Monday, November 18, 2024 -The affected occupants of the shanties recently demolished in the Ajao Estate area of Lagos State have appealed for the state government’s intervention for shelter.
The Lagos State Government said last week it demolished the 138 shanties
along the canal bank in the area, adding that the occupants paid between
N60,000 and N100,000 annually, as part of efforts to address environmental
infractions and illegal encampments.
The operation, conducted on Thursday by the Lagos Environmental
Sanitation Corps, popularly known as KAI, sought to restore order and reclaim
public spaces in the area.
The state Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo
Wahab, disclosed this in a statement shared via his official X account on Friday
In the video attached to the post, structures located around Baale
Shekoni Street and Qudus Folawiyo Crescent in the area were being demolished.
During a visit to the community on Saturday, our correspondent saw some
of the occupants salvaging what was left of their belongings.
Speaking on the demolition, one of the affected occupants who chose not
to mention his name said the officials arrived at about 8 am before swooping in
on them.
“They arrived around 8 am with almost nine vehicles, including two vans
and started pulling down our structures. They first started with the ones
around St. Peters Catholic Church and after two hours, they moved to the other
end of the street which is a crescent to demolish other structures.”
All this happened during the Thursday environmental period.”
Some of them were also seen selling pieces of their property off due to
the presence of scavengers who besieged the area.
“The demolition took us by surprise and we don’t even have where to move
some of our belongings to and it is not up to 12 hours after the demolition
that we started to see some scavengers moving in. That is why we considered
selling some of our properties. The government should not leave us this way, we
are hoping they could assist where necessary,” affected occupants who craved
anonymity told PUNCH Metro.
Another affected occupant, who gave his name simply as Lucky, said some
of them were apprehended during the demolition, locked up in the agents’ vans
and taken away after the exercise.
Speaking on their plight after the exercise, Lucky lamented on the
failed efforts to get a place to stay while calling for the government’s
intervention.
He said, “Since the demolition, we have been getting a place to stay and
it’s not been easy getting that. We want the government to provide necessary
support to us.”
A trader who was affected by the demolition was seen managing a little
space available to sell her goods.
“It is not all the occupants who are here who used this place as shelter. Like me, for instance, I sell goods but our shop was also destroyed.”
Although some residents who claimed to have erected their structures on an approved location challenged the officials for demolishing it.
“They asked us to come with the necessary documents to prove our claim
before we can be compensated,” the source said.
The Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotosho, could not be reached
by phone as his telephone number did not connect when our correspondent
contacted him on Saturday. A text message sent to him had yet to be replied to
as of the time this report was filed.
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