esowapo, where residents sleep on ashes

A cross section of the residents in the open on Sunday evening and A displaced woman and two of her children take refuge in an uncompleted shop
| credits: Olaleye Aluko

Some 200 residents of Ifesowapo, a Lagos slum, are now living in terrible conditions after a fire incident, OLALEYE ALUKO writes

It is a windy evening on Jones Street, off Apapa Road in Ebute Meta West area. Most people are hurrying to their houses as the increasing breeze suggests a rainfall might be on the way. But for Ifesowapo, one of the communities in the area, the residents are in a different mood.

Rather than taking cover in any building, the people in this community, in groups of their families, are arranging some planks and burnt roofing sheets in the open environment, and spreading clothes on the surface to make it ‘comfortable’ for sleeping. The time is 9:45pm on Sunday.

Ifesowapo Community may be a slum but it is located in the heart of Lagos. The community, which had approximately 3,000 residents before a recent fire disaster displaced many of them, shares boundary with Otto Town, on Jones Street, off Apapa Road, Ebute Meta West in Lagos Mainland Local Government.

Woken up by fire outbreak

About a week ago, Wednesday, April 2 precisely, the residents had also been sleeping in the comfort of their houses when the unbelievable struck them. Around 2am, the people were woken up by the raging noise of a large fire which broke out from an unidentified source and razed their shanties – most of which were built with half-block and half-plank.

After the inferno had raged for about three hours, hundreds of their houses had become ashes. The billows of smoke emanating from the community that morning would seem to neighbouring areas as a bomb explosion.

Indeed, to the displaced people, the fire on that morning looked like a nightmare. But the smoke reminded the wailing residents that the fire was real – as real as the agony they would be having in the following days. Part of this agony is that, for those who do not have an emergency residence to relocate to, sleeping on the rubble is the only option.

One of these landlords, Mr. Afolabi Morufu, who lost an eight-bedroom apartment, and has lived in the area for 21 years, explains their ordeal better.

He says, “After the fire incident, we had no place to go because most of us are low-income earners. I am a commercial driver, married with five children. Some people have temporarily relocated, but those of us who can not have to be spending the night in the open space.

“What we do is to arrange wood on these ashes and you see each family sleeping on their plots of land. It is unbelievable but we have no other option.”

Another victim who is Morufu’s neighbour, Mr. Kamorudeen Sulaiman, confirmed this, and the two men on Friday afternoon took this reporter round the area which has been reduced to rubble. Only burnt roofing sheets, broken bottles and China ware, however, remain to testify that some houses had once been erected there.

Children at mercy of mosquitoes

Still in doubt about whether the residents were truly sleeping on the rubble in the open environment, this reporter decided to pay a visit to the fire-ravaged community on Sunday evening.

Accompanied by the Secretary of the Ifesowapo Community Development Association, Mr. Ishola Agbodemu, the reporter’s walk around there reveals much more than the ears have heard.

On planks arranged on the ground to minimise the effects of ashes, broken bottles and other forms of rubble, the residents, each group as a family, gather together to eat and sleep. The population, in each family is not less than five and the young children are obviously more than the adults.

For a few families, the children are sleeping inside mosquito nets, tied to makeshift walls, while the majority of families simply leave their young ones to the mercy of the mosquitoes.

Agbodemu explains how the few nets came about, saying, “The fire incident happened on Wednesday morning. I was not at home as I work with a security outfit, the Vigilantes Group of Nigeria. I am the Head of Operation in Lagos Mainland Local Government. I had two structures, a three-bedroom flat and a five-room apartment which was used as community primary school.”

“By the time I arrived, the fire had razed everything, except our people. Then, on Thursday, a non-governmental organisation, Love and Social Justice Society, visited us and distributed some relief items such as mosquito nets, toothpastes, buckets and toilet soaps. These are the nets that are hung in the open at night.”

It is also said that after the incident, the residents contributed between N5,000 and N10,000 each to erect some wooden structures. But this can only accommodate a few, as many others still sleep in the open, particularly on their portion of land where the houses had been.

“Since the fire incident, my family and I have also been sleeping in the open. Just today, I bought a canopy for N7,000 to make a tent, but we all are still lying on the rubble of our burnt buildings.”

Like a refugee camp

One of the men interviewed on Sunday evening, Mr. Paul Njoku from Imo State, says he has been living in the community since 1999, and has nowhere to go after the incident.

“I have eight children and four grandchildren. My six-bedroom apartment was razed by the inferno, and we have been sleeping on these planks for about a week. Government should please assist us in whatever way they deem fit. We are not saying they should build houses for us, but we want to feel their presence, more so, in the provision of social amenities,” he says.

While this discussion lasts, Njoku’s grandchildren are fast asleep on the planks, partially covered with clothes, while his wife sits on a stool near a stove,  cooking. The environment generally looks like groups of people from war-torn countries, who have been brought to seek protection in a refugee camp.

Another resident, a woman and mother of five children, Mrs. Zainab Ogunniyi, confirms that life has been synonymous with hell since the fire incident.

“We eat, sleep and do everything in the open, except to bathe. My husband is a vulcaniser, but his equipment also got burnt on that fateful day because he doesn’t keep it in the shop. He later constructed a fence with some burnt roofing sheets so that we can have a compound, but we still sleep in the open,” she laments.

Mrs. Yetunde Oseni, a mother of eight who lost a two-bedroom apartment, a church building and a shop, also speaks with this reporter.

“Since last week Wednesday, we have not been able to cook. We buy food from hawkers when we are hungry. We cannot take our bath during the day but have to wait till evening when everywhere is dark.”

