6th October, 2010
Residents of Town Hall Street in Ifelodun Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, South West Nigeria, have protested what they described as lack of government presence in their community, attributing it to the area council’s insensitivity to their plight.
They also said that since the council has been established some years back, there has been no government presence in terms of roads and water projects, among other social amenities, while the Primary Health Centre (PHC) recently built by the present administration cannot be accessed as a result of bad road.
Alhaji Ibrahim Seffa, a resident, told Lagos Bulletin that the community decided to embark on the protest after waiting in vain for government to extent the dividends of democracy to them.
Seffa claimed that the only drainage built by the council was done about seven years ago and it is already in a state of collapse due to bad state of the road.
“The problem we have here is that since the LCDA was established, it can not lay claim to a single road to have been constructed or rehabilitated. The council built a health centre here which we don’t have access to. We cannot use it because there is no road to get there.
“It is on this premise that we are here to make the chairman feel our problem and proffer solution to it.
Seffa also claimed that for over 15 years, the community is usually flooded any time it rains, another problem which the community wants the council to address urgently.
He appealed to the council authority to construct roads in the area, especially the one leading to the health centre, so that people may have access to the facility.
Apostle Innocent Chiboka, another resident also said that the only development in the community was only through.
“This is a community does not experience dry season, the whole place is always flooded any time of the year and this is caused by lack of functioning drainage system and bad road.
“We are here to make the council chairman know what we are going through so that something urgent could be done about it.
“Since the creation of this local government, our community has not benefited anything from government, it has always been fixing everything by the residents. We feel it is high time government did something about our plight.â€
However, the community representatives were unable to see the council chairman, Mr. Taiwo Adenekan, but his Personal Assistant, who identified himself simply as Femi, advised them to channel their complaints through the councillor representing them in the council.
A visit to the community revealed that the whole place in shambles, while the roads have been taken over by refuse.
The council chairman could also not be reached for his comments on why the community has been neglected.