Days after the Lagos State Government demolished waterfront communities along Tolu Alashe Street in the Oworonshoki area of Lagos State during a midnight operation, several displaced residents – mostly women and children – remain stranded in the open.
A recent visit to the area showed how a once lively environment has been turned into a deserted site.
Lots of broken concrete blocks, scattered roofing sheets, and abandoned household items covered the dusty paths where several families once lived and carried out their daily activities.
Lots of personal belongings were visible on the streets, and some women, with weeping faces, were seen attempting to sell some items for money.
One of the women sitting helplessly by the roadside was Mrs Rebecca, a mother of one, who revealed that she contemplated taking her own life after her house was demolished.
She stated that the thought came to her after losing her home, shop and entire savings to the demolition.
“I just came back from the hospital.
I have a problem with my spinal cord, so, after a little treatment, I returned home that night, if I could sell a few things before my two-month-old rented house was demolished.
I paid N360,000 for my two-room apartment. I just finished paying when they came at night and broke everything. I wanted to kill myself, but my sister stopped me,” she said, sitting close to a rusted pot and an old standing fan.
According to her, she has sold a N35,000 fan for N1,000 to scrap buyers, just to raise money to eat and pay for rent.
“I bought that fan for N35,000, but the aboki said N1,000. I don’t have a choice
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I need money to eat, to treat myself. Everywhere I turn, there is no help,” Rebecca continued.
Several aboki scrap buyers were seen around the area negotiating with women to buy their damaged or leftover household items.
Mrs Jumai, another affected resident, shared how she and her kids narrowly escaped during the night of the demolition.
The distressed mother said that they were sleeping in their house when they suddenly heard screams outside.
“They came about 11 p.m.
We were sleeping when our neighbours started shouting that the bulldozers were close. We carried what we could and ran out.
My house and my shop, where I sell pepper soup and drinks, were in the same compound. They broke everything,” she lamented.
Jumai concluded by saying that her children’s school wasn’t spared during the demolition, so her kids are currently left without a home and a school.
We stayed here with the school, and everything is gone.
I don’t even know where to start their schooling again,” she added.