‘Government should give us amenities’

The secretary of the community association explains the steps they have taken so far to get the attention of their local government, and other government authorities.

He says, “On Friday April 4, we submitted a letter to the Lagos Mainland Local Government office, and we are still expecting their response. But so far, we have not got any visitation, official statement or relief materials from any government quarters,” he says.

Also, the chairman of the association, Mr. Rasheed Lamidi, pleads with government to give the community basic amenities such as good roads and water.

“We know that this is a low-cost housing community which we founded for ourselves for as long as 25 years ago. But we need the state government to assist our people to get over this disaster. It is true that some have left but many others don’t have a place to go. If these amenities were in place, the fire disaster probably wouldn’t have had such paralysing effects,” the chairman explains.

Agbodemu further sheds light on why government should rise to the help of residents.

“Although we are all low-income earners, we are well registered with the Lagos State government. Our CDA was registered under the Ministry of Rural Development and Infrastructure in 2008, and the association is also a member of Lagos State Marginalised Community Forum.

“We do meet every month in the local government and I am the general secretary of the forum, where we coordinate 42 such communities in Lagos State. I believe government needs to urgently give us basic amenities such as electrification, good roads and ensure utmost protection for our people.”

He adds that many of the people have lost confidence in government’s assistance because of the terrible conditions they had to endure when such a fire disaster happened in the community in 2010.

It is learnt that a fire incident like the April 2 episode sacked Ifesowapo Community on Saturday, February 27, 2010. Then, all efforts by the residents to get government attention had proved abortive.

An eyewitness, Alhaji Taiwo Olorunlagba, who got to the community 32 years ago, recounts the 2010 incident.

“When it happened on that Saturday, we lost all our houses and we were sleeping in the open. Some days later, the community mobilised and sent letters to the Lagos State Ministry of Special Duties, and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency.

“Truly, they sent officials to inspect the extent of destruction. They even took photographs of the remains of the fire. But after the visit, the video clips and photographs, nothing happened,” Olorunlagba explains.

Sleeping in the open for eight months

Agbodemu adds that when residents waited endlessly for government’s intervention, and none came, they had no option but to start rebuilding after several months in the open.

“We waited for state intervention for about eight months but didn’t get any. We were also asked to hold on the reconstruction as assistance was coming from the state. We wrote letters to the local government office then, which were not answered.”

It is gathered that what Ifeosowapo community would then see was the marking of their structures for demolition by some officials who claimed to have come from the government. With no alternatives provided for them, the residents therefore took the case to court, and it was heard at the Lagos State Magistrate Court, Igbosere, Lagos Island.

“At the court, the government was restrained, and told that our buildings could not be demolished without the people’s consent. But we had already suffered for eight months without any shelter,” Agbodemu notes.

Community school lost to fire disaster

As part of efforts to revive the community after the 2010 fire outbreak, residents decided to found a primary school and it began in the premises of the secretary’s house. The school was named Young Leaders Academy and it grew to a population of 90 pupils over the years.

It also had an evening class of about 65 pupils from other schools. The community employed four teachers who are holders of the National Council on Education certificate, and was paying their salaries monthly. However, when the school could be said to be at its peak of performance, the April 2 fire incident brought it down to ashes, displacing the booming school population.

Agbodemu says the school was a lifeline for the community children.

“Initially, what brought up this community effort was that we reasoned among ourselves: how could we be existing for over 20 years without a school for our children? Unfortunately, there were no public schools in our area. So, most of our children had nowhere to go.

“When we started in 2010, some NGOs came and assisted the school by giving us textbooks, notebooks and other writing materials. The school also had a computer laboratory, library and after-school lessons, because people saw what we were doing and were pouring in donations. Sadly, we lost the entire school building to the April 2 fire incident,” he concludes on a sober note.

The school proprietress, Mrs. Abimbola Olarenwaju, confirms that the school population has reduced drastically as most families  have been displaced by the inferno.

A visit to the school on Friday afternoon reveals that the few pupils present learnt in a makeshift classroom with no sitting and writing facilities.

“We will try our best to reconstruct the classrooms, but we need urgent assistance from government and kind members of the public, as these children must not stop coming to school,” she pleads.

People should not live in shanties –Govt

The Lagos State Commissioner for Rural Development, Mr. Cornelius Ojelabi, says the ministry has yet to receive a formal letter from the affected community. According to him, due assistance will be rendered to them when such is done.

“The ministry will lend necessary support when we receive a formal letter from them. But actually, this case is under the purview of the Ministry of Special Duties,” he says in a telephone conversation.

Also, the General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Authority, an agency of the Ministry of Special Duties, Dr. Oke Osanyintolu, explains that as much as government sympathises with the community, there is need to ensure that people do not erect shanties which are vulnerable to fire disasters.

“We were on ground when the incident occurred, and I am fully aware of it. We are having the enumeration exercise at present to see what government can do for them to ameliorate the effects of this disaster.

“Inasmuch as we sympathise with them, we must put measures in place to make sure such things don’t reoccur. People need to live fine, and a way to live fine is for us not to erect shanties,” he says in an interview.

Osanyintolu adds that the community does not need to write letters before the authority will respond to their needs. He, however, notes that erection of shanties by people is a major challenge for the Lagos State Government.

“Our problem is that such houses are shanties, and these people are living in slums. You and I know that this is improper in a proposed mega city such as Lagos. There are low-cost housing schemes in Agbowa, in Ikorodu and other areas. So, this is our concern,” he concludes.