If you use it on any stainless plate or cup, it will become rusty. Although, some people have good water from their boreholes, almost all the residents behind this Bola dumpsite have water problems because of this dumpsite. This offensive odour travels for some kilometres. For instance, my residence is far away from here but when it rains, we are not left out. The odour still gets to us.”
Describing the situation as death by instalment, another resident, Christian Edobo appealed to the state governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, to look into the matter and avert the looming danger.
“It is a terrible situation and we are calling on the state governor to, as a matter of urgency, come to our rescue. We are dying by instalments. So many people have fallen sick due to the polluted air. Nobody may know the cause of such people’s ailment because it has not degenerated to a full epidemic, but I can tell you that it is the air they breathe here,” he noted.
The residents believe if the government can closed down the sites, it would do a whole lot of good to them. “The problem is multi-faceted and we are urging the state government to close down the site to save residents from the possible outbreak of diseases,” they said.
Some residents said government should do something to minimise the odour, even if the dumpsites cannot be closed.
A patient at the Igando General Hospital, who introduced himself as Wale, described the situation as unacceptable. “We are helpless; the odour has become part of our lives. We no longer complain because such complaints have never produced any positive result. We have resigned ourselves to fate. How can anybody think of locating refuse sites of such magnitude near residential area? How can one explain the fact that a government’s General Hospital, which handles different health challenges is located a stone’s throw from such a site? It is as ironical as it is unacceptable and government must rise to the occasion and do something urgently. If government is actually about the welfare of the people, then the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, must act fast to avert the impending doom,” he said.
However, efforts to get LAWMA’s comments on the development failed, as several calls to its General Manager did not get through. A text message sent to the LAWMA GM’s phone was not replied.