Residents of Ajegunle, a Lagos community with over 1.5 million population, are lamenting neglect and lack of amenities, saying disaster will come on if nothing urgent is done to address the situation.
The community located in Kosofe Local Council was known for rascality and hooliganism, even though its name depicts “where riches dwells.” Ajegunle community has only one tarred street, over 100 untarred others. These streets lack proper drainage, medians, walkways and streetlights, unlike those in neighbouring communities, like Surulere, Lagos Mainland, Apapa and Lagos Island.
A source who had visited on Tuesday disclosed that it was a sorry tale of a community, whose residents have resorted to fate, because of years of neglect. During the visit, the only tarred street is called Zion Street, while other major roads were unkept.
A resident, Adebiyi Banjo, complained that properties were damaged when his apartment was flooded during the last rain. He said: “Currently we live in fear of the unknown. Any time, it rains, especially at night, we may just be swept away and that’s death.” Besides flooding, the community lacks potable water as residents still paddle canoes in search of water as it was in the 80s.
Despite reports of starvation and health issues in the community, residents have been left to fate as they constantly struggle to gain the attention of well-meaning Nigerians for survival.
Chairman, Ajegunle Community Development Area (CDA), Mr Sunday Awobona, in his statement, noted that the community lacked potable water for decades without government intervention. According to him, the major challenge in the community is water. “We don’t have water to drink and we wonder if we have a government. We only depend on vendors for potable water, which goes for N100 for a keg of 25 litres. “How do we cope with that? This is a community that has government officials. This is Lagos State not anywhere else, he said. Beyond the issue of water, access to healthcare has remained a challenge.
According to the residents, the Ajegunle Health Centre, located on Omo West Close, Ajegunle, is the only health facility created to serve 1.5 million residents. The report stated that the facility has only six medical personnel stationed in the clinic and they work between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
The Baale of Ajegunle Community, Chief Moyosore Oladunjoye, lamented that the health centre is not well equipped and has no drugs.
