For occupants of Ago Ireti lepers’ colony along Oba-Ile in Akure, Ondo State, life has only presented one long stretch hardship, lack and continuous struggle for self-preservation. HAKEEM GBADAMOSI, after a visit to the colony, reports the realities of its dwellers.
From time immemorial, lepers were isolated from the larger society. This may be the reason for the popular Yoruba saying that “a leper’s house should be isolated, and located away from mainstream society.” It is, however ironical, to describe the lepers’ colony known as Ago Ireti (camp of hope) to be the home of despair, hopelessness and sorrow while peace, comfort and happiness elude the inhabitants of the camp.
Speaking on the plight of the people living with leprosy in the camp, the spokesperson and the secretary of the Ago Ireti community, Mr. Tunji Oluwatimilehin, disclosed that the place had been in existence for some 75 years, saying the then Deji of Akureland, Oba Afunbiowo, freely dedicated the land for the people living with leprosy in 1943.
According to him, the place was about 10km to the town then, because of the belief that lepers lived in isolation. He explained that those who lived in the camp then used bamboo and leaves to build their houses and usually got destroyed within days by termites.
Oluwatimilehin, however, said, respite came the way of the people living within the camp then, when a commissioner for health in the old Western region, simply identified as Eyesorun Ademuwagun, built the first mud house for the inmate and life improved them.
“A special committee headed by Dr. Sijuwade was put in place then, when they realised the inmates needed special medical attention. It was the recommendation of the committee that brought two medical personnel from India, Dr. Khrishma and George who took care of people in the colony. They were assisted by some reverend sisters from St Louis Catholic Church from Akure,” he said.
Oluwatimilehin said the people living in the colony were able to attract the attention of the Western government then and placed each leper in the colony on one shilling a month in 1970, saying “this money started to increase according to the economy of the country.
“The lepers did not know why the two Indian doctors were chased away but they were replaced by some Nigerian doctors who also took care of our people but we are faced with many challenges since the advent of this new democratic dispensation.”
He disclosed that the inmates sent a Save our Soul letter to the government of the late Adebayo Adefarati, in 1999 “because there was no one to take care of us then and the government of Adefarati approved the sum of N2, 000 for a leper.
“Adequate attention was given to us then. Dr. Olusegun Mimiko was the commissioner in charge of health, and health workers were drafted to the colony and life became a little bit different from what it used to be. They showed us love and gave us some sense of belonging.”
He however said Mimiko ensured that the monthly stipend was jerked up to N4,000 before the expiration of Adefarati’s administration and was subsequently increased to N4,500 during Dr. Olusegun Agagu’s administration.
In 2009, when Mimiko came on board, he increased it to N8,000 and within two months jerked it up to N10,000. He said apart from increasing the monthly stipend, “Mimiko gave us a 14-seater bus, re-built our health center, and a hall was put in place where we usually sat together to pray and worship or receive visitors.”
The lepers at Ago Ireti said every one of them would forever live to remember a foreign foundation, Demian Foundation, from Belgium, which put smiles on their faces, renovating two of the buildings at the Ago Ireti and constructing two toilets for them. Oluwatimilehin said “we don’t know how they got to know about our plight, but when they saw our condition and most of the buildings which were at the state of collapse, they demolished the whole building and built a whole new structure.”
He disclosed that apart from donating the new structure, they also distributed writing materials, school bags and other school materials to their children while they also bought a motorcycle for the home to convey their women and children to the market.
A walk round the colony showed that some new structures were put in place by the foundation. The structures are built to accommodate an inmate with every facility: toilet, kitchen and bathroom.
Oluwatimilehin, 58 years old, and a graduate of Poultry Management from Suguna Institute of Poultry Management in Canada, however, lamented neglect from family, friends and even government.
They also commended members of Akure Owena Lions Club and the Rotary Club for their frequent assistance. Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, Amos Alo, said for someone who had been accustomed to comfort before living in the colony, living in the colony is a clear departure from comfort.
He said most of the facilities put in place in the camp were donated to the home by the two clubs and commended the two clubs for putting in place boreholes and a school for their children.
Alo, however, lamented that power has been a source of concern to the home. “We have been in darkness for many months since the ministry of health refused to pay the bill. We can no longer pump water from the boreholes because there is no electricity to power these boreholes,” he said.
He explained that the home presented the bill to the ministry when it was less than N20, 000 but said the ministry failed to pay the bill, which eventually shoot up to around N385, 000. He said the home resorted to the use of a generating set, and rely solely on whatever people gave to buy diesel to power the set.
Asked how they managed to sponsor their wards’ education, Oluwatimilehin said that many of the children attended public school but said about four undergraduates living in the community had to stop going to school because of the newly introduced school fees at Adekunle Ajasin University in Akungba Akoko, saying it was no longer affordable.
90-year-old Madam Eunice David, another leper, said she had spent more than 30 years in the home. She also complained of neglect and called for government assistance. The According to her, “since a new government in this state came on board, no official of this government has been here though governor Akeredolu sent one cow and five bags of rice to us during the last Xmas. But we want him to visit us and attend to our plight.”
Eunice Ogunseke, another occupant of the facility, demanded love from the people. She sadly said “I have been here for over 42 years and the only person who visited me died last November. We need help and government support. The paltry amount they give us can neither feed nor clothe us or our dependants.”
She lamented that she could hardly feed herself as she had lost all her fingers and toes, explaining “that all I can eat is bread. I eat bread and tea day in day out because that is the only food I can hold with my hands. No one to feed me, no relative, no helper.”
She recalled that one of the All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship aspirants, Dr. Segun Abraham used to host the inmates. 100-year-old Pa Ezekiel Ekundayo, from Ekiti, another occupant, said living in the home has been a terrible experience. He said he had spent over 50 years of his life in the leprosarium.
According to him, “I have learnt to endure the harsh life here but this pain is getting unbearable: no water, no toilet, no good food to eat and people avoid us like lepers that we truly are.”
One of the wives of the lepers, Mrs Olagunju, who estimated the population of the home to be more than 500 said many of the lepers live from hand to mouth.
“Our children need help. We have brilliant and intelligent children but we don’t have the financial capacity to send them to school. We need help because we don’t want our children to suffer. They’re not infected and they need to live at least a normal life and get educated,” she pleaded.
Speaking on medical attention, the residents of the colony appreciated the state government for putting in place a health centre in the colony.
According to Pa Alo, “If we do not die from fear of isolation and stigmatisation, we should not be left to die of hunger, neglect and pain. We cannot return home and we should be made happy here.”
All attempts to speak with officials of the ministry of health in charge of the lepers were not successful, but an authoritative source in the ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed neglect at the lepers’ colony.
and then