There is a popular saying that water has no enemy. This, however, does not hold true in some communities. AKIN ADEWAKUN writes that for the people of Maidan Orile Patele, water can indeed be an enemy.
Abiodun Adekunle looks obviously apprehensive, unsteady and unsure of what fate has in store for him and members of his professional fraternity as the rainy season approaches. The rainy period is always expected with trepidation among residents of Maidan Orile Patele community in Ketu Ikosi Local Council Development Area of Lagos State and their fears are not unfounded. Residents have lost lives and properties to various forms of deluge in the past.
More worrisome is the fact that there seems to be nothing on ground at present to assure them that this year would be different. Adekunle, the Chairman of the Commercial Motorcycle Operators Association on Omowale Street in the community which is bordered by Ogun River on all sides, says this does not take away his apprehension. Rather it makes the ‘yoke’ heavier.
For instance, since flood still remains an enemy to the type of business he runs (commercial motorcycling), in the area, the responsibility, no doubt, lies with him to think of how he and other professional colleagues would survive the usually turbulent period.
According to him, the situation has become so worrisome that he and other members of the association always look for something else to do during the rainy season as it is virtually impossible to move around in the community on bikes due to flooding that is experienced regularly in the community during this period.
“Despite being in this area for some time, the issue of flood still remains a challenge to us here. It is something that gives the whole community sleepless nights whenever we are in this season.
“Okada business is always the first casualty during the rainy season and this we all know. If you come here during that period, you can’t see a single member of our association here. They must have gone to do other jobs; usually menial jobs. It is that bad,” Adekunle lamented, adding that the only form of transportation in the area during that period is through the use of canoe.
Unfortunately, okada business is not the only economic activity that usually suffers during this period in Maidan community; other social and economic activities are paralyzed too.
“I hardly go out once I return from work and no matter how close you are to me; I can’t attend your social function. It is not because I don’t want to, but I can’t imagine myself swimming through the waters before making it to an event I could easily avoid,” explained Lanre, a resident who had been living in the community for more than five years.
Maidan has been in the news, albeit for the wrong reasons, in the past few years. Beside the ethnic crisis that spread to the area last March that witnessed wanton destruction of properties in the community and a complete paralysis of social and economic activities in the area for the days the crisis lasted, one issue that has remained daunting for members of the community is flooding as it always paralyses all forms of activities in the area once it rains.
Located in Ketu Ikosi Local Council Development Area of Lagos, nothing on Oniyanrin, a road that links the community to the popular Mile 12 prepares the mind of a first timer to the area for the heart-rending spectacle he is about to witness; the well-tarred road and beautifully-constructed drainages, that enhance mobility, in and around Oniyanrin Road suddenly terminates at the foot of a make-shift bridge constructed by the former military administrator of the state, Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd).
The bridge provides access to residents and visitors alike to the community that boasts of over 30,000 inhabitants. According to a source within the community, the link bridge, presently maintained by the community was built by the former military administrator of the state, in response to the carnage suffered in the area, sometime ago, when a boat conveying residents from Mile 12 to the community capsized, resulting in loss of lives of quite a number of people in the community.
Prior to the construction of the link bridge, movements from Ketu to the community had always been by canoe and boat.
“We were, therefore expectant few years ago when some constructions work was being carried out in Ketu. We thought it was time for the community to get a motor able link bridge that would connect it to the outside world. Unfortunately our hopes were dashed when the Oniyanrin street reconstruction stopped abruptly, at the make shift link bridge,” lamented the General Chairman of Maidan Orile Community, Mr. Abdulazeez Babatunde.
Babatunde, who is also the Chairman of Victory Estate, is equally apprehensive about the coming rains, though he insisted that incidents of flooding recorded in the community in the past few years were not due to rains but mainly because of the opening of some dams that emptied their bowels into the community.
“It is not true that the rains are the problems here. I remember the rains that fell few years ago in Lagos that made the state government to even declare the following day, Monday, a public holiday in the state never got the community flooded. We always experience this flood each time the dams are opened,” he argued.
According to him, aside forming an association in conjunction with other flood-prone communities in the state to enable them present a common front to the state government, he and other members of the executive council of the Maidan Orile Community Development Association have commenced an enlightenment campaign within the community, with the aim of educating residents on the need to be prepared for the coming rainy season.
One of the preparations, he explained is to warn residents, especially parents, on the need to take care of their children and wards during this period.
“We insist that they should be mindful of the whereabouts of their children during this raining season. You know, it is a community that cannot boast of any government amenities. No public schools, no health centres and no good roads. So residents would still have cause to move out of here on a daily basis, especially the younger ones going to school. So we always advise them to make sure that they see their children to a safe place while going to school and ensure that they go out there and pick them whenever they close from school,” he stated.
Adekunle added that the community had also tabled their challenges before the relevant authorities in the state. Noting that the ethnic violence that erupted in Mile 12, last year and which extended to the area, provided residents the opportunity to meet with the state government and discuss their challenges.
“There was a crisis last March and some buildings in the area were razed during the Yoruba/Hausa mayhem. After that incident, we had a meeting with the SSG and later with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. This gave us an opportunity to present our proposal about the need to construct a motorable bridge that would link the community with the rest of the world. The issue of flood was also discussed and we were able to get some promises from the state government. But we are still waiting,” he added.
For the Asiwaju of Maidan Orile, Chief Mukaila Runsewe, what should be of utmost concern to residents is how to open up the community to the rest of the world. He expressed regrets that a community which boasts of close to 30,000 inhabitants could be so neglected to the extent of not having a single tarred and motorable road.
“I’ve been in the community for 15 years; we cannot really say we are enjoying any government’s privileges. Nothing is actually happening.
Though we experience flood here once in a while, I don’t see it as a big deal; since it is not in this community alone. It goes beyond this area to Alapere, Magodo and even Ajah.
“While we device our strategies towards checking that, for me what should be of utmost concern to us in Maidan community should be good road. When the Agilinti Road was being constructed, we thought the government would help us build the link bridge to this place, but we were surprised that it was not done. So all these efforts that you are seeing at getting roads here were through communal efforts,” he stated.
He explained that though the CDAs and other community leaders were making efforts at alleviating the living conditions of the people of the area, there is the need for the state government to intervene; since the issues involved are beyond the community.
Interestingly, apart from the communal efforts at weathering these storms, individual residents are taking measures too to ensure that the rainy season never caught them unawares.
Rain boots of various sizes are being bought by residents since they would come in handy when the rains fully commence. Some of the rain boots that were used previously by residents before Nigerian Tribune’s visit to the community were seen where they were kept for safe keeping.
“There is no way you can put your shoes in this water when the rains finally begin. You have to make do with the rain boots. You wear it from your place, drop it at the last bus stop and pick them on your way back,” explained a resident who had been in the area for the past
15 years.
As residents prepare individually for the rainy season and try to overcome their fears as well as anxieties, it is apparent that their efforts can never be enough to combat the challenges ahead and also make the community which shares the limelight but lacks basic infrastructures, one that will live up to its name as a big community in a mega city.
and then