29th July, 2011
The Lagos State Government has decamped the 1, 100 victims of last year’s flood in Ajegunle area of Ikorodu from the state’s relief camp at Agbowa, Epe in Lagos, South West Nigeria.
The displaced flood victims had been at the Lagos State Relief Camp, Agbowa since October, 2010 after a massive flood sacked several communities in the area when the Ogun River overflowed its banks after water was released from the Oyan Dam by the Ogun-Osun River Development Basin.
The victims left the camp today to look for somewhere to stay and relieved government of the huge financial burden of catering for them.
General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu told P.M.NEWS that the administration of Babatunde Fashola had kept the displaced victims in the camp for 10 months.
He disclosed that in the last 10 months, 35 babies were born at the camp, saying that there was no casualty all through the period the victims were at the camp.
According to him, the government took proper care of the victims and fed them adequately, while the children of some of the victims were sent to public schools in the area so that their educational pursuit would not be truncated.
“They are going because the relief camp is a stop-gap. We gave them vocational training while at the camp; they will now go and eke out a living for themselves. We also gave them a token to start their vocational businesses,†he said.
On whether the people were happy moving away from the camp, Oke-Osanyintolu said “nobody will like to move,†adding that they had to leave the camp to somewhere else.
On the children who had already started school in the area, he stated that “it is expected that they continue in the school but in a case where they are going far and the parents want relocation, they have to look for another school for them.â€
He said the camp would be closed indefinitely to pave way for construction work to be carried out on it, adding that two other relief camps were still under construction to cater for larger number of displaced people.
Last October, a massive flood sacked thousands of residents in Ajegunle and its environs. The state government relocated some of the victims seriously affected by the flood to its relief camp at Agbowa. The Federal Government also gave Lagos about N750 million to cater for the needs of the displaced victims of the flood.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga