A REFUSE HEAP IN FRONT OF A HOUSE

A refuse heap in front of a house in Oko-Agbon area

Epidemic may be looming in Iwaya and its environs due to poor sanitation practices, 

Iwaya community shares a common border with the University of Lagos. But, in terms of cleanliness and trappings of modernity, Iwaya pales into insignificance.

The drainage channels in Iwaya are clogged with smelly water and all manner of waste. On Abiodun Street, a drainage channel containing dirty and smelly water is covered with refuse, and it stretches down the entire street. It is also observed that most of the houses do not have refuse containers.

The residents, therefore, pack their refuse in loose polythene bags or simply allow them to litter the neighbourhood.

In front of one of the houses on Saturday afternoon, a middle-aged woman was seen sitting comfortably near a refuse heap, while cutting vegetables.

Our correspondent tried to find out from her why the neighbourhood was so dirty.

But pretending not to hear the question, the woman continued with her assignment.

Also, in Oko Agbon, a neighbouring residential area, about four children were seen playing on a refuse dump beside their house.

The stench emanating from the drainage channels pervaded the air. The environment is so polluted with all sorts of wastes that a visitor, who is not used to such living conditions, is forced to either cover his nose with a small handkerchief or hold his breath intermittently.

On Church Street in nearby Makoko, a resident, Mrs. Adunni Shittu, notes that the area was flooded last year due to indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the drainage channels.

She added that the flooding occurred several times, but no life was lost.

A medical doctor in Iwaya says,  on condition of anonymity that the residents are exposed to serious health risks without realising it.

“Here, the commonest diseases we record are malaria and typhoid. On a daily basis, most people that come for treatment have either of these two. One, malaria, because mosquitoes continue to breed in these dirty gutters; and two, typhoid, because the water most of them use easily gets contaminated by the filthy environment.

“I believe the solution lies first in the people. They need to be enlightened through community health talks so that they can see their dirty environment as an abnormality, and take care of it,” he says.

Also, a child and public health consultant, Dr. Rotimi Adesanya, in a telephone chat with our correspondent, says living with refuse is the height of exposure to infections.

“People who stay near dumps are prone to many infections. There is what we call faecal-oral infections such as cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea. They can also contract air-borne diseases. Those flies that come into their homes are serious agents of infections.

“Also in areas like that, malaria is imminent because mosquitoes are everywhere since dirty water is stored up around some dumps,” he explained.

According to the General Manager of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, Mr. Ola Oresanya, such streets are still a major challenge to the government. He adds that government is working assiduously to provide public enlightenment for the residents.

“Lagos may be described as clean because the major roads are clean. But we still have challenges in the inner streets, especially in poor communities. Most of these houses don’t have refuse containers.

“I am certain that LAWMA visits there, at least once a week. For waste management to be meaningful, good storage is the number one thing.

“We are trying to enlighten these people so that they can realise the need to have storage tanks from where our officers can pick up their refuse,” he said.

Apart from these places, indiscriminate refuse dumps inside drainage channels also abound in Arolawon and Oyegbola streets in Onipanu area, and Hospital Street, Way House Bus Stop in Olodi-Apapa area of Lagos.

According to a United Nations Cholera Report released in 2013 by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Nigeria now ranks first among the hotspots for cholera in the West African sub-region.

The report, which beamed its searchlight on West and Central Africa, says more than one-third of the population lack basic sanitation services.