•Weeks after demolition, Lagos estate residents count losses
By Maduka Nweke
At Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos, a mix of anger and agony pervades the air, as fog suffuses the streets in the thick of harmattan.
Residents of the community are accusing the state government of worsening their economic woes following the destruction of thousands of structures in the community recently.
Many in the area are already bemoaning the hardship the exercise has brought on the residents.
The Lagos State Ministry of the Environment had, in late January, visited the Lagos State Housing Estate, Mile 2, and the adjoining housing complex known as Festac Extension, both in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, to demolish properties said to have distorted the original plan of the estate.
Operatives of the Lagos State Task Force and health officers took over the area and, with bulldozers, pulled down all containers and attachments to buildings, which the owners said were erected as security measures for their homes, since the government did not make any provision for security even though the estate is just by the expressway.
The exercise, codenamed “Operation No Shanties in Lagos,” according to the state government, was part of measures aimed at reducing criminality in the state. The state also targets roadside food sellers who do not comply with environmental and public health laws.
However, the residents have described the demolition as a plot to further impoverish them, especially coming in a recession.
The victims, who used the demolished containers as shops, lamented that the state government did not consider the consequences before embarking on the demolition. They argued that, if there was any illegal structure, the authorities should have given the owners a minimum of six months to either evacuate them or have them demolished.
They argued that the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development did not follow any due process, alleging that the ministry merely issued a three-day notice to the occupants of the structures to have them removed. The residents ckaimed that the ministry threatened to embark on the demolition exercise after the three-day ultimatum. But the residents felt the notice was too short, insisting that most of them could not get any alternative within the three days.
Daily Sun learnt that the authorities had earlier met and reached an agreement with residents of the Mile 2 Estate that, after three months, all illegal structures in the housing project would be pulled down. But, unknown to residents of Festac Extension, the agreement also included their own buildings. According to Mrs. Olawumi Fatokunbi, it was a rude surprise to most of them when heavy-duty machines and trucks were suddenly moved to the area under the supervision of the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences to demolish the structures. The state officials reportedly informed the protesting residents that the grace period given them had elapsed.
Some Lagos residents, who spoke with the reporter, said they were concerned that some areas demolished by the state government in recent times were yet to be rebuilt.
Mr. David Obodoeze, an interior decorator, said the state government demolished a section of the Ladipo Market and has not rebuilt it, just as the Oshodi Electronics Market was demolished and is yet to be rebuilt. He appealed to the state government to first rebuild the areas already demolished before pulling down others, maintaining that it would help cushion the effects of the economic hardship ravaging the country.
Chief Obiora Ekwemozor, a textile dealer, said the Lagos State government should be ameliorating the economic condition of the populace and not worsening it. In his words, any government policy that does not ease the hardship of the people will make the public to lose confidence in such a government, and advised that such policies should be discouraged.
For Mr. Taiwo Adeyemi Amusan, chairman of Eko Akete Community Development Association, and president of Festac Extension Residents Association, it was a sad turn of events, and residents of the estate were unhappy because of the colossal damage done by the demolition team.
“The containers damaged were owned by retirees, most of who have not received their pension for years. Some of the ministries and companies owe their retired staff entitlements and pension arrears. The demolition happening during a recession is a huge shock to the residents,” he said.
While fielding questions on whether the estate was notified before the action, Amusan said: “The presidents of CDAs in Lagos State have been holding meetings intermittently with 14 estates in Lagos. When we hosted the meeting, we were asked to give situation reports about our estate. The president of Amuwo-Odofin, Chief Ade Owas, informed us that there would be a stakeholders’ meeting with the estate residents. We knew whenever they said so, it meant that they were coming for demolition. I was surprised that (soon after) they started marking containers in Mile 2, they jumped over to Festac Extension. I believe that, as Festac Extension is a separate estate, they should have held a meeting with us before any action.
“In protest, we went to the Lagos Building and Investment Company (LBIC), wrote a protest letter and sought to speak with Mrs. Foluke Fulivi, the Managing Director. But we could not meet her; rather, we met with her personal assistant, Mr. Abayomi Obafemi. We sent the letter to the Commissioner for Environment and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment, Mr. Tunde Hunpe. Later, Obafemi came down for inspection and we told him that the place we were using as our market had been converted to Tinubu Estate. We begged them to give an extension of time since they were yet to hold a stakeholders’ meeting with us, since our estate is different from Mile 2. He said they would extend the time by a week.
