Hidden behind the waters off Shibiri, a community in
Oto-Awori LCDA in Lagos, are a number of villages. The villages are peculiar in
that they are scattered among water channels and yet boast of a host of modern
amenities that may put some major towns to shame. They however lack one thing,
which in their opinion, is holding them back. Medinat Kanabe reports.
Ese Ofin, Egan, Origele, Ojota, Ishagira are some
communities ensconced in between a number
of tributaries of the Badagry creeks, a major water channel which flows
into the Lagos lagoon from the Badagry end. They can be accessed via Shibiri, a
little Awori settlement in Oto-Awori LCDA in the old Ojo Local government Area
of Lagos. Because of their natural topography,
the communities are connected by water and like a people connected by
destiny, the people live the same pattern of life, share the same primary
school, secondary school and hospital; except for a few who prefer to patronise
private schools and hospitals in nearby towns across the creeks.
According to the indigenes, the communities have existed for
over 80 years and have grown from one little village to a number of villages
that can now be called a town, based on its growing population, development and
energy.
According to Chief Yusuf Salami Abiodun, the Baale of Egan,
one of the constituent villages, who says he was born in the community over 40
years ago; the community has steadily progressed over the years that there is
nothing the inhabitants want in the outside world that does not exist within
the community.
Aside being born in the village, he claimed that both his
parents and their parents also lived in the community. He also revealed that
the community has been fortunate to have had contact with modern civilisation
rather early. “Our village was discovered early by the government; that is why
we have a government nursery, primary school and a secondary, which I attended.
“The primary school
is in our community while the secondary school is located in Ishagira
community, where our government hospital is also located.
“We also got electricity in this community as far back as
1988, during the reign of Gov. Raji Rasaki; and I can tell you for free that we
enjoy good supply. Currently, we enjoy five days supply every week, which is
better than what many who claim to live in the bigger towns and cities get per
week.” Baale Abiodun said.
Another notable impact of the government in the backwater
communities is the 240 by 2-metre solid concrete foot bridge, constructed by a
son of the soil and former Commissioner for Rural Development between 2011 and
2015, Cornelius Oyefolu Ojelabi. It replaced the old dilapidated wooden bridge,
which served them for years. The Baale recalled how conveying seafood and farm
produce to the big markets, using the old bridge, was a lot of headache and
cumbersome for his people.
According to Baale Abiodun, Ojelabi was born in Ese Ofin
community and attended the primary school there. His father was a onetime Baale
of the community, hence he was well acquainted with the biggest need of the
people.
“Before he built the jetty for us, we used to cross the
water through a wooden bridge while the children swam across since the river is
not very wide,” Baale Abiodun said.
Explaining that he became Baale of Egan only about four
months ago, he said the communities have designated market days when they
transport all their goods to the market and also buy the things they need at
home, pending the next market day, usually every eight days.
Introducing the other communities, Baale Abiodun said “We
have other communities around us here and they are all surrounded by water.
Asked if the first settlers in the community had to sand
fill the water, he said “No, it is the work of God. Nobody living here ever
filled or had to fill their land to build their houses. Even when you dig, you
dig very far before you get water. The rivers you see around the communities
were created like that by God. The waters are on their own while the lands are
also on their own. We plant here and we work here. Sometimes I stay here for
one month without going out of the community because we have everything we need
here.”
Fishing and agrarian
On the people’s main source of livelihood, Baale Abiodun
said “It is mainly fishing, hunting and farming. We farm cassava, plantain,
coconut. The women also weave mats and sell to customers who come from far and
near.”
Asked if there are plans to have private clinics establish
in the communities to complement the lone government hospital and serve the
over 3,000 population better, Baale said, “We will allow anyone who has been
certified by the government to establish. But we can’t just allow anybody to
come and build a hospital here because we’re talking about lives; and we don’t
want our people dying from wrong medical diagnoses.
