Kuramo Beach, Lagos, is alluring and provides a good relaxation spot. But it is not the allure of the beach that attracted 15-year-old Kabiru Tijani to Kuramo when he arrived there more than two years ago.

He told PUNCH METRO that the beach became his home when his mother drove him out of their home in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital in 2009 because he lost her N6,000 while hawking.

Tijani, a Junior Secondary School drop-out said, “My mother threatened to kill me if I did not find her N6,000, which I lost in the course of hawking soft drinks and bottled water for her. She drove me out of the house and said if I did not find the money, I should perish anywhere I liked. Because of fear of being killed by her, I decided to run away from home. When I came to Lagos, I headed for this beach (Kuramo).

“I have been here for the past two years. Life here is hellish. I thought I would find succour here based on stories some people had told me, I did not know it was all a delusion. Right now, I am regretting coming to this place. I have been exposed to smoking cigarettes and Indian hemp and the means of survival is tough. We sleep in the open and exposed to the vagaries of different weather.

“When rain falls, we look for makeshift houses to stay. I plead with the government and well-meaning people to come to our aid. I want to go back to school or learn a craft. There is no life here; in fact, I am wasting my time here.”

Tijani was smoking away when a non-governmental organisation, the Coalition Against Tobacco, visited the beach as part of its activities to mark the “World No Tobacco Day” and to sensitise the inhabitants of the Kuramo Beach community on the dangers of tobacco smoking.

Even when some members of CAT were counselling him, he retorted, “If I don’t smoke, what else will keep me high? As you can see, I don’t have money to feed. If I do some runs, I just eat a little food and smoke to feel high.”

As for another teenager, who identified himself simply as Tosin, he told our correspondent that he had been at the beach for seven years and had been smoking since then.

Tosin, a native of Badagry, Lagos State, said he ran away from home because his father was fond of maltreating him and was not ready to send him to school.

Tosin, also a drop-out, said since he arrived the beach, he had neither heard from his father nor his mother, adding that he had become the property of the government and urged the government to come to his rescue.

Another teenager, Tobi Apena, said his parents were divorced and were not willing to take care of him, let alone send him to school. He said after many years of directionless situation, he decided to abandon his parents to eke a living for himself hence he found himself at the beach.

On whether he smokes, he laughed hysterically, “Smoking is a way of life here. I smoke. I smoke even marijuana. It is sold here. It makes one high. But I have seen that the life we are living here is not worthwhile; it is a horrible lifestyle. I will be glad if the government could come to my rescue and evacuate me.

“However, this place can be full of fun most times. If you have money, you will enjoy yourself. It is a community where all manner of things are. We have lodging here where you can take ladies or girls to. In fact, everything is here.”

Addressing some of them on the dangers of cigarette smoking and addiction, Project Coordinator, CAT, Olatoyosi Onaolapo, told them the earlier they quit smoking the better, saying that the habit accounted for over 200 million deaths around the world every year.

She said the statistics of smokers worldwide was on the increase daily, especially among young persons in developing nations like Nigeria, maintaining that about 15 billion tobacco sticks were smoked globally each day.

“Tobacco smoking without a doubt portends lethal health implications not only to the actual smoker but largely unsuspecting passive smokers such as the spouses, children and other persons in the immediate environment of a smoker,” Onaolapo stated.

She said while there was a significant decline in smoking in Europe and the United States, the reverse was the case in developing countries such as Nigeria, noting that smoking statistics in Nigeria increased by about 20 per cent yearly.

Meet the "Almajiris" of Lagos!

Sooooooooooo, BANK-OLE Di-200Naira-Kpomo-Meji-Lips dey shiaa moni for Lagos. . .Almajiri don dey smoke Ijebu-Igbo all over Lagos huh?



Awon Dayokanu!

Please, go and claim your children!

If there is anything I can't stand in a dude. . .it is cigarette smoking. Twa! Igbo smokers keep off!

Dayokanu keep off!

Are they more interested in the smoking habit and dangers or they are trying to reconcile those kids with their parents  

Blazay:

Meet the "Almajiris" of Lagos!



Awon Dayokanu!

Please, go and claim your children!

If there is anything I can't stand in a dude. . .it is cigarette smoking. Twa! Igbo smokers keep off!

Dayokanu keep off!

I dont smoke, Its all those Okoro-Yoruba dudes that smoke. WHy should I smoke, Am I a locomotive engine

I just loff blazay, Pls I am on my knees begging, that your profile picture has been making me to tuck out my shirt and pocket all over the office cos my Yekini don vex.

Make we phock plsssssss

dayokanu:

I dont smoke, Its all those Okoro-Yoruba dudes that smoke. WHy should I smoke, Am I a locomotive engine

I just loff blazay, Pls I am on my knees begging, that your profile picture has been making me to tuck out my shirt and pocket all over the office cos my Yekini don vex.

Make we phock plsssssss

Which kain NL office? Are you really employed?

Gooooooooooood!
Make that ya ofe mmanu-mmanu, ngbatic, blokos explode all ova dat your office!
Make dem nor fit 'attach' the pieces. . .for ay-vah andu ayv-ah!
Iseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

You know say I dey do sikioriti for one African stall like dis MU HE HE HE HE

Make my blockos no blow else wetin you wan dey enjoy

Blazay dont allow the devil to come in between us.

Ours is a phock relationship endorsed by the gods

And NL wont scatter us

IIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

A MUMMY is a corpse whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness (ice mummies), very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs.

Never use mummy for your mother rather use MOM.

Kuramo is home of sex hawkers. But the mother would have forgiven her child no matter what

poverty no be better thing.

some women can be heartless,
just becos of 6,000 thousand naira.

M M M:

poverty no be better thing.

some women can be heartless,
just becos of 6,000 thousand naira.

poverty kills faster than Aids

ifyalways:

Are they more interested in the smoking habit and dangers or they are trying to reconcile those kids with their parents

Good question

odiaero:

Seriously, i don't know why some Yoruba Parents don't value their children,

Last time i was in Lagos, i saw a matured guy like 20 years old crying with red eyes seating by the road side with no way looking his ways, i drove past, but i could not go further cos the feelings of me seeing that guy crying was pulling me down emotionally, i have to drive back to the place and ask the guy why he was crying, to my greatest suprise, he said he lost 2000 naira the whole money he made selling pure water for the day, man guess why he was crying was that he is dead when he get home, so i just gave him the 2000 naira and told him to go home, that is just silly cos he was afraid of going home, cos he knows what awaits him when he gets back home

this stories abound bros. Se opetie

God come their rescue

odiaero:

Seriously, i don't know why some Yoruba Parents don't value their children,

Last time i was in Lagos, i saw a matured guy like 20 years old crying with red eyes seating by the road side with no way looking his ways, i drove past, but i could not go further cos the feelings of me seeing that guy crying was pulling me down emotionally, i have to drive back to the place and ask the guy why he was crying, to my greatest suprise, he said he lost 2000 naira the whole money he made  selling pure water for the day, man guess why he was crying was that he is dead when he get home, so i just gave him the 2000 naira and told him to go home, that is just silly cos he was afraid of going home, cos he knows what awaits him when he gets back home

guy u be better maga, cuuldren of yesterday smart pass u.

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My Gods, what fine young kids they are . I hope someone comes to their rescue. I wish I could if my situation and location permitted me.