In this second part of the investigation on Local Government Areas/LCDA in Lagos State, JULIANA FRANCIS captures the chronic underdevelopment of communities in Lagos Megacity despite the State’s impressive IGR and FAAC allocations.
Oriba Community
Oriba Community in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government is one community that has been constantly in the media because of its lack of social amenities. But the state government’s conscience seems to have become seared with hot iron.
Despite the constant media reports, mum is the word from the government on the appalling condition of the community.
Our reporter in 2021, while reporting on accessing COVID-19 vaccines and the readiness of health centres, and workers to receive and administer the vaccine, visited the community and was dismayed by her findings.
The road to the village was rough and bumpy, overgrown with bushes and always flooded during rainfall, making it beyond passable, thus residents resorted to taking canoes.
There still is a renovated health Centre in the community, but no medical personnel. Weeds and reptiles surround the Health Centre. There are about 40 towns in the Oriba community.
Our reporter back then spoke with the Baale of Oriba, Nurudeen Olowolayemo, who complained bitterly about the community not having toilet facilities, pipe-borne water, electricity, a police station, a road and a health facility.
He revealed that they drink from the stream water and also defecate in it.
The Baale said that when pregnant women go into labour or residents become critically ill, they must use canoes to ferry the persons to the next village called Itoikin.
The journey by canoe takes approximately an hour, leading to high maternal and infant mortality. Sometimes, the women deliver their babies in the canoes.
Olowolayemo said the community has lost many pregnant women to death during such a journey by canoes.
He also complained that electrical cables and poles sighted in the community were mere window dressing. He said that Oriba has a primary school, but teachers refused to take up employment because of the condition of the roads.
An indigene, Babatunde Sadiku, said that the situation has not changed since the last visit of the reporter in 2021. Oriba had repeatedly demanded government intervention in their awful condition, but their demands and pleas fell on deaf ears.
Oriba is among the communities in Lagos State that have joined in the growing statistics of beleaguered communities deprived and denied of their basic rights through the inaction of Local government councils.
The purpose of LG councils is to be the closest administrations to citizens at the grassroots, so the people can reap the benefits of governance, but here, the government appears to have failed.
Most communities in Lagos lack basic amenities like accessible roads, power supply, clean water, schools and health centres.
The failures of LGs in Lagos State in meeting the needs of the people are among the reasons why there have been calls for a change in the ways the LGs and its finances are being managed across Nigeria.
Perhaps more disturbing is the reality that Lagos state and its LG council make more money, through the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) than other states, yet the lack at the grassroots level is profound.
According to BudgIT, between 1999 and 2018, Lagos State’s IGR was over N32 trillion, while between 1988 and 2018, the state received over N4 trillion as federal allocations. Yet, the money is not translating to visible projects that matter to the citizens at the grassroots.
Stakeholders, including activists, have attributed the failure of LGs in carrying out their duties to greed and corruption, with all alleging that the state governors were short-paying LGs for allocations provided by FAAC for projects.
The New Telegraph captures the problem thus, “The constitution makes it possible for state governments to maintain a firm grip on the councils by routing funds standing to their credit in the Federation Account through states/local governments’ joint accounts rather than directly to them.
“This arrangement has over time, adversely affected the financial viability of the local governments. It is against this backdrop that some stakeholders have continued to call for the scrapping of the joint accounts to make way for financial autonomy for the councils but the states have resisted this move.”
Makoko on Lagoon
Other communities, aside from Oriba, also have similar stories to tell. On the 7th of September 2023, our reporter visited the Makoko water community in the Yaba Local Community Development Area, Lagos Mainland, where the people lamented the lack of a health Centre, public schools, clean water, electricity, and accessible roads.
According to them, they are not seeking evacuation, because living on water is their way of life. But they want the government to provide basic amenities to make their lives better.
Mr. Afose Sulayman Senayon, a photojournalist from the community, said clean water for drinking will always be a challenge in the aquatic community.
He explained that just a few people were able to raise money for boreholes, after running pipes through the darkish, refused clogged lagoon water.
Mr Idowu Gowon, aka General Gowon, a trado-medicine practitioner, said that the borehole pipes are conduits for cholera.
Gowon, who established the first wooden hospital on water in the community, said that cholera, malaria, and typhoid were their major health challenges.
