Ori Oke dumpsite: Residents cry for help, want it stopped

The dumpsite at the side of Ori Oke Bridge, Isolo-Ikotun Road is constituting an environmental nuisance.

With the heap of waste daily mounting along the bank of the canal that transverses Idimu, Egbe, Ijegun down to the Atlantic Ocean, this new location, though marshy, is situated in a residential area and has begun to obstruct the flow of water from residential homes and nearby gutters to the canal.

The new dumpsite has also turned under bridge and surrounding areas into beehives of activities, attracting different groups of people from push-carts, scavengers to traders, who come to buy recycled items.

Food vendors, hard drug vendors and, of course, loafers maraud the area looking for one item or the other to pinch.

Also in the struggle for space are rodents and birds that come there to fed and also take it as their habitat.

Said to be created by Omo Oni Le (landowners) in collaboration with some of the landlords who are still developing their properties, the refuse, according to some of the street urchins that have built temporary abode there, was created to fill the marshy expanse of land so that land owners could commence work on their sites.

Femi, one of those monitoring ongoing activities at the new dump ground, disclosed that these landowners, including a local traditional ruler, have to use the waste to fill the marshy area and later map out roads for vehicular and human traffic to the area.

He revealed that his members were hired to watch over the place and also burn the refuse at night to keep away undue attention.

While this is happening, residents of the area are not finding it funny, as some of them have described the activities going on there as illegal, dangerous and inhuman.

They would want the state government to intervene now before the whole place is turned to a huge dump ground and the canal finally blocked.

According to Madam Eunice, a retiree, Ori Oke area used to be quiet and serene, especially in the evening and morning hours, until now some people have turned the marshy ground to a dumpsite, adding that residents now live in fear as different illegal activities go on under the bridge and at the dumpsite, both in the day and at night.

She noted that sometimes they do hear gunshots from there.

She disclosed that even at noon, the air comes with a stench that makes many residents to close their windows or leave the area for a while.

She added that night is no better because the dumpsite is usually burnt, making it to release thick clouds of smoke, which is choky, obstruct visibility and irritating to the eyes.

For Hakeem, one of the bricklayers found working in one of the property around, filling the marshy ground with household waste would help make the area fit for human habitation.

He added that after waste has been used to reasonably make the land dry, laterite would be poured on it to solidify the whole process.

According to him, using household waste is cheaper than laterite, which informed the reason landowners have turned to its usage.

He revealed that the landlords are not doing this filling alone, stressing that it is in collaboration with the state government agencies.

For Chief Olakiso Awobori, a traditional healer, the dumpsite constitutes a nuisance, as it now brings people of questionable character to the area, making police to frequently visit to arrest suspected criminals.

According to him, pushcarts and traders, who come to buy some of the recyclable materials have taken over their street, making it difficult for residence to sometime have easy access to move.

“They pack their trash, heaps of plastic containers and used tyres on the street, thereby making it difficult for other users and trying to correct them often result to a fight,” he said.

Awobori noted that the community has written different letters to the council and Lagos State government, but nothing has come out of it, instead the waste keeps increasing in heaps and extending to the canal.

He alleged that the land owners must have settled the authorities concerned to make them keep off the area, adding if the situation is not arrested now the whole area would be a no-go-area.