Friday, May 10, 2024

Nigeria: Our Under-Policed, Insecure Living Space!

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Penultimate Wednesday, the Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, on Wednesday, said the state government he works for has discovered dwellings under the Dolphin Estate Bridge, Ikoyi, where tenants pay N250,000 annual rent.

According to the commissioner, the under-bridge dwellings, which he called apartments in his post on the matter on his X (former Twitter) handle, had 86 partitioned rooms, sized “10×10 and 12×10”.

He added that the enforcement team of Lagos State’s Ministry of Environment and Water Resources had successfully removed all structures, including a container utilised for various illegal activities, from beneath the Dolphin Estate Bridge.

His words: “A total number of 86 rooms, partitioned into 10×10 and 12×10, and a container used for different illegal activities were discovered under the Dolphin Estate Bridge.

“They have all been removed by the enforcement team of the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources.”

A Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Kunle Rotimi-Akodu, further confirmed the eviction of illegal settlers from beneath the bridge towards Dolphin Estate in Ikoyi.


Rotimi-Akodu said 23 individuals were arrested during the eviction, which was carried out by officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps, popularly known as KAI on Tuesday.


Akodu said: “Squatters dwelling under the bridge leading from inward Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi were evicted today Tuesday, 30th of April, 2024 by officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps LAGESC (aka KAI).


“These people created their illegal settlement under the bridge, thereby exposing the critical infrastructure to impending destruction. 23 persons have so far been arrested and MoE/KAI will continue to monitor the place. The law will take its course.”


He also confirmed that the bridge has hitherto housed 86 dwellings (rooms), partitioned into 10×10 and 12×10 with squatters paying an average rent of N250,000 per annum.

A day after, Mr Tokunbo Wahab announced that another illegal settlement has been found under the Osborne bridge in the Ikoyi area of Lagos. 

I am afraid that the Lagos State Government has just begun to scratch the surface in terms of illegal dwellings that abound in many parts of the state. Apart from illegal dwellings, there also exists the conversion of public spaces for personal use by many persons for various purposes, in areas that are clearly not approved for such uses. It makes me wonder who really is in charge of those public places. I will give a few examples, which many Lagos residents must have been seeing as they commute round the metropolis.

The space under the bridge, provided by the interchange between Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and the Airport Road, for instance, is currently in use by people who make concrete blocks. Who licensed these people to use that space to make blocks? Before or after, depending on where one is coming from, the space under the bridge at Iyana-Isolo has been taken over and colonised by a plethora of users ranging from heavy duty transport trucks, to food sellers, drinks sellers, artisans of various descriptions and others. It seems to me that the Police does not see the environment as part of the beat they need to police, because there is a Police station at Iyana-Isolo where the officers and men look on as these squatters appropriate public space for their use.

In the wake of the fire under Apongbon Bridge in 2022, the Federal Government moved to sanitise the situation by trying to evict some of these illegal users of under-bridge spaces. The efforts, as far as one can see, were half-hearted, as many of the people initially sent away seem to have regained their spaces. The situation is more or less the same under many bridges in Lagos. Taking the bridge to Ijora Western Avenue presents a spectacle of environmental degradation through misuse.


Under the bridge at Ijora has been converted to workshops by mechanics of heavy-duty vehicles, with the grounds around there completely blackened by the repeated dumping of used automotive oil. No less is the same for the bridge at Mile 2. Under the bridge at Mile 2, a wide range of activities from sand scooping to water transportation with the construction f wooden jetties take place.

The kind of characters you see there are not people you want to encounter after 6 pm. In the Oworonshoki area, under the bridge flying the Third mainland Bridge, people are scooping sand from under the waters there and selling. Under almost all of the bridges, open-hearth cooking goes on all the time by food sellers, while users and sellers of narcotics openly ply their trade without let or hindrance. It makes me wonder what our concept of security really is.

The illegal dwellings under the Dolphin bridge is just one case of many in the illegal conversion and use of public space. Who is responsible for these things? For all I care, an alien from Libya or Seychelles may come into the country, select an ungoverned public space in any of our cities, and start manufacturing a nuclear device or some other weapon of mass destruction, right under our noses because our idea of security is so shallow. To borrow from a famous bombast, what an odoriferous saga!

*Adekoya is a commentator on public issues

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