When we talk about slums, none is worse than Ajegunle. Ajegunle's residency is synonymous with Ibo settlement. The filth brought with them in their migration is best imagined in the attached picture of these refugees from East. It is so bad the worst road in the worst place to live is named "Ezeagu Street". Read the following. The interviewer went in to interview different ethnicities but every street he turned Ibos were everywhere. Notice the comment about over capacity living.....Ibo villages have relocated wjth their filth to Ajegunle occupying 15 people in a small room meant for 3. Ajegunle, a popular area in the heart of Lagos State, is considered by many people as a slum because it is a relatively filthy environment. But notwithstanding the hustle and bustle life of the area, it has continued to produce countless millionaires and talents, writes CHUKWUMA OKPARAOCHA.
DENIS Ibe was sweating profusely. He had just finished a game of soccer at a small but popular pitch in one of the most popular ghettos in the country—Ajegunle, Lagos.
Like thousands of hustlers who live in Ajegunle, which is regarded in some quarters as Nigeria’s Harlem or Thrench town, where stars are made in slums, Ibe also has a dream. He believes that like many stars before him who have risen from the proverbial ashes of the Ajegunle ghetto, he will one day become a famous footballer.
Sunday Tribune, which paid a visit during the week to the popular ghetto, fondly referred to as AJ City by some, spotted Ibe displaying some soccer skills at the ‘Maracana’ field at Tolu area of the community, which is one of the most popular places in Ajegunle. Another playground where, according to Ibe, stars had been made in the past, was also identified. This is the Navy Playground beside Boundary market.
Ibe said he was always on the field where he had kept on honing his skills, because he was hopeful that, one day, those that mattered would notice him. “Taribo West, Emmanuel Amunike, Victor Agali, Ifeanyi Udeze and many others once graced this community with their skills. Like me, many of them at a time could hardly afford three square meals. But now, they are household names. I believe that with hardwork and prayers, I will get there,” Ibe enthused.
When piecing this report together, Sunday Tribune stumbled on comments from a promising blogger who also grew up in Ajegunle, and who identified the determination of the average Ajegunle resident to use his or her skills, especially soccer skills, to eke out a means of livelihood for himself and his family. Identified as Benson Chukwueke, the blogger described Ajegunle as ghetto where skills and the determination of just one individual had lifted an entire family and generation out of penury and poverty into immense wealth.
“Ironically, Ajegunle is a ghetto town where so many poor people in Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria, have a secret that has made lots of families to become very rich, with their sons earning millions of dollars abroad. I lived in Ajegunle some years ago, and my family enjoyed a fair share of dollars earned by my younger brother Chiedo Chukwueke, a.k.a Computer, who played for the Nigerian Under-17 and Under-21 team in 1995. He also played in Russia with Sheriff F.C, Moldova.
“I played football on the streets of Ajegunle too and years ago, I imparted on the younger players the power of the golden boot. My younger brother, as well as Ikpe Ekong, who played for Reggina of Italy in 1999, were some of my players,” he said.
Chukwueke added: “You may never be a football star in Nigeria if you have not played on the soil of Ajegunle and got imparted with its power. Some players had to visit Ajegunle so many times. I had seen players like Finidi George, Sunday Oliseh, Victor Ikpeba, Nwankwo kanu, among others, coming to play at the mock Nations cup at the Navy Playground,” he said.
Needless to say, much has been written and said about this fabled ghetto, which has largely been portrayed as a community where residents live in abject squalor. Sunday Tribune’s visit did not in anyway reveal any difference from the picture already painted by various reports.
Any individual with a good grasp of the Yoruba language would agree that the name, Ajegunle, literally means ‘fortune has landed.’ Therefore, one would ordinarily expect a place that goes by that name to be one where a person would easily find evidences of fortune; where magnificent houses, well structured buildings, layouts, as well as advanced recreational centres, would be readily available. One would expect to see a place where the denizens would have at their disposal the best infrastructure available.
