The state government has recently deployed a heavy earth-moving caterpillar to clear the bushes and shanties along the end of Ashiru Shittu Street of Magodo scheme.

Already, works at the channelization of canal between Magodo brooks and Omole Phase 1, have created a disharmony between residents and government leading to temporary stoppage of works at the site.

The residents allege that the move is connected to a plan to link the estate with Omole, and creating access for allottees to a new housing scheme located near the area.

They, argued that such exercise will create environmental hazards for the residents.

But the government has started engaging the residents on its plan for the area, which has been turned to hide outs for criminals and miscreants.

Head of Public Relations and Complaints, Lagos Lands Bureau, Kayode Sutton, said the decision to meet with the residents even though government has the ultimate rights to work on its scheme was a demonstration that the present administration in the state   want to carry every body along.

According to him, the state government has acted with good intentions, to avert canal over flow, curtail the social menaces associated with the areas as well as create access in between its two schemes.

The state government, he stressed had set up and Inter-Ministerial committee made up of Ministries of the Environment, Physical Planning and Urban Development, Lands and Enforcement Units. He explained that government noticed that portions of the land have become a safe heaven to miscreants, who even went ahead to plant Indian helm in the area.

“It is being done to avert canal over flow and the menaces associated with the environment.

“ There is nothing wrong in doing what government did, no need to consult anybody to live up to its responsibilities”, he added.

According to him, the government had last year advertised that all alottees to its scheme should start developing their lands or have their allocations revoked. But, there were complaints of lack of government presence in the past resulting in the absence of basic infrastructures such as good roads, electricity among others, to their sites.

“ Government, he said is creating access in between its two schemes, which are; Magodo and Magodo II for allottees to move on site.

“There is always a misconception about the Magodo scheme, but we have the Masterplan and know where Magodo scheme stopped”.  He added.

But the Chairman of the MRDA, Mr. Kunle Eludire  told The Guardian  that  such a work should not be  done without carrying  residents  along especially,  when the site provides water plain for the estate and a buffer for  environmental disaster in the area.

He noted that residents had planned to wall off the place to prevent miscreants from encroaching on the land before they noticed the caterpillar on the site.

Describing the move to link the estate with Omole, as unnecessary Eludire said , information gathered by the estate showed that government was only creating access for some allottees of land in the forest.

He also alleged that the exercise would create more problems for residents, who might face environmental hazards.

However, the Executive Secretary of Lagos Land Use and Allocation Committee (LUAC), Kayode Ogunnubi in a letter to the chairman of the MRDA, stated that the exercise was a proactive measure urgently taken aftermath the order of governor Akinwumi Ambode to remove shanties, bushes and others, that could pose security threat to the metropolis.

He stressed that the Lands Bureau is poised to keep the state lands safe and secure and called for the cooperation of the estate on the exercise.

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The residents stormed the Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday morning calling on the lawmakers to save them as their houses had been demolished by officials of the state government.

According to them, the demolition exercise was carried out by agents of the state Ministry of Physical and Urban Planning.

The protesters, chanting save-our-soul songs, were armed with placards carrying inscriptions like: “We are now homeless”, “This is not the change we voted for”, “Please save our community”, “This is injustice”, “We want justice for Mosafejo, community”, “they pushed us away from our house will bulldozer”, “We have always been voting for you, don’t afflict or oppress us”.

The protesters called on the Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, as well as their representative, Folajimi Muhammed, to prevail on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to restore their property.

The group also appealed to Senator Olamilekan Adeola, and House of Representatives member, James Faleke, to save the community from further demolition.

The aggrieved residents handed a protest letter to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

In the letter with title: ‘Invasion/Demolition of Mosafejo Village, Oshodi By Lagos State Government: A Call For Justice,’ and signed by Comrade Buna Olaitan of Human Rights Monitoring Agenda, HURMA, the protesters stated: “our attention has been drawn to the invasion and demolition exercise on-going at Mosafejo Village by the Lagos State Government.”

