Lagos and occupants of illegal apartments under bridges
14 May 2024 |
4:27 am
Forceful evacuation and transportation of people who live under bridges in Lagos to their home states may not be the best way to tackle the menace that they are perceived to constitute in society.
[FILE] Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab (middle) and his team during a sensitisation visit to persons illegally occupying under the bridge in Ijora, Lagos….
Forceful evacuation and transportation of people who live under bridges in Lagos to their home states may not be the best way to tackle the menace that they are perceived to constitute in society. In most cases, they will find a way of returning to Lagos, making a mess of the government’s efforts to get rid of them. Besides, the situation in which many of them have found themselves can be blamed partly on the government.
There was a disturbing report last week that the Lagos State government allegedly arrested and expelled over 500 youths from Lagos to Osun State. Also, the government was reported to have dislodged some people in about 86 partitioned rooms, some measuring 10×10 and others 10×12, of makeshift apartments under the Dolphin Estate Bridge, who claimed to be tenants and had been paying N250,000 yearly to criminals who posed as landlords. According to the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, the move is ongoing for the removal of illegal structures in line with the provisions of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Management Law.
To a large extent, we believe that the aim is to keep the state clean from miscreants and perhaps check vices and criminality. To that extent, it is a welcome and timely move, but the approach and manner of the operation seem to be on a wrong footing, making it generate more outcry and condemnation than applause from the general public.
Of course, every responsible government is expected to move against molestation, armed robbery, and living in illegal structures, particularly in Lagos State, which has in recent times recorded an upsurge in criminal activities. Some people believe that the increase in the number of miscreants and shanties in Lagos is partly responsible for the increase in the number of criminal activities, including armed robbery and daylight attack on innocent citizens in which some people have lost their lives and valuable items. The concentration of these miscreants in certain locations turns these places into a ‘dark spot’ where any small disagreement could trigger bloody violence.
The so-called statewide exercise to boost the security of life and property in Lagos was launched following the discovery of the illegal apartments under the Dolphin Estate Bridge. There are conflicting accounts of the under-the-bridge discovery and the alleged transportation of some youth to Osun State by the Lagos State government. One of the victims, a boy, said: “I was arrested while selling black market fuel in front of a filling station. They picked people in Ajah, Ibeju-Lekki, Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Agarawu and Island. They took us to a big uncompleted building close to the Maroko Police Station and later to Elemoro, before the trip to Osun.” Another victim, Miracle Chukwu, said he was coming from where he was selling phone accessories at the Marina area when some police officers stopped him and forced him into their Black Maria vehicle. He said they beat him and collected his bag which contained his iPhone XR, over N20,000 and his house key.
But the Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotoso, said the ongoing operation was launched by the government to tackle insecurity and that some of the victims pleaded for assistance to relocate to their various hometowns, while others were in rehabilitation centres due to their medical condition. Among questions being asked is: why did the alleged relocation journey end up in Osun forest where the affected youth alleged that there was a threat to kill them if they refused to cooperate with officials that were taking them out of Lagos?
It is a fact that Lagos is a state where people deliberately violate the law, including building regulations, believing that nothing will happen. It is also a state where government officials or people who are supposed to ensure that laws are obeyed will look the other way as people perpetrate all manner of illegalities probably because of fear of confronting those disobeying the law or that they have been giving bribes and so compromised.
It was learnt that the shanties under the Dolphin Estate Bridge rented out to people who were paying N250,000 yearly have been there for some time. Can officials of the state government feign ignorance of the situation? If they say yes, it will be difficult to believe them because there is no nook and cranny of the state, particularly the metropolis, that they do not know while collecting all kinds of rates, taxes, and levies. They are also aware of the myriad of criminal or illegal activities going on in such places. A thorough investigation could reveal complicity by some government officials at both lower and upper cadres. The illegal landlord that the government is hunting to arrest may be friends to some people in the government.
Forceful evacuation and transportation of miscreants from Lagos to their country states is not an effective way to address the menace. In the first place, there is no law that bars them from residing in any part of the country. The menace that they constitute, in most cases, is a fallout of bad governance, the greed of political office holders, unprecedented downturn in the nation’s economy and high level of corruption that have in one way or the other caused the high level of employment and astronomical rise in the cost of living in the county. Investigation could reveal that some of those living under the Dolphin Estate Bridge and under other bridges in Lagos are graduates, who have not been able to find a job. A man who pays N250,000 yearly for a room, whether under the bridge or elsewhere is expected to be responsible to a certain point. The situation also speaks volume about the housing deficit in Lagos State. Some of the people living under the bridge could be doing so either because they have not been able to find accommodation on the streets or cannot afford the rent charged. It also speaks volume about the effectiveness of those policing Lagos, who ought to have discovered the shanties under the bridge and ask questions.
Truly, forceful evacuation is not the answer. It is time for the government to face the hard fact that things are hard, and many people cannot afford their basic needs. Government at all levels must roll out policies and programmes that will mitigate the economic hardship in the country. Low housing estates should be built for low-income people and the rent should be made affordable to them.
Rather than forceful expulsion, the Lagos State government can liaise with some social groups to help fight the menace in the society without any controversy. The young people can be organised or rehabilitated to engage in productive activities that will generate income for them and boost the economy of the state. The youth are advised to, on their own, return to their hometowns and engage in farming. Vast land is all over the place in the remote areas that are not being cultivated. Production of food during this time is a profitable business with the rising prices of food items. Rather than wasting away under the bridges in Lagos, they should summon the courage to return to their towns, cultivate the land and make good money.
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