Ajegunle of filth
However, the Ajegunle that exists in Lagos is nowhere near a land of luxury, as a survey conducted by Sunday Tribune clearly shows. On one hand is the state of basic infrastructure which could best be described as non-existent. On the other hand, there is the alarming quantity of filth that abound everywhere. It is not uncommon to see people whose houses are virtually built on refuse dumps, and people defecating into cannals, streams and rivulets, as many houses, especially those close to such points, often don’t have toilets.
Into the recesses of Ajegunle...
The journey into the heart of Ajegunle was from the Goddo Bus Stop area of the community. It actually began from Otto-Wharf end of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. There, scores of people could be seen scurrying from one end of the road to another, amid fast moving motorcycles, generally known as okada, as well as cars and trucks. A first timer is particularly enjoined to be very vigilant at this section, because okadas (and even commercial buses) operating on that route are notorious for their knack for flouting traffic rules. Quite often, okada riders ride their motorcycles against traffic, yet they do this at breakneck speed.
The journey from Otto-Wharf to Goddo area had everything an average community in the country would have: crater-like potholes, many of which had become filled with water. Residents had filled other bad portions with rocks, which make any vehicle driven on them to shake immensely. The rickety commercial bus otherwise known as ‘faragon’ which Sunday Tribune boarded to the community squeaked and shook vigorously each time it ran over the rocky portions.
It was past noon when Sunday Tribune arrived and, by this time, students had begun trooping home from the schools around. A group of pupils were seen clattering away in Nigerian Pidgin which has, over the years, become the most popularlanguage in the community.
Sunday Tribune’s decision to venture into the ‘jungle,’ as Ajegunle is sometimes called through that route, was deliberate, as indications had earlier emerged that a muddy pathway there led directly into the ‘slummiest’ part of the community. This proved to be so, as this writer had to skip and hop across a series of used tyres which had been placed on a muddy pathway. The tyres served as a bridge linking one section of the community to the other.
This led to the Ezeagu Street (and other adjoining streets such as the Ishaga Close) which has been described as one of the roughest places in Ajegunle. There, rows of houses made largely from wooden materials and corrugated iron sheets lay just as the side of a large canal. Sitting very close to the bank of the canal are rows of tube-like structures made from corrugated iron sheets. These serve as bathrooms and toilets, where human waste is ‘shotput’ into the canal which is also full of other forms of wastes and refuse.
A young man, later identified simply as IK, was spotted sitting in the shade of one of the houses on the street. The young man, who identified himself as a graduate of the Lagos State University, expressed optimism of a better future, irrespective of where he is living now.
“I have been living here for over five years. Some circumstances ensured that I had to move here five years ago. But I believe this will change soon. I have a career I am building on, and very soon, I am very sure things will change for good,” he said.
IK, who said he was building a career as a computer programmer, pointed out that even though Ajegunle had produced many sporting and entertainment celebrities, many successful people from other fields of endeavour had also emerged from the community.
“It is very easy to associate Ajegunle with the likes of Daddy Showky, Oristafemi, and several entertainment personalities, including footballers. This is because these are personalities that are easy to identify in the society. But I can tell you that Ajegunle has also produced many successful doctors, lecturers, computer experts, among others. As a matter of fact, one of the lecturers in the university I went to grew up in Ajegunle. This is a man who has travelled to different parts of the world. I know that, someday, I will also join this league,” said IK when asked to identify some of the professional fields where experts have emerged from in Ajegunle.
Sunday Tribune’s effort to track down any prominent celebrity, particularly Daddy Showky, proved abortive, but it was very evident that a lot of residents still looked up to them, including little children who also did not hide their optimism about becoming stars in the future. Most of the children Sunday Tribune chatted with said they were aware of celebrities who grew up in Ajegunle just like they are doing now.
Twelve-year old Oluchi Osinachi said she was certain that she would be a celebrated actress and singer, adding that she had sung on a number of occasions in her church and friends’ birthday parties.
“I can sing and act. I always pray at Sunday Mass and at home that God should make me achieve my dream of being a celebrated singer and actress,” she said.