“You may see this place as a village but we don’t; so we
cannot allow just anyone to come here and start a hospital. I will first write
to the authority and if such person is up to date, the government will tell us
and we will allow him.”
Even as a backwater village, many modern houses are
springing up in different locations, most of them being built by strangers. On
this, the Baale said, “Yes the houses are being built by strangers who acquired
plots of land here because of its affordability. They believe that the
government will in the not too distant future build a motorable bridge here, which
is not far from the truth. Once a bridge is built here, there will be nothing
anyone is looking for outside that will not be available here.”
He therefore called on the government to look into this, so
that more positive development can come into the community.
In the absence of a motorable bridge, the Baale lamented
that “Building a house in this community costs much more than what it cost to
build the same house in the up towns and cities because everything needs to be
transported across water and some of the materials used in building these
houses cannot be carried by boats.
“If a tipper brings sand or gravel, it has to be first
offloaded at the river bank, then they will look for a way to get it across the
water; and that is extra cost.”
Security-wise, Baale said the entire community enjoys
absolute peace and the people can even afford to sleep with their doors open
and their two eyes close. He however said he cannot predict what will happen
when a modern motorable bridge is built and the communities are exposed to the
outside world.
On the likelihood of wild animals such as snakes, crocodiles
and the likes, constituting danger, he said that is not much of a problem since
a good number of the indigenes are hunters, who constantly hunt the animals for
economic purpose.
“There are days set aside for hunters from the different
communities to come together and storm the bushes. On those days, they hunt the
animals down, so they know better than to come close to the communities.
“Apart from that, there are traps that individuals set from
time to time to cash animals.”
A young landlady of Igbo extraction, who goes by the acronym
‘Nurse’ on account of her profession in the community, told this reporter that
she, together with her husband and children, have been living in the community
for over a year and the experience has been wonderful.
“I am from the eastern part of Nigeria, Igbo if you like; we
were first residing in the North but had to leave because of the problems of
Boko Haram insurgency. My husband brought us to his brother’s house at Shibiri
but because of the problems with his tenants, we left after my husband got a
land and built his house here.”
On the experience so far, she said, “I love the environment
because it is peaceful. Although when he first told me that he was bringing me
here, I cried because I was scared for my children because of the water. But
the first time I brought the children here, they liked it and were happy, so I
relaxed. It’s been a year since we’ve been living here and we are fine.
“My children school across the water and I work outside the
community as a nurse in one of the hospitals in Shibiri while my husband is a
banker up town; so we cross the water every day and in all these times, I have
not heard of any incident.”
Another elderly man popularly known as Baba Maria, who spoke
with The Nation said he was born in the community about 70 years ago and his
parents lived there all their lives.
He is quite hopeful and declared with the conviction of
someone in the know, that the government will build a motorable bridge to link
the villages with the outside world by 2018. “By next year, the government will
help us build a bridge that cars can ride through so that development can come
to the community.”
Going back memory lane, he spoke of how as a young boy,
everywhere used to be all bush, noting that his parents farmed and fished for
survival.
Another indigene, a boat operator, who gave his name as
Omojesu said no-one exactly knows how long the community has been in existence.
“My father was born in this village and I was born here too. We have always
been crossing this water with boats even before this jetty was built a few
years ago. The former bridge was made with planks before the commissioner came
and made a concrete bridge for us.”
He explained that the boats ferry passengers as far as
Agbara, Badagry, Eko (Lagos Island), Apapa and Mile Two. “Many people come here
in the morning to take boats to various places to escape the traffic on the
roads, and mind you, if you get on any of our boats, we make sure you put on a
life jacket in compliance with government’s safety measures, however near or
far your destination.”
On the indigenous language of the community, Omojesu said
Yoruba and to a lesser extent, Ogu, more popularly known as Egun. “We heard
that some people came to settle here many years ago before others came to join
them. My father told me that his father was born here; so we cannot say exactly
how old the village is, but the two major languages are Yoruba and Egun.”
first published in The Nation of November 5, 2017
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