By Subair Mohammed
THOUGH a slum, Oshodi, located to the North-West of Lagos, is arguably one of the black spots in the state where criminal and economic activities and life thrive round the clock.
The journey to redevelop Oshodi started during the administration of Babatunde Fashola, who launched a major urban renewal of the area, demolished markets and built bus parks.
The administration of Akinwunmi Ambode raised the bar and planned to turn it into a top-notch Central Business District (CBD), with the Oshodi Transport Interchange, a $70 million project aimed at transforming the den of miscreants into an urban renewal scheme.
Since the completion of the project by the Ambode administration, however, the situation remains unchanged, as insecurity and the unhygienic environment persist with street hawkers, miscreants hanging out loosely within the terminals, on the bridge and along the rail tracks.
Apart from its unsavoury reputation for traffic congestion, where quality man-hour is lost daily, Oshodi, according to the former chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Lagos State chapter, Mr Moses Ogunleye, is gradually gliding into a breeding ground for miscreants and street urchins.
With heaps of refuse dumped at the entrance of Terminal Three of the Transport Interchange to a large crowd of defiant and unmasked rail side and street traders, passersby and commercial transporters who purposely violate traffic codes and COVID-19 safety guidelines to the ‘Agberos’ and council toll collectors lording over and flexing muscles to sell tickets to street hawkers and commercial bus drivers, and to the sight of street urchins, mainly teenagers, throwing dice and gambling along the rail track while law enforcement agents, comprising the Rapid Response Unit (RRS) of the police, Lagos State Task Force Special Offences Unit and the Environmental Sanitation Corps helplessly watch and treat the social aberrance with kid-glove, Oshodi, according to experts, sooner than later, is likely to witness another round of epidemic.
To maintain a spot on the median, roadside or hawk on the street of Oshodi, a middle-aged trader, Ruka Lawal, told Nigerian Tribune that an average trader on a daily basis parts with N550 to both the council officials and the agberos.
This, Lawal said, is responsible for the overcrowded nature of Oshodi, adding that “we pay between N300 and N550 every day to secure a place on the roadside. This morning (Wednesday), I have bought trading ticket of N50 from a council official which is the only ticket we are given. Other collectors don’t give us ticket for the money they collect from us. They come in different groups to collect N200, N100, N100 and another N100, totalling N500. That you see us hawking on the street is not free, we pay. Every one of us, including those grinding pepper along the rail line have to buy council ticket and pay for security, either we make sales or not.”
Also reacting to the deplorable state of the environment, a waste environmentalist, Jumoke Kassim, laments the dangerous display of wares by traders along the rail tracks.
She said: “It is baffling how traders hawking tomatoes, pepper and other perishables display their wares along the rail tracks. In fact, some of them go as far as putting their grinding machines very close to the railway. They are so close to the rail tracks that whenever a train is approaching, they hurriedly move their wares and grinding machines to safety and return to the spot to continue with their trade when the train has gone. Of utmost concern is the level of exposure of these ingredients to dirt and filth. They sell in an unhygienic environment. Traders display their wares beside the gutters, where flies and insects fly over them. This is not healthy at all.”
Oshodi gradually returning to den of criminals —Urban planner
Lending his voice to these challenges, Ogunleye calls on the Lagos State government to come hard on Oshodi this time round.
“The state government needs to do more law implementation. During the administration of former Governor Ambode, when the construction of the Oshodi Transport Interchange began, there were gains, but Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu did not sustain these gains. It is good that Oshodi is being remodelled, but that is not to compound the suffering of residents in the axis.
Everywhere you turn to, you will see stern-looking teenagers hovering round the BRT bus terminals, on the bridge and gambling along the railway.
The whole idea of the renewal scheme is to use Oshodi to showcase how transport interchange should look like in a city like Lagos. It is intended to transform and upgrade it, but today, the problems persist.
There are miscreants, traffic congestion and indiscriminate dumping of refuse everywhere. Lagos State government should return Oshodi to what it was during the Fashola and Ambode administrations.
There should be a determined effort on the part of government to make Oshodi a better and safer place to live. Since the construction of the Transport Interchange began, private investors have shown more interest in investing in property in Oshodi. They want to complement government’s efforts by building shopping malls.
And this has affected the prices of property in that axis because they know that in no time, there will be a new song in Oshodi in terms of transformation and public facilities. But I hope the high premium that is placed on property won’t drop because as it is, Oshodi is in a total mess.
How can we have the police, LASTMA, RRS, Environmental Sanitation Corps and other law enforcement agents stationed at a particular place, yet the whole place is in total confusion?
I am aware that council officials sell ticket to the street hawkers and that is why it is difficult to get them off the road. This is one of the major challenges the government needs to address.
The local government cannot be collecting money from street hawkers to be trading on the median and on the road. This is wrong.
Security and environmental officers cannot be stationed under the Oshodi Bridge to ensure security and orderliness, yet the entire space is shrouded in confusion and irresponsible acts.
Walkways are meant to be walkways and not meant for trading. Yes, traders have the right to engage in legitimate trades, but not on the road and in a way that traffic is obstructed.
The government needs to mount surveillance cameras in strategic positions across Oshodi to capture all that transpire. If any law enforcement officer demands or collects bribe, he/she will be captured by the camera. If the Lagos State government is truly determined to transform Oshodi within a week, it is achievable. It knows what to do.
Years back, Oshodi was a den of robbers and miscreants. We had a better, cleaner and safer Oshodi under Governors Fashola and Ambode, but now, it is gradually returning to what it was. I wish, as a Lagosian, to see more of greening, safer and cleaner environment. Greening will shield any negative thing about Oshodi and it will complement the environment.
If a place is well organised, area boys won’t dwell in such a place. Miscreants thrive in a disorganised environment and this is what Oshodi is gradually sliding into,” he stated.
