INCREASING SLUMS IN AMUWO ODOFIN - RESIDENTS PROTEST

Residents of Amuwo-Odofin and Festac Town have frowned at the emergence of a slum in the middle-income neighbourhood.

They argued that the growth of the slum at the shore of the canal which divides Amuwo-Odofin residential scheme and Festac, runs foul of the Lagos State urban and regional development plan.

A septuagenarian who has lived in First Avenue, Festac town since 1977, Dr. Mark Chukwuka Nzube decried the emergence of illegal occupants in the waterfront. “Amuwo Odofin is a Lagos State government planned residential scheme with the canal area and the set back of the canal created to serve as the green belt of the scheme,” he explained.

According to him, civilians ejected from Navy Barracks between 1993 and 94, moved to the location when the Amuwo-Odofin scheme was not yet fully developed. Sometime in 2002, after a major crisis at Ajegunle, many of those who were displaced from the slummy neighbourhood also moved to the waterfront to develop another slum.

“They remain illegal residents because the area was not officially allocated to them and none of them has a legal building approval from the Lagos State Government,” he said.

The residents further claimed that the settlers pose a huge threat to their lives because many of them are allegedly engaged in illicit activities like armed robbery, sale of hard drugs, prostitution and illegal sand mining.

Mrs Adenike Odegbile who also lives in the area alleged that some of the residents are engaged in illegal bunkering. “Recently, selling of siphoned fuels in jerry cans has become a common practice around the canal where we have illegal occupants. They cause serious environmental problems along the waterways and this is affecting the aquatic environment and impairing movement along the waterways,” she said

Continuing, she alleged that “hemp smoking and drug peddling are also common features of the community”. “There are no legal residents around the canal; they are all illegal squatters. It is high time they are removed because their continued habitation of the area is negatively affecting the mega city status of Lagos. The place is known by Festac Police as a red zone,” she said.

Another resident, Mr Musa Abdulkareem accused officials of the Lagos State Ministries of Environment and Physical Planning and Waterfront as being largely responsible for the deplorable condition of the Amuwo Odofin axis.

“The attention of the Lagos State government, particularly the former Governor was drawn to it severally. The Ministry of Environment had marked the shanties for demolition several times but no action was taken. I guess the officials were compromised at the expense of the environment,”he alleged.