While stating that he is also in charge of hospital matters in the community, added said the water community was desperately in need of a health centre.
Gowon, who said that he partners with private hospitals and general hospitals in seeking better healthcare for his people added: “ I was born here and I am a citizen of this place. Before I built this place, we had nothing in terms of Medicare for our people. If people fall sick, they must go all the way to Badagry and sometimes they die on the way.
“Our people used to have cholera and they do die, but our major illnesses are malaria and typhoid. Cholera is caused by bad water. We use boreholes here and we link the pipes through the water and anything can enter it. We need the government to give us streets. Demolition is not the solution; development is the solution. We want accessible roads for cars, we need roads to enter the water.”
Gowon explained that he built the clinic to fill the gap created by the lack of a health centre.
Gowon asked rhetorically: “Do you know that in the whole of Makoko, there is no public hospital?”
He noted that the community had written to the Lagos State Government, the LG and the Primary Health Centre Boards, and they had all promised.
He recounted that four years ago, a member of the House of Representatives, representing Lagos Mainland Federal Constituency and who is also former Chairman of Yaba LCDA, Honourable Jide Jimoh, came to build “a room and parlour, which he said was the Health Centre for the Makoko water community.”
He added: “Our LG said we should be using the health Centre at Adekunle. But according to the Nigerian Constitution, we’re supposed to have our own health Centre because we are a Ward.”
Gowon said that nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) were the bedrock of healthcare for the Makoko water community people.
Watching a group of children swimming and laughing, Senayon said sadly: “We do not have a secondary school here. Our children must go to Ebute-Metta, Iwaya or Sabo-Alagomeji to attend secondary school. These schools are far and it also means parents spending scarce money on transportation.”
Mr Shemede Sunday, whose father established the first primary school in the water community, said that only 5% of the children in the water community are in school.
He said: “We have sub-schools, but the school at Whanyinna is the major one that has a lot of students. We have 351 students in our primary school, but we do not have a secondary school.
“We also do not have enough teachers. Right now we have just eight teachers in this primary school, including me. The school is free.”
Araromi Kingdom in Ibeju-Lekki
On the 15th of September, our reporter and her two guides landed in the Araromi Kingdom. The paramount ruler of the kingdom is Oba Olayemi Lukmon Arowolo-The Gbadewolu of Araromi Kingdom.
Arowolo said that the social amenities lacking in the community were numerous, stressing that the community was open to new projects from the government, NGOs and investors.
He added that there was enough space for such developmental projects.
Araromi Community does not have roads, primary or secondary schools, health centres, water, and electricity. To access the nearest police station is between 20 to 30 miles says the Oba, adding that he had written to the Nigerian Police Force three years ago, requesting for police station.
There are electric poles and wires in the community, but there has been no power supply in the last five years, said residents.
The Oba’s Secretary, Prince Adeola Suleiman, said: “The truth is that without roads and power supply, people will not come to our community. We need partners to come and develop our community because we can’t do it alone. We need investors and government assistance.”
The Woman Leader, Chief Erelu of Araromi, Mrs Agbabiaka Ibiwunmi, complained of the lack of a health Centre, stating problems of maternal-infant mortality.
She added: “We also need school and electricity badly. Our women will go to LAPO to collect loans to start a hairdressing business, but there will be no electricity to sustain it. Residents are moving out of the community because of no power supply.”
Apena community in Olorunisola
Similarly, our reporter on the 4th of September went to the Apena community in Olorunisola under the Ipaja-Ayobo LCDA. The roads are nightmares, causing cyclists to charge passengers between N400 and N500 on a distance that should be N200 or less.
The community is not only battling with terrible roads but also erosion, flooding, lack of health facilities, a police station and abandoned projects.
The residents said they had repeatedly graded the road and ensured the electrification of the community. There are two abandoned bridges needing completion; one is courtesy of the state government and the other is an individual effort, now needing government assistance to complete.
There is an uncompleted building health Centre, but according to the residents, the project has been abandoned in the past two years.
They also said that Olorunnisola needs at least two police stations, not a police post, which is what they currently have.
