In this report, IFEDAYO OGUNYEMI examines the commercial and human activities, including refuse dumping, plastic waste recycling, etc. that continue to contaminate Eleyele River in Ibadan, Oyo State just as tourists await government action on the planned rehabilitation of the Eleyele Waterfront.
One of the beautiful attractions for any tourist visiting Ibadan, Oyo State in South-Western Nigeria, is the Eleyele River located in Ibadan North-West Local Government Area of the state. The vast catchment area of the river, which is actually a lake established by the damming of Odo Ona (Ona River) in 1939, covers about 500 acres of land according to government sources and spans metropolitan areas such as Eleyele, Ologuneru, Apete, Awotan and Ijokodo among others.
After embarking on a tour of the river in 2020, Dotun Omiyale, an Ibadan-based photographer, posted scintillating photographs of the river on social media, with the caption: “This is Ibadan. Eleyele River/dam, the only location for boat cruises in the city, is a potential goldmine awaiting investor’s funds.”
After Omiyale’s post, a government-affiliated Twitter account, Oyo State Government Feedback, disclosed that the government was already in talks with Geo Meridien International Ltd & Consortium Partners to construct a waterfront adventure park along the river.
The public-private partnership (PPP) project, which was scheduled to be completed in 36 months, was proposed to give hope to many tourists seeking relaxation and adventure while also providing job opportunities for many residents of the areas surrounding the river. Three years after the announcement was made, the proposed project remains a pipe dream.
Aside from its tourist attraction, Eleyele River which was created by the serves as a fishing hub for artisanal fishermen who ply their trade in the area, while its daily production of over 28 million cubic litres of water serves as a veritably large water source for residents of the communities surrounding it who depend on it for drinking, cooking, irrigation, and other domestic or industrial uses.
Checks also revealed that the state government began constructing a dam at the Eleyele River in 1942 and completed it in 1947 in order to serve the communities and control the natural dynamics of the river.
When the Nigerian Tribune visited the area in May, a large humming sound could be heard while approaching the river bank. Even when the boat was midstream, the cacophony of loud humming sounds from recycling engines made our reporter believe a heavy rainfall was in the offing.
The boat rider, Sheriff, who allayed the fears of our reporter said, “it’s not the sound of rain, it’s from the machines at the recycling plants.”
Upon her return to the bank, a middle-aged fish trader, Aminat, had just taken all the fish caught by her husband and colleagues to the market by the main road for sale when the Nigerian Tribune met her.
“We have large tilapia, catfish, African knife fish (Eja Osan), and others over there,” she said while moving away from the traditional fish grilling oven and towards our reporter, whom she thought had come to buy her stock.
“You can drop your contact details. When our fishermen return from the lake with large fishes, we’ll call you,” an elderly woman who laid on the wooden chair close to Aminat’s stall retorted.
When asked about how they cope with the pollution surrounding the river bank, Aminat wondered what they (fishermen and fish traders) could do to stop the recyclers, mechanics, and shop owners around.
She said: “They are business owners, just like we. They do their business just like we do ours. We don’t disturb each other, but they were asked to ensure they don’t pollute the lake.”
One of the boat drivers who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune on the condition of anonymity worried that the problems affecting the river are multifaceted as seaweed prevents them from reaching Awotan and Apete, while the water is also contaminated by the activities of people that live and ply their businesses around the bank.
He had just ferried passengers to a community that is visible from the other side of the river when Nigerian Tribune met him. Each passenger was charged N100 for the trip. Surprisingly, none of the passengers, numbering 14, was wearing a life jacket.
“They are already used to it,” the driver said when the Nigerian Tribune asked why they were without life jackets.
“We have written to the government to help clear the seaweeds,” he said in Yoruba as he untangled his cross-body bag from the boat paddle. “We don’t even see as many fish as we used to. The fishermen don’t make big catches like before.”
He recalled how government officials had come around to impose fines on some of those operating around the bank for contaminating the river.
“But the situation (pollution) is still the same right now. Whoever is using the water from the river treats it which even way he wants. There’s no one who can say the water is clean and not contaminated,” he disclosed.
The cleanliness of the river is no doubt a concern for those who operate and live around the river bank. Aside from recycling plants, several structures were seen by the Nigerian Tribune along the bank.
Heavy metals, PCBs found in water
A 2017 study found that heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) concentrations discovered inside Eleyele River were higher than permissible levels having used physical and chemical parameters at 10 different sites at the river where anthropogenic activities were observed between December 2013 and February 2014.
It further added that the total PCBs ranged from 493.90–732.55 μg/L in the dry season and 52.00–390.03 μg/L in the wet season. Meanwhile, the report noted that all “determined physical and chemical parameters were within permissible levels.”
