FOLASADE ADEBAYO’s visit to Abesan Estate in the Ipaja area of Lagos reveals that environmental hazards reign supreme there

Thirty-one years after it was built, the Abesan low-cost housing estate, in Mosan-Okunola Developing Council, Ipaja, has lost most of the features that once made it attractive. The estate, constructed by the first civilian governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, is riddled with failed roads, flooded streets, and a sickening odour from leaking sewage tanks, putting residents at a high risk of a cholera outbreak.

During a visit by our correspondent on Friday, the estate had a general outlook of filth right from its gate. It did not get better with unsightly scenes of garbage sites. The once beautiful buildings, said to be more than 1,000 in number, now wear faded paint and are caked with greenish algae. Most buildings wear cracks and are crying out loud for repair.

Thriving areas of unplanned market stalls, football viewing centres and mushroom schools have sacked the buffer zones while power generators and water tanks belonging to residents litter the backyards in almost all parts of the estate. It was a disorderly sight that shocked visitors, though it appeared normal to the inhabitants.

According to the President, the Abesan Estate Residents Association, Mr. Samson Afolabi, no maintenance work has been carried out on the network of roads since Jakande left office.

“Ninety-five per cent of the culverts in the estate are blocked. I don’t normally accuse anybody, but the people at the helm of affairs only remember us when election approaches. We are under a local development council that does not care. Look at the state of our roads. We have been fighting tooth and nail to get the attention of the council to no avail,” he said.

The elderly Afolabi, a pensioner who has lived in the estate since 1984, also admitted that residents have lately resorted to self-help initiatives to create a measure of sanity. For instance, residents recently contributed N50,000 to buy tyres for vehicle belonging to the the local police patrol.

A micro water plant is still under construction in the estate, but Afolabi noted that residents had relied on well water for years. He also pointed to a Fire Service Station that has not been commissioned since its completion last year. The fact is that government’s presence is largely missing on the streets of the estate.

The chairman, Mosan-Okunola Development Council, Mr. Abdul Rasheed Mafe, however, put the sordid state of the estate down to paucity of funds to provide the sorely needed amenities. In a telephone interview with our correspondent, Mafe said it was erroneous to think local councils have enough money to work with. He lamented that his administration had had to live by a shoestring to keep the council financially afloat.

However, the council boss enumerated some of the highlights of his administration’s achievements, which include a primary school and community health centre in the estate.

Said Mafe, “People have the perception that local councils have money, but we don’t have. The most we realise at times is N1.2m. We don’t have markets. We have three estates, but they don’t pay to us. They pay to Land Use accounts.

“The resources we generate and collect from the state (government) is what we use in maintaining the estate. We have a primary school, which is built by my administration. Out of four walls that make the fence, we have been able to construct three based on the resources at our disposal.

“We have built a health centre and we are plastering it. It (Abesan Estate) is the biggest in Lagos and that is why we built the befitting health centre. The school fence would have been completed, we would have constructed more roads but for lack of money. The money we get, we immediately pay statutory funds like salaries. These facts can be verified. We are hampered by funds.”

The community however has a lot more to deal with than apathy from the government. There are internal wrangling and ego trips among residents, which usually delay prompt repair of common facilities such as septic tanks.

“I don’t have power to sanction anyone,” Afolabi said. “We are all landlords here. In fact, we call ourselves ‘tenantlords’. We have problem with those who bought the house. They feel superior to the original landlords. They don’t cooperate at all, that is why many of the buildings are in deplorable condition.”

Afolabi’s comments underscored the prevailing attitude of residents. There is still a sprinkle of rent-paying tenants in the estate, but the majority of the flats have been bought by some tenants who automatically become landlords, too. In the estate, it is not unusual for a block of six flats to have six landlords, making central administration an egotistic and tedious business.

The situation, our correspondent learnt, is further compounded by a comatose central sewage system, which has compelled residents of each block of flats to dig its own septic chambers and tanks. Findings by our correspondent also show that maintenance becomes a problem when the septic tanks cave in as the landlords would bicker on the quotation provided by service providers.

Sector 34, perhaps, has the largest number of rotting septic tanks and open waste chambers. Aside constituting a danger, especially to young residents who might fall into some of the open chambers, the telltale greenish waste water perpetually fouls the air in the environment.