Sunday Tribune was able to track down Oluchi’s mother who earns a living selling ugwu vegetables and other basic foodstuff at Boundary Market, which is another popular suburb in Ajegunle. The middle age mother of two echoed what her daughter had already said. She said with time, she would encourage Oluchi to enroll in a reality show, such as a singing or acting reality show, where she hopes her daughter’s dream will be realised.
“She’s highly talented. But I can tell you that Ajegunle has many talented kids such as Oluchi. What most of them lack is money to invest in their talents. Well-meaning talent hunters can be coming here from time to time and they will see that this place is indeed full of talents,” she said.
Normal life for some, abnormal for others
Mr Obinna Okpezie, who claimed to have been living at Ajegunle for over 20 years, told Sunday Tribune that life in the ghetto had become a normal thing to him. “I have been living here for more than 20 years. I am used to the kind of life people live here, and though, as a man who knows that there are better things in life, I would have loved to live in a better environment, this is where I can afford to stay. I have no regrets, and I am happy,” he stated.
No doubt, many people living in Ajegunle would also want to share Obinna’s opinion, but not Mrs Beatrice Okafor, who said that she moved to Ajegunle just a few years ago because of circumstances beyond her control, but that she could not stop thinking of when she would leave. “This is not an ideal place where I would ever want to spend the rest of my life. In fact, I am here because of something I am going through. As soon as I sort things out, I will leave,” she declared, while adding that, “the place is overcrowded and highly congested. There are many houses that have more than thrice the number of people who should ideally be living in them. Security is poor, and almost all the houses here are clustered and people live and move in swarms like bees.”
Sunday Tribune’s interactions with some of the denizens of the community somehow re-echoed the observations made during a similar visit to the area. During that visit, a resident in his late 20’s who identified himself simply as Paul revealed that life in the community could be ‘very radical’ and ‘restless,’ as every resident was expected to be a hustler.
He claimed that Ajegunle had its own system of doing things, and everyone was expected to watch his own back. “There is no need for the police to work in Ajegunle. We fight our own battles in our own way without necessarily involving the police who had, in time past, added to the woes of Ajegunle. But since the police have left us alone, there has been rest, peace and tranquillity in the entire Ajegunle.”
Paul, who claimed to have been living in Ajegunle for over 10 years, admitted that the unkempt nature of many parts of the community had made him to have the mindset of not raising a family in Ajegunle. Buttressing the belief that the average Ajegunle resident was by no means lazy, Paul said: “Despite the fact that an average Ajegunle resident is not lazy, many of us are unemployed. Take me for example, I am a graduate of Computer Science from one of the nation’s polytechnics, yet I am not employed. We have many gifted people, especially in sports and entertainment, yet they are wasting away. It will be great if the government can invest in the lives of Ajegunle youth and children, because among them are the leaders of tomorrow.”
“Not all residents are poor”
Sharing a similar view, Emmanuel Udom from Akwa Ibom State, resident of Ezeagu Street of Ajegunle, added that living in Ajegunle could be cheap, because everything ‘is suited for those who don’t have money’ to survive. He insisted that as early as 5.00a.m every day, one could easily observe scores of young men in Ajegunle at various car parks waiting for anyone who would be willing to hire them as bus conductors, adding that “in AJ City, there is no room for idleness.”
“I have been living in Ajegunle since 1984, and I can tell you, it is a community whereby even if you had just N1 in your pocket, you would still survive. This is because things are generally cheap. Life in Ajegunle really suits me, and I don’t nurse the thought of moving elsewhere,” he remarked.
“We keep watch over one another’s property, especially on this Ezeagu Street. Any thief caught could be killed, even by his closest neighbour. We are all friends; if I see you for the first time, I will walk up to you to make you my acquaintance, and before you know it,we must have become friends,” Emmanuel asserted.
He, however, argued that contrary to what was believed by many people, not all those living in Ajegunle were poor. He insisted that there were residents who had enough money to live comfortably elsewhere, but chose to live in AJ City because of its ‘cheapness.’
http://tribuneonlineng.com/ghetto-millionaires-ajegunle-dreams-make-people-wealthy 
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What do you all expect when you drink from the same dirty water you all sh*it in? 