They explained that the entire community was given a seven-day notice to vacate the entire area, adding that before the expiration of the notice, some task force officials came with hoodlums and chased people away

“Though the place was visited by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, he only directed us to meet with the Commissioner for Physical Planning, who later insisted that we vacate within stipulated time.

“While the community was trying to seek the attention of the Lagos State Government to have proper understanding, caterpillar and bulldozer were moved to the area and before the arrival of HURMA, the entire village has been brought into extinction,” they said.

The organisation subsequently demanded the immediate withdrawal of police and taskforce officials from the community, and the arrest and prosecution of police officers, who worked with hoodlums to rob the people of their properties.

They called on the Lagos State House of Assembly and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to give immediate attention to the residents of the area, who are internally displaced.

“A call on the Lagos State Government to rebuild the entire place and as well as compensate the affected people,” they added.

Speaking on the matter, a youth leader in the area, Mr. Yemi Babatunde, stated that the ministry brought the notice on 11 January only to come back with a two-day notice on 14 January before the houses were eventually demolished on Friday, 6 February, 2016.

“We had been seeking approval for the 72-year old area since 2008. Former governor Babatunde Raji Fashola was in the place in January, 2014 and he said that we should see the then leader of the state taskforce brigade, Mr. Bayo Suleiman, but we could not settle the matter then,” he said.

He stated that the land in the area was acquired in 1937 and that people have been living in the area since 1944.

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The Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, stated this at the 2015 ministerial press briefing by the ministry in commemoration of Governor Babatunde Fashola’s eight years in office.

Bello stated that the ministry intended to consolidate on the achievements recorded last year, which explained why the 2015 de-flooding programme started last December.

He said, “The ministry’s ultimate goal is the realisation of a cleaner, sustainable and liveable Lagos. The ministry has assiduously pursued this goal with unwavering zeal in the last eight years.

“Similarly, our resolve is also the attainment of a flood-free state through efficient management and preservation of storm water through the deployment of innovative approach and strategies.”

The commissioner said the scheme was sustained through strategies such as the pre-rain programme between January and March; mid-rain programme between April and July; and post-rain programme between September and December.

Bello recalled that in 2011, Lagos was submerged in flood and as a result, the state government had some challenges in Owode and Ajegunle areas, where some people were rendered homeless.

The commissioner added, “This, we were able to contain. The Lagos State Government built a new abode for the homeless at Agbowa, which is nearing completion stage. The ministry also established and maintained a cordial working relationship with the Ogun-Osun River Basin Authority, which has helped in the control of water release from the Oyan Dam, which has further aided our de-flooding process and storm water management during the rainy season.

“New drainage projects have been completed in areas such as Lagos Island, Orile Agege, Ikorodu, Alapere, Kosofe, Abule Egba, Agbado Oke-Odo, Ifako Ijaye, Egbe-Idimu, Shomolu, Mushin, Itire, Ojo, Alimosho, Eti-Osa and Epe.”

According to him, it is noteworthy that for four consecutive years, the state has been the least affected by flooding due to its all-year de-flooding programme, which consists of massive maintenance, dredging and construction works introduced to increase the existing drainage channels across the state.

Bello noted that in the period under review, 52 drainage dredging projects were completed, while there was provision for 67 new ones across the state.

He added that 75.27-kilometre length of primary drainage channels was dredged with 20 ongoing drainage construction projects, and 65 hazard area flood plains drained and made accessible.

“In the last one year, the Drainage Maintenance and Emergency Flood Abatement Department cleared a total length of 710 kilometres of primary and secondary collector drains across the state, which were carted away to approved dumpsites,” he said.

The commissioner added that the Water Resources Department of the ministry also installed rain gauge stations in five divisions of the state and readings obtained from the stations were used in collaboration with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency to inform residents about weather predictions.

“It is our belief that the environment is a mirror of our attitudes and values. It is, therefore, imperative that we diligently ensure that we protect it by making individual and collective efforts to champion the cause of a healthy environment,” he said.

PUNCH.

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