Mr Dele Banjoko, a journalist in the community, said: “Everything you see here is achieved through community efforts. Before the government came to assist us in completing our secondary school, we had started contributing blocks and roofing sheets. We contributed to buying transformers and electrified our community. Whenever we go to LG to ask for a road grading machine for our roads, they tell us they do not have money or a machine.”
The Secretary of Apena Community, Mr Olarewanwaju Ottun said: “The roads used to be worse than what you see today until we had to dig a drainage and graded it through contribution. If it rains or there’s an emergency, nobody can drive in or out.”
The vice chairman of the community CDA, Mr Babatope Akinjide, said the bad roads have caused damage to many vehicles in the community, including his.
They explained that the bad roads caused a private hospital in the community to shut down, adding: “We do not have a functioning health Centre. We must go all the way to Igando-General Hospital to get medical attention.”
According to members of the community, buying, installing, and electrifying the transformer costs them over N7 million. “We molded concrete poles and then wrote to DISCO to come and erect them. They came and erected three out of 52 concrete poles and then electrified only one among the three they mounted,” said Akinjide.
The National President Of The Nigeria Union Of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Mr Ambali Akeem, reacting to the sad situation in many communities in Nigeria, argued that the only way to ensure development at the grassroots was to give political autonomy to LGs.
He opined that state governors install their loyalists as conduits to syphon money meant for the development of grassroots communities.
His words: “The charade called LGs elections, by the various states federal electoral commission is condemnable! It is not transparent! It does not reflect the political wishes and aspirations of the people. The essence of LG is to ensure that citizens are not denied democratic space.
“Now citizens are discouraged from having political inclusiveness at the LG level. So, having seized the political power and the autonomy of LG, they have been installing their cronies, misfits! Those who are incompetent as the leaders of LG councils are accountable only to the governor. They are now using them as a conduit through which to embezzle allocations meant for LGs.”
He stated that a major solution to ensuring grassroots development was for INEC to be allowed to conduct LG elections. “So that we can have competent political leaders and technocrats that are attracted to contest LGs elections, who will be independent-minded and will not listen or take to the whims and caprices of state political actors.”
He also suggested that LGs should be given direct funding, stressing that, “What is meant for the development of LGs, LGs’ allocations, should be credited directly to LGs, and anti-corruption agents should be established in all LGs.”
A Public Affairs Analyst, Comrade Achike Chude, who is also the vice chairman of Joint Action Front (JAF), said governance was not working well in Nigeria and political actors in charge of running governance at all levels of government were culpable.
He added: “They are not patriotic. They are self-centered and self-motivated.”
He said that the LG councils seemed to be the worst hit in poor governance since 1999, following the dawn of democracy. He added that every attempt has been made at the national and state levels to undermine local governance in Nigeria.
He said: “The state governments across the country have a stronghold on LG. They remove the chairman of local councils who were elected in an election and replace them with sole administrators. The state government has custody of the money that should go to LGs. The governors sit on this money and dispense whatever they want, to the LGs.”
Chude said that the state government only releases enough to LGs to pay salaries. He said that most times responsibilities which should be borne by LGs are taken over by the state government.
Chude said: “Many of these LG chairmen are no better than these politicians stealing their money. However, this has been the reason why LGs have been the worst off in governance.”
He stated that there was a need for a constitutional amendment, which would give LGs strong powers that would make it difficult for the state governors to have access to funds meant for LGs.
He added that civil societal organisations must always carry out training programmes for citizens to empower them to be able to keep track of funding to LGs so that when they know what comes to LGs, they can ask questions.
Chude also mentioned that people should begin to engage their councils because they are the ones who know the projects they need in their communities.
The reporter tried several times to speak with the President of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Honourable Kolade Alabi, who doubles as the Chairman of Bariga LG, to get his reactions regarding the deplorable conditions of communities in Lagos and what ALGON was doing about it, but the effort was futile.
He did not pick up his phone calls, did not respond to SMS and neither did he reply to his WhatsApp messages.
After two weeks of calling and texting, our reporter went to Bariga LG, but his aide asked the reporter to go and write a letter, detailing the questions she wanted to ask Alabi. He said that Alabi has a right to decline to respond, choose to reply or delegate someone to respond on his behalf.
This Report was Facilitated By The Wole Soyinka Centre For Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Under Its Collaborative Media Engagement For Development, Inclusivity And Accountability (CMEDIA) Project.
