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 Daily
Independent Online.
* Monday, July 05, 2004.
Denro community begs for
government attention
By Sunny Igboanugo
metro editor
The impression a first time
visitor would get at the entry point of Denro community, a sprawling
suburb on the fringe of Lagos metropolis, is that the people boarding
this old fashioned and scraggy boat are going on a sort of expedition
into a wild jungle. But it is not. Rather it is the scene of the people’s
daily struggle into this rather thriving community, one of the many
localities in Ogun State, which because of proximity have become more
strategic to the neighbouring Lagos.
The canoe is the only means of
transportation into this community. Those who miss it are faced with one
single unmitigated option, returning to where they were coming from. So
for long hours, the passengers queue up on both ends of what ordinarily
would have served as their road, but which has been completely taken over
by Adiyan River.
Residents of the community, who are forced
to live out this apprehensive experience daily, paint a sorry picture of
their situation. Their stories depict their settlement as one being far
from a jungle, which in fact would rather have been a haven, were it not
for the absence of access road.
That singular need seems to be the most
pressing problems for now even though they also lack some other basic
amenities including electricity.
“We like this community because it takes
us away from the hustle and bustle of Lagos and gives us peace of mind.
You can see the beautiful structures that we have here, which shows that
those of us who have decided to settle here have not done so purely
because we cannot afford to live elsewhere, but because of the peace and
tranquility that this place afford us. All we need is this access to the
community for our joy of finding a place like this to be complete”, a
resident of the settlement told Daily Independent as he waited in
the long line of people to boar d the canoe last week
It is for this reason that leaders of the
community have constantly taken their case to the doorstep of different
government officials for several years now. It is for the same reason
that they were at the office of the Ifo Council Chairman in Ogun state,
Alhaji Musliu A. Durowoju Salami on Friday July 1. There, they recounted
their ordeal as they had done to those before him.
Mr. Francis Adeniyi, Chairman of the Denro
Community Development Association (DCDA), painting a sorry picture of the
situation, told the council boss how they had made strenuous efforts to
redeem their problem without success.
Describing the community as “a
peace-loving and full of opportunities”, he said that their efforts in
making it accessible included constructing a makeshift footbridge across
the river. “During the rainy season, the makeshift footbridge becomes a
death trap for school children. The Adiyan River always overflows, thus
destroying the footbridge and claims lives unchallenged. Now that the
rainy season has kicked off, we are no longer safe,” he said.
He confirmed that the community, which
population he put at 10,000 had through the association reached out to
several past governments including the former governor of the state,
Chief Segun Osoba, adding that some of them had even visited them and
promised to do something, but nothing had been done. “If the state or
local government can construct a bridge over the small river to link
Denro with Ojodu Abiodun, it will serve as an alternative route to link
Akute, Denro and Ojodun Abiodun. This will reduce the accident on top of
the hill at Alagbole road and reduce the traffic jams that usually
fraustrate motorists and commuters on the only Alagbole Road, which
serves Akute, Lambe Onibudo, Ajuwon, Ishashi, Denro, Iboko and Ifesowapo
communities and some other neighbouring communities. This is the shortest
road to link Sango, Ijoko and Otta road with Ibadan expressway”, he said.
Apparently to wet the appetite of the
Council boss, Adeniyi told him that the community would not mind
government tolling the road arguing that it could in fact be a source of
revenue earning for government, which had always cried out over
inadequate funds.
“We have every confidence that the present
administration will not allow the innocent and hapless members of Denro
CDA suffer untold hardships. Therefore, it will be highly appreciated if
you use your good offices to come to our aid and save our souls at Denro
community”, he added.
The community leaders however got cheery
news after delivering their message from Salami after he told them of how
he had on his own taken the problem up even before their current
initiative. He told the delegation of how he had even visited the site
before he was elected. “What you are talking about is already in my head.
I know more than what you have said. During the course of our campaign
period, my man at Ishashi, Chief Lasis Seriki, we have been on for long.
I came to him and took him in my car and said to him, that bridge that
can link Ojodu and Denro, I want to see it. That was about two years ago.
We parked at the only place where it was motorable and trekked the rest
of the way. People who saw us did not know what we were doing. We got
there, climbed the bridge and took a look around. So you can see that I
had meant to do something about it before you came”, he told the visitors.
He however regretted that the cost of the
project was beyond what the council could afford and promised therefore
that he had articulated the problem, which he would sell to the state
government to get it to finance it. “I can promise you that this is not a
matter that would be pushed over somewhere. This is a matter we intend to
tackle”, he added.
According to him the only thing that would
take precedence to good and motorable roads in the council was education
adding that apart from seeing through making Denro accessible, other
communities must expect the same treatment aimed at opening them up so
that those things they produced would easily find their way into the
market. This, he argued on its own would bring the prices of goods down.
Amplifying the need to embark on such a
venture, the Councilor representing Ward 6 in the council, which oversees
the settlement, Mr. Badru Hameed Toyin told Daily Independent that it
would make social and economic sense to tackle the problem of Denro
because of the potentials available in the community.
Though he acknowledged that government
operated with limited resources presently, he said strategies could be
adopted to arrest the situation. “We can divert to other means of doing
something for our people where resources are limited. The allocations we
get from the federal government are not enough to embark on all the
projects in the local government. With what we have more than 80 percent
have gone into salaries. The rest is not enough for projects.
“If Ishashi,
Denro to Berger road could be given to private developers because the
local government cannot embark on it, we tell them everything about the
standard, they will now tell us what it will cost them, the number of
years they will use it collecting the tolls. After they must have
completed the number of years, they will hand it over to the government
and the road will be free”, he said adding that he was already preparing
the document to get an endorsement from government for that purpose.
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