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DAYO AYEYEMI, in this piece, looks at the challenge currently facing residents of Amuwo Odofin Estate.

At Amuwo Odofin Housing Estate, human faeces flowing freely in open drains is now a common sight, raising fear of cholera outbreak in the 40-year-old community.

When Saturday Tribune visited the estate, offensive odour filled the air from smelly waste water flowing from the drainage that runs through the estate into homes.

Residents of the estate, numbering over 250,000, are protesting the alleged conversion of the estate’s sewage plant into a container terminal by an agency of the state government. They called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to wade into the crisis before it escalates.

The community is one of the 14 estates built in 1979 by the first executive governor of Lagos State, the late Alhaji Lateef Jakande, for low-income earners, with payments structured in affordable ways.

Over the years, the  estate has not only lost its serene environment to pollution of various forms, it has also lost its central sewage treatment plant, its green gardens, open spaces and infrastructure to lack of maintenance, encroachment and overpopulation.

While the estate’s sewage treatment plant became moribund about 20 years ago, the latest problem of human waste disposal in the area was brought about by the demolition of the yard housing the facility and the alleged takeover of the land by an agency of the state government, Lagos Building Investment Company (LBIC), with the intention of turning it into a container terminal.

The residents alleged that the trucks evacuating the sewage since the collapse of the facility had been chased away, leading to human faeces flowing freely in open drains in the estate.

Most of the residents are currently expressing fear of looming epidemic.

Saturday Tribune also noticed that the drains were filled with coloured water, which the residents claimed contained a mixture of waste water and faeces from homes.

Also sighted were some of the trucks for dislodging sewage from the moribund plant now queuing on the main street at Durban Junction after being sacked.

Landlords and other residents of the estate are united in their opposition to the project, saying the construction would be on existing sewage and water infrastructure in the part of the estate facing the railway station at Mile 2, and will flout the 4.5 meters drainage setback stipulated by the enabling enactment.

Irritated by the plan, stakeholders under the auspices of Amuwo Odofin Landlords/Residents Association took to the streets to protest against the demolition of the estate’s sewage treatment plant without providing them with an alternative.

They claimed that the takeover of the land meant for the sewage treatment plant for the construction of a container terminal portended danger for the residents of the neighborhood.

Besides, they feared looming epidemic in the estate, saying faeces from homes now adorn their major highway, inner streets and drains.

The protesting landlords came out with different posters calling  on the government to stop the construction of the container terminal and let the sewage treatment plant to remain.

‘We don’t know when govt became a land grabber’

Expressing fear of epidemic if government goes on with its alleged plan, president of the  Landlords/Residents Association of Amuwo Odofin, Prince Adeyemi Ayilara, said: “Our estate is a government-planned-and-built estate with central sewage treatment plant that went moribund over 20 years ago.

“The yellow water in our gutters is dissolved faeces from our sewage chambers. In this time and age, it defies reason that a government’s estate is without modern scientific means of treating human solid waste, with the inhabitants exposed to possible epidemic.

“This is absurd to the vision of the first executive governor of Lagps State, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, of blessed memory.”

Ayilara alleged that the LBIC, being the manager of the estate, was responsible for the demolition of the sewage treatment plant and the planned conversion of the land for the construction of a container terminal.

“We do not know when the Lagos State government became a land grabber. For so many years, they have been coming to our estate. They have denied us of open spaces. What do you call this when you come in through the sewage treatment plant which was constructed by Alhaji Jakande that built this estate for low income earners 40 years ago,” he said.

According to him, the residents have been enjoying the sewage treatment plant until the facility broke down and since then, the government has not been able to fix it.

“All we had one morning was a gang of hoodlums and some policemen coming in here to tell us they have sold this land. We heard that they want to use it for container terminal. We are saying no to this project,” he said.

He said the residents were not challenging the order of the government but they were only letting the government know that the particular space was meant for the plant.

When Saturday Tribune contacted LBIC to get its reaction to the matter, the receptionist on duty asked our correspondent to see one Mr Tosin, the head of project in the company. When he was eventually contacted, he told our correspondent to get in touch with the managing director, claiming that his boss was the one handling all official matters.

