Putrid Smell Pervades Ikorodu Jetty

Putrid and nauseating smell oozing out of Ikorodu Ferry Jetty in Ebute, pervaded the whole environment on Monday as labourers hired by Metro Ferry Services manually scooped out decaying and withered water weeds in the area.

Hundreds of passengers who turned up to board the ferries and speed boats could not help covering their noses to prevent them from inhaling the noxious odour which could have a harmful effect on their health.

About a dozen young men were seen using their bare hands to collect the floating dead weeds and heaping them up at the water brink where the jetty is located.

An official of the Metro Ferry Service, a private outfit, told a journalist that they were unable to get the work done mechanically through the use of water hyacinth harvester machine.

“It is the job of government to clear the weeds from the waterways. Since the government is not doing that, we have to do it by ourselves, using manual labour,” said the official who demanded anonymity.

“They have no respect for human lives. Otherwise, they should not have exposed passengers to this horrible health risk,” said an agitated passenger who boarded a ferry that headed for CMS jetty, some 50 minutes journey away.

The unkempt Ikorodu jetty has neither health nor police post. There are less than a dozen chairs for hundreds of passengers who patronise the ferry services.

A ride from the jetty to Victoria Island or CMS on a speed boat costs 500 naira while a similar ride on a ferry to CMS costs 350 naira.

The nearby Lagos state governnment jetty has been under construction for a few years now.