Despite being a part of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, basic amenities befitting of a metropolitan area are lacking in Elerumoke and this poses a nightmare for its people, AFEEZ HANAFI of The Punch, reports
Boom! A loud explosion tore through the quiet ambience as thin, hasty smoke wafted from a hollow pathway up the sky. In a couple of minutes, another bang rent the air. The two brought with them some trepidation that could unsettle the hardest minds. But not those of Busari Akeem and his co-dwellers scattered around Elerumoke, a sprawling community on the outskirts of Egbeda Local Government Area, Ibadan, Oyo State.
That was the fourth blast in two hours in a painstaking effort to blow up the rock hindering the digging of a well near an uncompleted building in the neighbourhood.
“We have been blasting the rock for about three weeks now, yet we have not had a breakthrough. Each blast costs about N15,000. At the end of the day, we may not get water,” a resident supervising the project, Kola Sanusi, told Saturday PUNCH during a visit to the neighbourhood recently.
For the vast majority of dwellers in the rocky community, water is raw gold that is hard to come by. And it has been so for several decades. Many wells dug halfway were abandoned because they could not produce water, a tour by our correspondent round the community revealed. Water produced by the few functional wells and boreholes is rationed among the owners and hundreds of dependent neighbours.
It was learnt that on some occasions, especially during the dry season, bowls and buckets are in queues at wells while their owners patiently take turns to fetch particle-laden water. “We have to wait for some hours to let the water settle before we can use it. At times, we apply alum to purify it,” Demola Yusuf, who was busy fetching water for his mother, said. Beside him were two barren wells abandoned after months of fruitless digging.
Populated by farmers, traders and civil servants who saved up for years to provide shelters for themselves and their families, very few of the landlords could afford the cost of drilling a borehole suitable for producing potable and sufficient water, Saturday PUNCH learnt.
“To drill a standard borehole here, one must have at least N800,000. If you drill a borehole anyhow here, you won’t get water. Some people abandoned their boreholes because they could not find water,” a landlord in Southwest Elerumoke, Akeem Buhari, stated.
Between November 2018 and February 2019 when the dry season set in, most of the residents went through their toughest moments to source water for household use. In most cases, they waited for the owners of the few operating wells to fetch before they could go home with a bowl of water each.
“Some landlords won’t even give you water in the dry season because their wells hardly produce water too. It is the little they are able to scoop that they manage. Many times, our wives have to trek long distances to get water. We also buy water from tanker drivers,” Buhari added.
According to Buhari, an active member of the Elerumoke/Ifesowapo Community Development Association, less than 10 per cent of over 500 residential houses in the area have working boreholes and wells.
He took our correspondent to about 15 wells and five boreholes abandoned as a result of low water yield.
A mother of five, Mrs Alimat Misbaudeen, shared troubling times she endured to get water on a daily basis after efforts to dig a well in her compound got her up against a brick wall.
She stated, “It is our neighbours’ wells we rely on to get water. It is when they have fetched enough water for themselves that we are allowed to fetch. If we are luc
Separated from water pipelines through expressway
From Iwo Road en route to the new Ibadan-Ife Expressway, Elerumoke is on the left inwards Iyana Ajia, separated from other parts of Egbeda Local Government Area by the highway. But unlike at Elerumoke where water is raw gold rare to find, almost every household in the communities on the other side of the expressway is connected to water pipeline that runs from Asejire water treatment plant through Osegere waterworks, a substation. The two waterworks are managed by the Oyo State Water Corporation.
Findings by Saturday PUNCH revealed that the corporation connected water to the communities in 2010 through the assistance of a private-public partnership project with African Development Bank.
“The gravity of supply from here (Osegere waterworks) does not allow water to easily cross to the other side of the road,” an official, who identified himself only as Ibikunle, told our correspondent in response to enquiries on why Elerumoke was not linked to the water pipeline.
He continued, “They have to write to the water corporation and a delegate will visit the area to engage in dialogue with the residents. They ought to have reported to the government a long time ago. People are connected to tap water on demand.
“If we say we should provide public water to people free of charge, it is a loss to us. We pay N9m electricity bill monthly and use 85 bags of alum every day. A bag of alum costs N12,500. How do we get the money? It is what we generate that we add to whatever subvention the government gives us.”
When bad roads are a ‘blessing’
Right from the major road leading to Elerumoke, wide potholes punctuate the sprawling highway and parts of the inner roads within the neighbourhood. Driving on the road is as onerous as time-consuming, but beneath the harrowing experience – for motorists and commuters – lies an unusual blessing. Whenever it rains, rainwater collected in the big potholes is useful for bricklayers working on building sites.
“Whenever there is heavy rain, bricklayers will be on sites the following day to scoop from waterlogged potholes for building construction. They may not get enough water from wells because residents would have taken everything before they come. We don’t joke with water here,” a landlord, Kazeem Ramon, said.
Another resident, Tayo Gbade, explained that the high cost of transporting water tankers to construction sites was unbearable to the site owners – most of whom are struggling financially to put up the projects – leading to suspension of work during the dry season.
Gbade added, “If you visit here in May or June when we are in the middle of the rainy season, most of the uncompleted structures and foundations would have sprung up because there will be water in the potholes for bricklayers to work with. Even if the government fixes the roads, our problem will be the same or more without providing a good source of water.”
Residents want public school, hospital, polling units
Elerumoke borders Egbeda and Ona Ara local government areas of the Oyo State. Findings by Saturday PUNCH revealed that no public school or hospital is located within the community as residents are left with the choice of seeking “expensive” services of the private facilities within their reach or walking several miles to the heart of Egbeda where public schools and health centres are located.