Frustrated by the agency’s lack of cooperation, Saturday Tribune called on a commissioner whose ministry is assumed to supervise the agency but our correspondent was directed to the Ministry of Transportation as the appropriate quarters for enquiries about the estate matter.

A spokesperson in the transport ministry said LBIC was also not under the jurisdiction of the ministry, leaving stakeholders with the impression that LBIC is autonomous.

An internet search by Saturday Tribune revealed Mr Tobi Lawal as the Managing Director of LBIC and the agency, existing since 1980, is said to be primarily created to “provide mortgage finance facilities to allottees accordingly. Therefore, it runs a low-cost housing scheme that was designed by the Lagos State government to provide houses.

“Furthermore, since its inception in 1980, the company has become a full primary mortgage bank and has the capacity to grant mortgages to qualified individuals,” the thread read.

The president of the landlords/residents association explained further that the association had written two letters to the governor while a reminder was also sent to communicate their intention that the site should be left as sewage treatment plant.

He reiterated the call on the governor to look into the matter, pointing out that there were many pipes lying under the site of the sewage treatment plant.

“There is a gas station behind the sewage treatment plant. People cannot even live here. We don’t want container terminal in front of our estate. We want this place to remain as our sewage treatment plant,” he said.

In a letter addressed to Governor Sanwo-Olu on Februaury 16, 2022, the residents expressed their disappointment, saying they were aggrieved because the state government failed to rebuild, rejuvenate and modernise the sewage treatment plant, leaving them with no other option than to direct their sewage chambers to the gutters.

The letter reads in part: “On 2nd November 2007, a blueprint report on rehabilitation of infrastructure and security in Amuwo Odofin Housing Estate, was presented to the then governor, Babatunde Fashola.

“The sewage treatment plant was the major infrastructure highlighted apart from de-flooding and road rehabilitation.

“The eventual program of private participation on built operate and transfer (BOT) came into being and the franchise was given to Messrs Vandaco, to reactivate the sewage treatment plant; to put in place modern structure for treatment and separation with end products such as cooking gas and manure; to make temporary septic tank for those blocks, that were not connected to the sewage treatment plant; and to provide sewer lines connecting those unconnected blocks to the plant.”

The residents alleged that the project was aborted by the state government, leaving the operator to gnash his teeth as a result of the Badagry expressway’s expansion and construction of rail line.

They also alleged that the pumping station was dismantled by the Ministry of Environment, adding that several meetings followed on the rebuilding of the facility with modernised seamless sewage treatment plant yard and provision of portable seamless plants within clusters of blocks of residents, whose land space is available.

The residents said they also did many media publications calling the attention of the state government to the possible epidemic they have been exposed to.

They equally lamented that LBIC as the manager of the estate lacked the capacity to service the infrastructural needs of the estate, calling on Sanwo-Olu for urgent succour. A reminder was sent to him on March 9, 2022.

Going down the memory lane, Adeyemi Shita-Bey said he moved to the estate in 1983, painting a picture of the proverbial Eldorado the estate used to be.

He explained that the entire environment was beautiful as it was laced with open spaces, ample car parks and sparkling infrastructure, unlike now when the entire neighborhood  is in  a sorry state.

According to him, the estate came with central sewage treatment plant and there were sewage lines from each plot to the facility.

He said: “This place has historical background and it has to be visited.  Governor Jakande built this estate by showing sympathy on us. He built 14 functional estates in Lagos State. This estate was built for the low-income earners and they structured it in a way we were able to afford it.

“LBIC is a mortgage banker; they are not builder. We are regretting that we allowed LBIC to take up the responsibility of managing our estate. This treatment plan was given under concession: Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) to Messrs Vandaco, who had put in so must money to revitalise the treatment plant.

“When completed, it would separate water, bring about cooking gas, manure for agricultural usage. These are the plan for the plant,” he said.

In the interim, he called on the state government to stop the LBIC from turning the latest site of the treatment plant to container terminal.

Another resident, Alhaja S.O Ayanda, said the estate was a beauty to behold when she moved in, in 1984.

However, she cliamed that immediately the sewage treatment plant broke down over 20 years ago, there was no practical effort to resuscitate it.

Another resident, Tunji Ojedokun, called the authorities to save them from epidemics by restoring the sewage treatment plant.

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