As the government intensifies efforts to flatten the curve of transmission of the COVID-19 virus, health experts recommend the use of facemasks and other preventive measures such as frequent handwashing, avoiding crowded spaces and maintaining social distancing.
But rather than mask up, commercial transport workers and street hawkers in Oshodi seek alternative means to prevent them from contracting the virus.
Among the defiant is a transporter, Saka Taiwo, who disclosed that instead of strapping facemask to his face and have difficulty breathing, he bathe with ‘pelebe’, a street slang for sachet dried gin to prevent getting infected with the virus.
Stating why many traders in Oshodi do not wear facemasks, he said: “We know that COVID-19 is real and we also know that it is contracted through coming in contact with infected persons. But with the kind of work we do, we cannot but move around and get close to passengers. So we thought rather than spending scarce resources on buying facemasks, many of us, like me in particular, buy sachets of dried gin and wash my head, face, hand and body with it and I gulp the remaining content and thus protected throughout the day.
This is the easiest and surest way of preventing contraction of the virus. So, many of those you see moving round and not wearing facemasks have washed themselves with ‘pelebe’. With that done, you need not harbour any fear of contracting the coronavirus.”
Expert warns of outbreak of disease
Worried about indiscriminate dumping of solid wastes around Oshodi, an Environmental Toxicologist at the Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Dr Temitope Sogbanmu, warns of particulate matter and possible outbreak of an epidemic.
According to the don, a particulate matter which is now becoming a global concern includes both organic and inorganic particles, comprises all solid and liquid particles, such as dust, smoke and liquid droplets suspended in the air and are hazardous to human health.
“Particulate matters are fluids-like particles that are emitted from vehicles and people literally inhaled them.
“This is why wearing facemask is beneficial, because it filters the air people inhale. But those who do not wear facemasks are exposing themselves to this adverse health risk.
“Oshodi is highly congested. There are dusts generated by vehicles and roads that are not fully tarred. All these contribute to health risks. It is not just the carbon monoxide. In fact, particulate matter can be more of a health issue, particularly for children, because they are sort of sedentary at the Oshodi market.
“For a trader that stays for between 8.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m., you can imagine the quantum of particulate matter such would have inhaled over that period for seven days in a week. That is a lot of problem. It can clog the heart, it can also cause breathing and lung issues. “Even other contaminants that are in the particulate matter can be inhaled into the body and elicit adverse health matters in people.
“I will suggest the government should speed up the tarring of roads because Oshodi is really peculiar. It is one of those places in Lagos where you have human traffic. It will make it easy to reduce potential and adverse environmental effects.”
Further commenting, she said: “If the government, in form of local government collects fees from street hawkers, what is the justification?
“The issue is, fees should not be collected from street hawkers if they truly want to get them off the road. If they want to proscribe street hawking, they cannot at the same time be collecting money from them. They are the one dishing out the law and at the same time encouraging breaking of the law.
“First of all, the issue of toll collection from street hawkers by the local councils should be off.
“Secondly, the street hawkers need to be relocated because those selling on the roadside cannot afford stalls that are built by the government and private investors. I think what can be done is to have these kiosks that can be put in strategic locations. They are not stalls within buildings, but are stalls that can be used for trading. It is safer for them. The government needs to do some assessments of how this can be possible and located within the current structure.
“They cannot remove people from a place without an alternative. It will only increase their suffering. The government must be seen to have the welfare of the people in mind, while also managing the environment.
“While considering removing the people from the road because of the impact on their health, they should also do so because of the aesthetics and adverse impact of trading on the environment.
“At the end of the day, we would have achieved clearance of the road, of the highways and ensuring that people don’t go back worse off than where they were.
“The issue of miscreants has always been a perennial issue around Oshodi, but like I said, it is much better. The problem with Lagos is that these things cannot go away immediately.
“There are people trading on the railway. This is my major concern. It is only when a train is coming that they quickly move their wares. They should not allow traders on that railway at all. The government needs to make an arrangement for that because it will save the people from untimely and accidental death. It is not everybody that can afford the shops that are being built in Oshodi. The government should find a way of resettling those who trade there.
“And when those traders are moved away, I believe the miscreants will have nowhere to stay and then the security agents can come in to enforce the law.
“But generally speaking and without being biased, Oshodi is better than what it was many years ago before we had the transport interchange. The traffic gridlock is not peculiar to Oshodi and I don’t think Oshodi’s case is the worst in Lagos. I don’t think so. Like I said, Oshodi is much better now than what it was.”
Our personnel are at Oshodi to ensure safety not to collect bribe —RRS
Responding to the bribery allegation, inactivity and misconduct against its personnel, head of the Public Affairs Unit, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Taofeek Adebayo, denied any knowledge of wrongdoings by his officers stationed at Oshodi.
He said: “We are at Oshodi to maintain law and order. We ensure that there is no criminal activity going on in that axis. RRS does not tolerate indiscipline. Our commandant, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, is one of the disciplined police officers we have around.
About two weeks ago, the RRS arrested three suspected thieves on the Oshodi Bridge and handed them over to Environmental Sanitation Corps and they were prosecuted with the directive of the state Commissioner of Police.
“We have our surveillance at Oshodi. We have our monitoring team moving back and forth, so there is no time for our officers to be chasing after money, demanding or collecting bribe from commercial motorists or erring passersby because they are busy securing the terminal.
“Security measures at the interchange are at the peak, as our officials are on ground to ensure safety and eradicate any security threat.
“Recently, precisely Thursday last week, the commissioner of police directed a joint raid of all task force within the state, but if you found miscreants gambling and sleeping along the rail track as you have claimed, be assured that sooner, we will raid the spot.”
This article originally appeared in Tribune
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