“So we were surprised that immediately they finished with the demolition in Mile 2, they entered Festac Extension. When the elders contacted him, he said the contractor said he could not leave one part undone and that he had to come to our area since he had been paid fully for the job. He said, if the authorities would be willing to pay him again, he would come to Festac Extension some other time. At one of the meetings, the MD said, after the demolition, they would come and plant flowers and beautify the area.”
Mr. Tony Nwonusuru, chairman of Blocks 37, 38 and 39 Close, told Daily Sun that the development had affected everybody in the estate. According to him, “If you are not affected psychologically, physically, socially, you will be affected emotionally or economically. You can see that government wants to clean the environment, but with the way they have started it, it is going to bring about financial challenges to the people. Several people have been thrown out of job. People are weeping and crying. Many people have been forced to relocate from their homes. This is going to create a lot of social vices and I don’t know how government plans to handle that aspect.
“In this estate, we have a problem of drainage. There is no central sewage and I don’t know how government wants to handle that. There is no water anywhere. Once there is rain, everywhere is waterlogged. Residents living on the ground floor are forced to start bailing water from their homes once there is a little shower. These are things the government should have tackled. But their interest is to inflict more pain and hardship on the residents. There will be a lot of thieves now, because a lot of people have been thrown out of job. There will be security breakdown and government will be met with challenges of handling the security problems that will come with the exercise. There is no road to get into the estate. There is total abandonment of the estate,” he said.
Another resident, who didn’t want his name in print, accused the state government of being unfair to residents.
He said: “A period of recession is the worst time to carry out such an exercise. The timing was very wrong. It is an indication that the government has no interest of the masses at heart. People are re-strategising on how to cushion the effects of recession and all the government can do is to increase their yoke. It is bad. But they can get away with it because there is no clean voting during elections, otherwise, it would attract outright rejection by the entire public. Now that they have pulled down everything, they should also come and pack the rubble and clear the estate.”
Secretary of the Jakande Landlords Association, Mr. Toba Johnson, said the demolition had rendered about 12,000 shop owners jobless and another 3,000 homeless. He said the traders had been displaced and there was no provision by the government to resettle them.
Johnson informed newsmen that at least 12,000 shops were demolished while about 20,000 traders were displaced. Another resident said the state government commenced the demolition exercise on February 1, 2017, about one week after the warning issued to the occupants of the structures had expired.
The reporter learnt that the state government, through the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development issued a seven-day ultimatum on January 19, 2017, to owners of structures erected on drainages and walkways within the estate to remove them. But the warning, the reporter learnt, was for the Mile 2 Estate residents.
Proprietress of Pleasant Children School, Festac Extension, Amuwo-Odofin, Mrs. Fidelia Ngozi Okpechi, said the development took everybody by surprise. But she noted that, ironically, it was an opportunity for her school to move to a more comfortable location.
The state government justified the demolition on the grounds that the shanties and other structures were distorting the master plan and should be removed to restore the original master plan of the estate drawn over 20 years ago. Initially, the structures to be demolished by the government were shops and other structures used by residents for business along the popular Fatgbems-Durbar axis. But when the real demolition commenced, it touched all the nooks and crannies of both Mile 2 Estate and the Festac Extension.
One of the affected traders, Mrs. Chinwendu Okeke, said, since she lost her husband, she had been managing to fend for her family of five from the proceeds of her shop. According to the widow, she received the notice on Monday and government agents commenced demolition two days after.
Another resident, Chief B.U. Chime, said, if the initial design was mutilated, some structures in the design should have been allowed to stay while those structures not in the design should have been demolished: “But what is happening is that there was no notice in writing given to those whose structures would be demolished. They did this when the economy is very bad, and they did not make provision for alternatives. It is a mark of wickedness. Government is set up to alleviate the sufferings of the people but the current government seems to be compounding the problems. They should have waited for the economy to improve a little before bringing this policy. There is nobody that won’t like a decent environment, but every policy ought to be made with a human face because such policy is made for the people.”