“I have two brothers and three children whose education I sponsored. My brothers attend Community High School, Egbeda while my children are in a public primary school there. They have to cross the two expressways that form the new Ibadan-Ife Road from Monday to Friday, which is very risky,” Ramon said in a manner that revealed his worries.
“I would have loved for them to be in private schools within the communities, but I can’t afford the school fees,” the 34-year-old okada rider added.
He explained that some parents, who normally could not afford the school fees of the private schools, took their children there just to avoid the risks associated with crossing the expressway en route to the public schools.
Ramon stated, “There are also public schools in Ajia (a neighbouring community), but the transport fare from here is N300 to and fro. Many poor parents take their children to private schools because by the time they calculate the fares to Ajia in a term, the amount will be almost equal to the school fees they will pay in private schools. We need public schools here.”
A landlord and Islamic cleric in Elerumoke, Mallam Mansur Sanni, lamented how meaningful development had been elusive in the neighbourhood. He narrated the nasty experience he and his wife had some two years ago when the latter went into labour in the middle of the night.
They had to travel several kilometres to a public hospital in Isebo Alakia in Egbeda as he could not afford the bill of a private hospital close to them.
He went on, “We started landlords’ association meeting in 2005 with 17 persons. Today, we are well over 500. We have never felt the impact of the government in this community. When we went to Egbeda Local Government Area for help on social amenities, they asked us to go to Ona Ara. When we got to Ona Ara, they referred us back to Egbeda.
“It is as if we have been rejected. The government doesn’t really see our community as a part of Oyo State. Whereas, officials from the two local government areas come to collect town planning fees from people whose houses are under construction.
“As big as this community is, we don’t even have a polling unit; we have to walk a long distance to neighbouring communities to vote. Politicians don’t come to this community to campaign because they don’t know we exist. At the end of the day, our votes are counted as part of the communities where we vote.
“In the just-concluded elections, we trekked to neighbouring communities to vote. Almost 2,000 residents have their permanent voter cards but few of us went out to vote because of the long distance. We had to lead the elderly people among us to the polling units. We wrote letters to the state government during (Rashidi) Ladoja and (Adebayo) Alao-Akala-led administrations, nothing was done.”
Sanni explained that residents contributed to buy a transformer which packed up in 2015, a year after it was installed, due to the high number of households it served.
He added, “In 2015, we reached out to Governor Abiola Ajimobi through a politician and after some time, he gave us a 300KVA transformer, which is too small. We asked for 500 KVA. Each house had to contribute money to install the transformer. We always have low voltage.
“We are facing problem of water too. Rocks have made it difficult for us to have wells and boreholes. When we fetch water from the well, we have to wait for some time to let the particles settle before we can use it.”
A businessman, Richard Ogunjimi, also bemoaned how the government allegedly shied away from its social responsibilities in the community. He explained that for the five years he had lived in the neighbourhood, development had been almost nonexistent.
Ogunjimi said, “When we want to do planning for a new building, both Egbeda and Ona Ara local government officials stamp our documents. But when it comes to developing the community, neither of them will be ready to take it up.
“There was a day I went to my bank to do some transactions and gave my address as Elerumoke, but the bank official who attended to me said he could not find it. That made me come to the conclusion that perhaps our community is not formally recognised.”
He said a local council development area was established last year to be in charge of the community, adding that they had yet to feel the impact of the council.
Narrating efforts made by residents to ensure development in the community, Mogaji Elerumoke, Mr Israel Oyadeyi, said the government seemed to have forgotten its people even though they are within the state capital.
He said, “I have been living here for 50 years. We contributed money to buy a fairly used transformer in 2014. It packed up the following year because its capacity was far below the number of houses using it. There are about 600 houses here.
“There was a time Ajimobi sent some representatives to us. They met with leaders from Elerumoke and neighbouring communities like Adewunmi and Agudu. We told them our challenges. We requested polling units and they promised to facilitate the processing from Abuja. We thought we would have it during the 2015 general elections, but we have been unable to get one up till this moment.
“We also discussed the problem of electricity with the government. They later gave us 300KVA instead of 500KVA we asked for. It is now wearing out. We are planning to contribute to buy another one since we are not likely to get help from the government.
“The private schools here are expensive. There is no public school; no hospital; no potable water. The tap water that is supposed to be connected to our community was stopped on the other side of Egbeda.”
The Chairman Elerumoke/Ifesowapo Community Development Association, Mr Gafar Muyili, described the need for water supply in the community as urgent. He enjoined the government to come to the aid of the residents.
He stated, “The topography of this community is not suitable for boreholes and wells because it is rocky. It is only a few people that are upland towards Ajia that are able to drill boreholes. Many people buy water. Water pipeline only passes through the other side of Egbeda.
“We have not made formal complaints about the problem of water because we know the challenges that usually come with getting help from the government. Everything is politics and we don’t have any political leader in our community. If we write a letter, we need to know somebody who will follow it up. We are more than 500 landlords, but none of us is influential.”
The chairman stated that the CDA had got a piece of land to build a health-care centre and urged the government to establish public schools in the community.
In a short telephone interview with Saturday PUNCH, the Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Mr Toye Arulogun, promised to table the challenges facing the community before the relevant government agencies.
He said, “We will look into the matter. It is a serious problem. Send me a text message on the issues. I will inform the appropriate authorities. I will send the message to the relevant ministries and agencies.”
The message was sent to him.
While the people of Elerumoke continue to make do with the deplorable living standard, they have not lost hope for a new lease of life in the coming days – or perhaps when a new government assumes office in less than two months’ time.