“The hazard quotients and carcinogenic risk values were greater than acceptable limits,” the report found, “indicating that PCBs in Eleyele lake water pose adverse health effects to the local population.
“It was observed in this study that lower chlorinated PCBs were more prevalent than higher chlorinated PCBs. This may be attributed to the fact that the lower chlorinated PCBs are influenced by atmospheric deposition as a result of their volatility, and they are more susceptible to atmospheric transport than highly chlorinated PCBs.”
Explaining further, the report noted that “PCBs possess serious health risks to the population that depends on the lake as a source of domestic water and its aquatic organisms. Efforts are needed to reduce the anthropogenic influence on the lake through strict environmental controls.”
Another report in 2020 also found heavy metal contamination in water, sediments and tissues of the catfish and Nile tilapia in the Eleyele River.
“Significant temporal variation in metal concentrations in water, sediment and fish tissues in the lake may be related to the various anthropogenic activities in the highly urbanised metropolitan Ibadan City. Metal contamination poses a hazard to the aquatic organisms and humans who use the water and consume fish from the lake at Eleyele.
“In the main, it appears nutrient retention in the sediments of Eleyele Lake is the key driver of metal pollution dynamics in the aquatic system with confounding factors such as the seasonality of the catchment human activities, and the consequent effluent discharge as antecedents. Thus, controlling the nutrient retention capacity may be central to averting heavy metal pollution and its causal hazards in Eleyele Lake,” the report read.
Unhindered encroachment on river bank
As stated in these reports, the anthropogenic causes of pollution of Eleyele River may not be unconnected to the massive encroachment on the river bank. This encroachment can be noticed by anyone visiting the waterfront for the first time.
Nigerian Tribune sighted shops with their owners selling and providing a variety of goods and services about 50–150 metres away from the bank. The unorganised market appeared to be a spillover from the Eleyele Market, which is located around the nearby roundabout.
At this unorganised market, faulty cars were also being repaired at one of the mechanical repair shops while small-scale groceries were being sold in one of the nearby shops. A few metres from there, some women were seen producing fufu, a local staple food.
Several relaxation spots, including one housing a snooker/pool table, a drinking joint, and a traditional shrine with palm fronds headlining the doorframe, litter the bank.
Several makeshift houses which serve as shelter for many residing at the river bank were also sighted while the occupants of one of the houses blasted music at high volume. A decrepit toilet used by residents was located away from the house, less than 40 metres from the river bank.
According to the National Environmental (Wetlands, River Bank and Lake Shores) Regulations, 2009 which was formulated in line with the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (Establishment) Act, 2007, every land user of a property next to a wetland “shall have a duty to prevent the degradation or destruction of the wetland and shall maintain the values of the wetland.” Section 14 (2) of the regulations provides that anyone who fails to protect the wetland or contravenes any provisions of the law commits an offence and is liable to be sentenced to three months imprisonment or a fine of N500,000, according to Sections 29 and 30 of the act. Such a person will also be mandated to restore or remedy the wetland that is threatened or degraded.
Section 5 of the regulation, which was gazetted on October 2, 2009, also provides that the state governments “shall ensure that no individual or group of persons goes into the wetlands for the activities likely to degrade the said wetlands; and (c) may receive the request for a permit and recommend to the agency for approval.”
The siting of commercial businesses where harmful substances such as plastic waste, petroleum, engine oil and other categories of waste are produced as byproducts very close to the river contravenes Section 6 of the NESREA Act.
Section 6 of the act provides that in ensuring the sustainability of wetlands, local governments shall “(a) assist the agency in ensuring that any activity undertaken within the catchment area of a wetland does not affect the water level of the wetland; (b) assist the agency in regulating activities which may include the supply of water for domestic purpose, fishing, hunting, home gardens, grazing and wood exploitation to ensure sustainable use of wetlands; and (c) collaborate with the agency to declare an area a protected wetland in accordance with these regulations.”
As Nigerian Tribune walked past other sections of the bank, huge stacks of plastic waste were sighted with some women and their children sorting some of the plastics.
A roofed but uncompleted building that had a government-marked inscription marked December 18, 2022 was also sighted in the vicinity. “M.E.N.R. Department of Forestry, Stop Work,” the inscription asking the contractors to stop work read. However, two women were seen sorting plastic waste behind and beside the building, while the building itself appeared to be inhabited.
About four middle-aged men were seen discussing in the middle of the bad and untarred road. They later spoke in hushed tones as the Nigerian Tribune walked by. Another set of five young men armed with various working tools, including a hammer, chisel and others stood a few metres away from them, apparently waiting on the initial group of men for instructions.