The dirty environment has affected businesses and establishments in the area.   Genex Montessori Schools is located in a flat in one of the buildings in the sector. When our correspondent met the proprietress, Mrs. Aderonke Osho, on Friday, she was busy packing out of the area, helped by members of staff. Though the school is expanding, Osho said she was forced to leave as parents had started withdrawing their children from the school.

“We are expanding, but we would have loved to keep this location because most of the pupils live within this section. But the waste water from the septic tanks constitutes an environmental hazard and parents are complaining. The children march on it first thing in the morning before entering the school and during playtime they come out here. We don’t want to have an epidemic on our hands,’’ she said.

Osho further attributed the decadence in the environment to multiple tenancies and the inability to agree on common concerns.

An interesting scene played out at Block N8, in sector 34. With eight flats, the building is one of the shabbiest in the sector. Giant rats played hide-and-seek from the gaping cracks on the septic chambers in the basement, which has already leaked puddles of greenish waste water all over the area.

Our correspondent found that the easiest way to earn a reprimand was to ask to see a landlord. “What is the name of the landlord? You are coming to see someone and you don’t know the name? There are no landlords here. We are all landlords,” said a voice from flat 6.

Speaking with our correspondent, the chairman, Sector 34 residents association, Mr. Samuel Idowu, elucidated on the challenges and plans to give a facelift to the sector.

According to him, six blocks of flats in the sector have been served warning letters to discharge the waste oozing out daily from the septic tanks. He also noted that only one or two blocks had complied with his directive.

Idowu said, “We used to have a central sewer system but it was not functional. Later, individuals disconnected from it and started constructing soak ways. But they are not cooperative in some buildings. If anything involves money, it becomes a problem because most of us are pensioners. By the time they eventually call lorries to evacuate the waste, it would have started leaking. We have served them letters but only a few have complied.

“LAWMA officials come every Monday to evacuate the garbage. If you see any trash around, it is something we are keeping for next Monday. We are also planning to paint the buildings. Some of them have not been painted in the last 10 years. The cost of quality paint for three blocks is N98, 000. That is reasonable enough, but then you have to be patient with the landlords when it comes to money matters.’’

Respite may, however, be on the way as the state government has rehabilitated the central sewer network and constructed several manholes around the estate for the use of residents.

In a letter to the AERA last month, the state government said it would “no longer tolerate a situation where residents discharge raw wastewater into the public drains, such actions shall be sanctioned in accordance with the environmental laws of Lagos State.”. The letter, signed by the Head, Operations, Safety, Rehabilitation and Maintenance of Sewer Networks, Mr. Y.A.T. Gidado, urged the AERA, “to inform all those who have disconnected their residential blocks from the central sewer network, to, as a matter of urgency, reconnect back to the sewer network manhole closest to their blocks.”

In a telephone interview with our correspondent, the Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Bosun Jeje, said rehabilitation work would commence after the rainy season.

“Abesan estate is on our list, we are getting there. This is the rainy season and little or nothing can be done. But after the rainy season, rehabilitation will start. We don’t have a supplementary budget now, but if we have, the estate is on our list of estates that need to be renovated. The road network is being handled by the Ministry of Works,” he said.

There was a time the LAWMA guys said Abesan is the dirtiest Estate in Lagos. We ( Abesan News) have reported and reported on this issue. There are some sectors with bushes, you won't want to imagine people are living there. What is actually wrong? While many are pointing to the people as non cooperative, I think the leadership should be largely responsible for what goes on there. The sector and central leadership I mean. The roads are so bad, some roads are not even motorable at all. And this is supposed to be the biggest Estate in West Africa? I am more convinced than ever that we need responsible people to take over the various leadership positions. The old glory of Abesan has to return!
This reply is from Abesan News
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I'm not surprised its named d dirtiest, it was one of d reasons we moved from there, we were among the first set of pple to move in, so we saw it in its beautiful days but little by little d population started increasin so was d noise and then came d shops ha they were just so many
Every block is all covered with shops
What broke d camels back was d hold ups that started at d gate of d estate, it smtimes last for an hour just to get out of d estate cos of bad road, lookin at all these we left without lookin back

Phishure of It been the dirtiest or Adonbivit