* Shanties, refuse heaps compete with flower gardens, hedges in Costain, Lagos
By Regina Akpabio
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/metro/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=240608&ptitle=The%20good,%20the%20bad%20side%20of%20a%20city

BENEATH the labyrinth of flyovers in the Costain area of Lagos Mainland, two different worlds exist.

There is, on the one hand an inviting landscape of manicured greenery, the centerpiece of which is the newly completed, beautiful, green roundabout, the metal fence of which is painted in white.

A pleasure to behold, not many Lagosians would have imagined the transformation possible until a few months ago before the Lagos State government's beautification programme in the metropolis, began to bear fruit.

But next door to this beautiful landscape of lush green lawns and hedges, a different world exists.

In this squalid world, also inhabited by Lagosians, a motley of shanties fashioned out of old aluminum sheets sit atop piles of refuse.

Close by, there is a market for chickens, goats and rams.

The regular stream of people in and out of the market, the many children playing around the shanties and the refuse heaps that surround them, indicate the presence of a thriving colony slum dwellers that is incongruous with the beauty only a few hundred metres away.

Apart from the bigger spread of refuse, which last week looked as it was strewn by a demented cart pusher, smaller piles were all over the place.

Beside this, a canal that emits nauseous odour forces passers-by to cover their noses, flows lazily into the lagoon.

"I wonder how these people cope, inhaling this terrible odour all the time," a woman who came to but chicken from the market told The Guardian on Friday.

She continued: " I was disturbed when I came early one morning and saw some children emerging from the huts all dressed up in their school uniforms.

"That means some people live here and raise children in this environment. Such a situation should not be permitted at all. "

But obviously, whether under deliberate official acquiescence or negligence, it appears the settlement has so far survived even as the residents and their customers seem to survive by plying their different trades.

From the rear of many of the shanties where the kitchens seem to be located, smoke swirls around as vendors serve customers plates of food on tables made from rough pieces of wood and planks stuck into the ground.

The chicken and ram market, which is located on a railway line, was littered with sacks of animal feed.

When The Guardian visited the area, hardly did anyone pass by without spitting because of the stench, yet the scores of residents went about their normal lives oblivious of the discomfort.

Some were performing their domestic chores, while others were haggling at the ram and goat market, which borders the road that leads from Funsho Williams Avenue to Orile Iganmu.

Some of the residents complained they have no alternative than to put up anywhere they could in order to carry out their activities.

One of them, Ahmed Salisu, said: "It is not as if we are happy living in this kind of place but I have to live somewhere to carry on with my business. Where do we go when the government is even demolishing people's homes?" he asked.

According to him, he is not just living there alone but with his entire family who are with him in Lagos.

"I am living here with my wife and five children who are in school here in Lagos. For now, this is our home until we can get something better," he added.

Even as he was talking, little Fatima and her three brothers in their school uniforms were returning from school, running happily across the heaps of refuse, into their home.

For them, there did not seem to be anything wrong with their home as long as it has sheltered them from the rains and sun.

"Yes, this is our house and we like it", she responded to a question before her father ordered her into the house.

A passer-by, Mr. Johnson Ola who closed his nose while passing through the area said: "I wonder how the residents here are able to cope with this stench. This is where they dispose their human waste and at the same time prepare their food.

"How I wish the government that is making the rest of Lagos so beautiful would remember these people.

"It is a surprise that such a dirty settlement can exist side-by-side with the beautiful Costain Roundabout and those nice lawns and hedges.

Nobody is asking the government to render these poor people homeless by destroying their houses. What I am saying is that it would also be proper if the same government builds low-cost homes that such level of Nigerians can afford to live in. Many of them are forced to live in this kind of squalor because they cannot afford to rent a better place."

According to him, the government only concentrates in building homes for the privilege ones and not for the masses.

Another resident who preferred anonymity said: "The government is no longer building homes for the common people.

It is rather demolishing the homes of poor people. If it concentrates on building one-room apartments, people like these would not bother themselves to be erecting shanties everywhere."

But the Managing Director, Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Mr. Ola Oresanya, said the state government was still evaluating reactions to the demolition of shanties under the Marine Beach flyover in Ijora recently.

According to him, the government would still remove the other shanties, including the one along the Costain-Orile Iganmu Road.

"The eviction of illegal occupants and demolition of shanties within Lagos metropolis is a continuous exercise. It is not what government is prepared to rush into, considering the impact on those involved.

"In the first instance, for them to have occupied the spaces illegally was not their fault but the failure of past authorities that did not take appropriate measures concerning open spaces within the state.

"For now, we are carefully watching their reactions and making plans towards their relocation bearing in mind the enormous cost effect.

Some of them have returned to their various hometowns or moved to stay with friends and relatives while others have chosen to remain where we evicted them from or moved to another illegal shanties within the state".

He, however, emphasised that the Fasola administration was caring and that the demolitions were not a sign of hatred but rather part of efforts to further protect the environment and change the face of the metropolis "since there is no development without pains."

landis:

I need PICS of:

Oshodi Oke

Ojuelegba

Ojota

Orile

Mile12

Ajegunle

Isale Eko

Then we know if truly it changed

Kobojunkie:

What about Ikorodu?? Idumota?? Oshodi?? Mile 12?? Palm grove?? Any pictures of those areas??

landis:

I need PICS of:

Oshodi Oke

Ojuelegba

Ojota

Orile

Mile12

Ajegunle

Isale Eko

Then we know if truly it changed