- A segment of the dilapidated road
By Anthony Nwachukwu
After many futile efforts to get help from relevant state and federal authorities, Era Town in Ota-Awori Local Council Development Authority (LCDA) of Lagos State has once again petitioned Governor Sanwno-Olu, asking his prompt intervention to end the havoc that the dredgers in Ologe River are wrecking on their community.
The Baale of Era Town, Chief Olumide Akinsoji Erinle, said the once-happy and growing community has lost its peace and development since about 20 dredgers invaded the community, causing deforestation of the mangrove and destroying their roads and environment.
Erinle, in the company of the community’s chiefs, told the media Tuesday that some natives took advantage of the community’s empty stool following the passing of the former baale some years ago to connive with the dredgers, who now cause “environmental degradation, with the road in total collapse.”
According to him, things were moving fine till the dredgers came, and “everything started falling apart. A lot of our men and women, who are fishers by nature, have been thrown out of their jobs.
“Of course, house owners in this area no longer enjoy their property. A lot have abandoned their houses and left this community, some just selling them and moving away. The reason is that the roads are in shambles, in complete collapse.
“Some individual landlords come here appealing for anything we can do to help them. Actually, it is very difficult, it is beyond me. We are crying this time to the government and those agencies to do the needful.”
Ruing the insecurity in the community, Erinle queried: “How can we have dredgers working round the clock without control? How can we have a place like this with close to 20 dredgers or more in a span of less than half-kilometers? And they have been dredging for over eight years, non-stop – day and night. We are no longer enjoying the community.”
Worst of their plight, they said, is that the dredgers have not the least corporate social responsibility in the community.
In search of solution, the chief said the community had cried to the state government, Lagos State Waterfronts Authority, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), and even the cadastral office, but nothing positive.
“At a point, there was a stop-work order from the Lagos State Government. Afterwards, there was another issued by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel, but they ignored them. They are untouchable. They did not even stop for one hour,” the baale said.
Meanwhile, he disclosed that following the community’s petition, the Lagos Area Manager of NIWA, Mrs. Sarah Braimah, had flayed the dredgers for taking advantage of the predominantly illiterate community, and was close to resolving the issue. However, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to that effect remains unsigned for years.
They also wrote to the body of all the obas and chiefs in the local government, who in turn wrote the cadastral office and NIWA, and though the meeting agreed on a committee to recommend the way forward, “nothing has been done” since December 2022.
Now, “we are tired. If we are not benefiting anything from them, and they are adding more pains to us, they should please vacate our community in the interest of peace. Also, we plead with the state government to assist us, looking at the level of degradation in the environment here.”
Corroborating the baale on the community’s past fruitless efforts at peaceful resolution of the problem, an executive of the United CDA of Era Awori community, Mr. Festus Igbinoba, disclosed that the CDA, right from Afromedia, had sent a save-our-souls to the Governor Ambode, seeking urgent government intervention.
He regretted that the dredgers’ activities have led to the collapse of the roads, while the only public hospital and school have become inaccessible, leading to avoidable loss of human lives, especially pregnant women.
Also, an elder in the community, Mr. Peter Ogbugo, said the residents want the restoration of their market and total rehabilitation of their road.
He lamented that transport fare in the community, which used to be N50, is now N500 where and when available, as only a few operators now ply the road.
According to him, the worst is that the dredgers said they are operating with “orders from above,” and “always have their way, no matter what you say.”
In a statement earlier, the community had alleged that the dredgers moved into the Ologe River in Era with heavily loaded machines and equipment without community authorisation, which is a pre-requisite, government permits/licenses, Cadastral Permits and Environmental Impact Assessment Reports, among others.
They further alleged that the only hospital and public school in the community has become inaccessible due to road and environmental degradation, while joblessness and poverty ravage the people due to the loss of their fishing business to the activities of the miners.
