Cemetery: The dead raise dust in Lagos community

There has been disquiet at Ejigbo community in Lagos State since the Local Council Development Area revealed its plan to build a cemetery from 23 to 25 Morning Star Street, under Ifetedo and Tiwadire Community Development Association (CDA). Ejigbo is a Lagos suburb with six wards, namely, Aigbaka, Ailegun, Fadu, Ifoshi, Ilamose and Oke-Afa. It […]

There has been disquiet at Ejigbo community in Lagos State since the Local Council Development Area revealed its plan to build a cemetery from 23 to 25 Morning Star Street, under Ifetedo and Tiwadire Community Development Association (CDA).

Ejigbo is a Lagos suburb with six wards, namely, Aigbaka, Ailegun, Fadu, Ifoshi, Ilamose and Oke-Afa. It is a Local Council Development Area (LCDA) within the Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area.

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Residents of the area said they knew about the move via a periodic local newspaper publication, where the LCDA chairman, Monsuru Oloyede Bello disclosed his plan to launch the first public cemetery, naming Morning Star Church Street, along power-line bus stop, Ejigbo as the site for his project.

This news aroused anxiety in residents of the area, who kicked against situating a cemetery in a densely populated residential area, saying such project will constitute economic and health hazards.

Both tenants and landlords in the area have continued to raise their voices against the project, which they described as anti-community. They asked why the local council wouldn’t complete the abandoned primary health care centre and public school in the same street with the proposed cemetery. They suggested that the land be used as an extension of the primary health care centre so that it can become a full-fledged hospital.

According to them, the said primary health care centre, which was built during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has been abandoned for over 15 years now, while the primary school site had been abandoned at foundation level for many years. “We are not saying there should be no cemetery, but it shouldn’t be in a densely populated area,” they said.

When our correspondent visited the proposed site for the cemetery, a lot of residential houses, hotel, church and shops were seen around the six plots of land, which the youth in the area temporarily converted into a football field.

The chairman of Tiwadire CDA, Oludare Agboola, said the community had reached out, through one of the elders to the LCDA officials, who initially debunked the claim, saying, if such a thing would happen, the council chairman would call stakeholders’ meeting.

He said the meeting never held as residents surprisingly saw that work had begun on the six plots of land on June 29, 2020.

“We saw the LCDA tractor clearing the residential houses on the land so as commence the cemetery project,”

The community elders and youths have written severally to the LCDA chairman about his project, which we described as inhuman, considering the health and other economic hazards involved. But he has refused to heed to our calls and letters. We took a step forward by contacting the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) about the project.

The agency visited the site on July 3, 2020, after which it issued a ‘stop-work order’ to the LCDA chairman’s office. The chairman violated the order and went ahead with work on the site. Since then, several letters have been sent to him by the landlords association and the two CDAs involved, but he is yet to respond to the letters. In the light of all these, the community took another step by employing the services of a lawyer, who wrote to the chairman and copied all the necessary arms of the state government and the state police command,” Agboola narrated.

He also said the site should have been used to build a school instead of a cemetery, and recalled how more than five pupils lost their lives to accidents while crossing the expressway to go to school at the other side of Ejigbo.

Also reacting, a landlord in the area, Elder Akosile Julius, said , “We fear for our water sources, environmental pollution as a result of ungodly odour, as well as the psychological and emotional trauma to lives of people living around, including children.”

We want a project that will empower us and add value to us. The moment a cemetery is sited here, our properties will deteriorate. Imagine waking up in the morning and the first thing you see when you look through your door or window is a cemetery; it has psychological effects. We lack good roads in this community, so our leaders can think in that direction while the cemetery can be sited in a desolate area. Primarily, we will cherish a school here.’’

Another landlord in the area, Mr Ayedun Adebowale, said if there’s a cemetery in the area, there would be a devaluation of properties, which are mostly owned by retirees of the federal, state governments and the private sector.

“Once a cemetery is sited here, tenants will vacate the area. In the long run, landlords might also be forced to abandon their houses. Why would the local council want to build a cemetery in an area with an abandoned primary health care centre and primary school?/” He asked.

Mrs Alawode Ayobola, who spoke on behalf of the women and landladies in the area, said,  “We don’t want a cemetery here. This is a developed area. They build houses to meet cemetery and not cemetery to meet the living; as such, it should be built in an outskirts of a town. We need school instead. We have lost some of our children to accidents while trekking long distances and crossing the expressway to go to school.

Look around and you will see the windows of houses facing the field. That is to tell you that the land is surrounded by houses. So there is no how it will not contaminate our water because we use well and borehole. In fact, the house behind the field has its well directly behind the fence, so what happens when the dead are buried here? If the government is thinking of generating revenue, I think, the wellbeing of the people is paramount.”

The youth also expressed fear, saying that in addition to the economic and health hazards of such project, the presence of a cemetery will attract ritual killers to the area, which will make it unsafe for living, especially for children.

On behalf of the youth, Segun Ogunsowo suggested that the site could instead be used as a mini-stadium for sporting activities, or a shopping mall, where revenues can be generated. “The day a cemetery begins operation here, people’s buildings and businesses will collapse,” he said.

Speaking for the people of Ifetedo CDA, Alayode Morounkola, an engineer, who has been living in the area for over 25 years, described the local council’s decision as unacceptable.

“We have only a private primary school here. There’s no public school, and it is not everyone that can afford private education. The LCDA chairman built a public school in his own area at Oke-Afa, where majority of people are of high class and their children cannot attend a public school, but he is depriving us the opportunity to have one,” he said.

To further make their grievances known, the residents, on Thursday staged a peaceful protest, rejecting the move to build a cemetery in their domain. Bearing placards with different inscriptions, they marched to the secretariat of the local council, asking the authorities to rescind the decision to convert the six plots of land to a burial ground.

They insisted that government should instead use the land to build a school or hospital, noting that the health care centre and school they attend are too far.

Mr Sola Adebowale, a resident of the area said, “We reject the move totally because this would affect us in terms of development. With a cemetery here, there will not be any economic activity. And people residing here will all run away. How can we live with the dead in a built up area?”

He called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to intervene, with a view to meeting the yearning and aspiration of the people.

The chairman of the LCDA had earlier told residents of the area that the proposed cemetery would bring development to them. He said the project was in fulfillment of one of the functions of the council as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The information officer of the council, Kunle Oladele, in a chat with our correspondent, said they would continue to take the issue lightly with residents.

“The council has not violated any law by what it is doing. They are talking of schools or hospitals, but we have been doing that. A cemetery must be located somewhere. If it is not there, it could be anywhere else,” he said.