Nigerian Tribune also sighted another young man carrying a sack-load of plastic pellets into a nearby workshop. He had emerged from the section of the plant where plastic recycling was taking place. By the side of the workshop, different forms of plastics and pellets were separated openly in a shed.
Eleyele waterfront has been bastardised — Ex-commissioner
Confirming the encroachment on the river bank in 2020, former Oyo State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, late Kehinde Ayoola, said that residents had encroached on and bastardised various parts of the river bank.
“It (Eleyele River) is quite big. The state government, under the Ibadan Urban Flood Management Programme, which is a World Bank-assisted programme, has done a lot of rehabilitation in desilting and dredging the water body. But over the years, we’ve had various levels of encroachment on the facility.
“The facility itself has been bastardised as we’ve had various cases of illegal tree felling, etc. Some hoodlums and prayer sites have taken over some parts. If you go there now, some new barriers are already mounted there as barricades by the government.”
Fishes caught at the river and sold to residents in the market nearby by Aminat and her ilk may not be healthy for consumption considering this huge encroachment on the river bank and anthropogenic pollution surrounding it.
‘There’s no way that river is safe’
Encroachment of this magnitude shouldn’t have been allowed to happen in the first place, said Temple Oraeki, a water and environmental engineer, after Nigerian Tribune shared its findings with him.
“There’s no way that river is safe,” he disclosed. “A distance of 400 metres is not so far and there’s no way the river will not be contaminated.”
While noting that large bodies of water are supposed to have protection zones wherein waste recycling and other industrial activities are prohibited close to the river bank in line with the environmental laws of the land, Oraeki said, “I haven’t seen any law like that or its kind of implementation in Nigeria to the best of my knowledge.
“Rivers are meant to have protection zones. The protection zones are supposed to be in about three layers such that industrial activities are banned from taking place in some or all of the layers.
“That large body of water passes through some communities where people drink from it without treatment. The essence of the protection zone is to limit the level of contamination of the water if there’s going to be any at all.”
He added: “In a protection zone, industrial activities even have a longer distance compared to other agricultural activities which can still be close to the bank.
“This is because industrial pollution is more dangerous than pollution from agricultural practices. The higher the intensity of the waste generated, the farther the sector should be far from the bank in a protection zone.”
As Oraeki noted, while Section 25 of the NESREA Act provides that rivers in Nigeria shall have a protection zone from the highest water mark of the river determined by NESREA, Section 26 designated 200 metres from the low water mark as protection zones for shores of lakes specified in the act and 100 metres which was not specified in the act, adding that no activity shall be permitted within protected zones without the written consent of the agency.
For the safer use of the water for domestic purposes, Oraeki urged residents to adopt safer household water treatment methods, including the use of proportionate chlorine and water filters.
“Living close to the bank in itself is dangerous,” he said. “They may be living in flood plain zones that can easily be flooded when there’s heavy rainfall or sea-level rise. The government usually maps out the zones and restricts human activities there but not many people regard these laws and directives because they sometimes own the lands.
“Whatever microbes that may be in the river which they use for domestic purposes will also put them at another risk. The best option is to go for household water treatment. There should be enough sensitisation before using chlorine to treat water. What I can advise in this kind of situation is the use of filters. It is not the best but it is better than nothing.”
Tourist sites in Oyo will be addressed during Makinde’s second term — Govt source
Efforts to get official comments from the state government were unsuccessful as a director in the Ministry of Environment whom the Nigerian Tribune contacted through a government source, had yet to get approval to speak in the press from the permanent secretary of the ministry.
“The best person to contact is the commissioner, but the cabinet has been dissolved by the governor,” the source told Nigerian Tribune.
After Nigerian Tribune reached out to the Oyo State Government Feedback on Twitter, it said the Eleyele Waterfront project and other tourist sites would be addressed during Seyi Makinde’s second term as Oyo State governor.
It further sent a link to the Oyo State Roadmap for Sustainable Development 2023-2027 wherein the government stated that the “lack of access to the (tourist) sites via motorable roads and the prevailing security situation (which) deterred investors” did not allow the government to focus on Eleyele Lake and other tourist sites.
It added that now that the security challenges and lack of accessible roads have been addressed by the government, the tourist sites will receive government attention “that would enable us to grow our economy through tourism.
“We will enter into partnerships with the private sector to build resort centres close to the tourist sites. We will target Iyake Lake, Eleyele Waterfront, and Bower’s Tower, Ibadan.
“We will improve access roads to the targeted tourist sites as part of the PPP arrangement.
“Within 3-4 years of being re-elected, we will site infrastructure projects supporting tourism around the tourist sites,” chapter three of the document read in part.
This report is produced in fulfilment of the UNESCO & CIJ London Climate Change in News Media project facilitated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development