×

Most Widely Read Newspaper

Ita Marun: Lagos’ forgotten community surrounded by wealth

Ita-Marun-1

•Some residents of the community

Tunde Ajaja

Little Johnson jogged side by side with his father on the streets of their estate that early Saturday morning. In a gated estate adorned with well-trimmed lawns on all sides, short beamed fences linked by well painted railings, flashy cars driving past the neatly tarred roads at short intervals and beautiful view of uniformly built houses, jogging could only be exciting. For the sake of Johnson, a 10-year-old, they both had to pause intermittently, to rest, chat and trade some banter.

Privileged to be born with a silver spoon and living with his parents in a posh apartment on Eleko Beach Road in Ibeju-Lekki axis of the Lekki-Epe Expressway in Lagos, the boy is understandably happy with life and would probably not ask for more. For him and his two siblings, life is beautiful.

Interestingly, Lekki axis is one of the foremost highbrow areas in Lagos, as it houses the very rich in the country and boasts of some of the best, luxury houses that Lagos can be proud of. And for many others who live in this area, life is equally beautiful.

But less than three kilometres away from the estate where Johnson lives with his parents, past the Lekki Free Trade Zone and Dangote Refinery, is this small community, called Ita Marun. Life there is far from being beautiful, significantly different and a sharp contrast to what obtains around it.

The community

Life in this community reeks of neglect, deprivation and abject lack boldly written on the faces of many residents, so much so that some of the residents still live in houses built of palm leaves. Only few of them live in houses made of blocks, with most of them not painted and some not plastered.

“Most of those who now live in good houses once lived in the houses built of palm leaves,” said Kehinde Obutu, a resident of the community. He added, “I still live in a house built of palm leaves and it is not as if we are happy with it, but I’m hoping to be able to build my own house as soon as God says so. We have left everything to God because it’s as if we are cut out of civilisation here, despite the fact that we live close to the rich and mighty.”

With the absence of school, hospital, tarred road, potable water and the perpetual darkness that has characterised the enclave for about eight years, life is somewhat hellish in this community that is seemingly lost in such a vibrant city.

The evidence of neglect is emboldened by the fact that due to the absence of a school, both primary and secondary, many school age children who could not go through the stress are constrained to join their parents in farming or sit at home.

For those who are willing and daring, the closest secondary school is four communities away, while the closest primary school is about 15 minutes trek away. And many of these pupils are constrained to carry their books to school in nylon bags while some turn their heads to bags. For these pupils, most of whom dream to become great in the future, education is just not easy.

“I trek to school every morning and in the afternoon while coming back,” said Taiwo, a primary two pupil of Oriyanrin Primary School. “Sometimes, I’m too tired to go because of the distance but I have to force myself,” he added.

Taiwo’s dream is to be an engineer who could manufacture a ship that would sail the waters, but this dream is deeply threatened by the difficulties he experiences each day.

Aside from that, there is no single health care centre, not to talk of a hospital. The closest health centre is in the next community, which is a significant distance away. Their constant prayer is that there should be no emergency.

To expect that there would be power supply might be tantamount to taking optimism to a ridiculous level. The community is lined by electric poles with cables on them but they have not had supply in eight years and there are no sign that things would change anytime soon. “We have two transformers but we have not had power supply for more than eight years,” another resident said.

Talking of potable water supply, the best they have had is well water. “Politicians come here to campaign from time to time and they promise us heaven on earth but after the elections, they are nowhere to be found, and we would go back to zero level,” he added.

Asked how it feels seeing posh estates around them while they live in deprivation, some of them said they believed they were where God wanted them to be, expressing optimism that in God’s own time, government would remember them. These reflect the chilling story of life in this community.

Sitting on a gold mine

While this agrarian community reeks of poverty and neglect, it is surrounded by wealth, which if tapped, could transform the misfortune of the residents within a short time. About 50 metres from this community is the banks of the Atlantic Ocean, the second largest ocean in the world.

When our correspondent visited the beach recently, from any direction one looks at it, one would be thrilled by its unending view, which intrigues one about nature. Its gentle, rippling waves and blue outlook was another endearing feature. Taking a look at the waves, one could become fixated with this beautiful product of nature, which is sometimes the essence of tourism. It’s a beautiful sight to behold.

Besides that, in the space between the community and the ocean are rows of hundreds of coconut palms, which does not only afford one a vantage view of the ocean, being on a higher plane, it also provides shade for as many people as possible at a time.

No matter how hot the sun is and how drenched one had become, staying under the coconut palms for some seconds is all that is needed to feel cool and refreshed.

Unlike most other beaches where people have to rent tents to shield them from the sun or rain, these rows of coconut palms provide enough shade and still allows a pleasant view of the ocean. And given that it is at a comfortable distance away from the water itself, and being on a higher level, one is assured of safety.

According to some residents, people, including foreigners, come occasionally to see the beach, take pictures and leave.

Mr. Akinyemi, who has lived in the community for decades, said “People come from time to time to spend some time and go. We can’t stop them because they have come to relate with nature. Assuming there is proper structure in place, government should be making money from here, and in turn develop our community because we are the host community.

“Some foreigners have been here and they often marvel at the sight of this ocean. You could see it on their faces that they are having fun, but because there is no place to sit, they don’t stay long.”

There is not a single chair in the premises, thus, few people who know about this tourist attraction and are interested in taking time off would have to come with their chairs and those who don’t spend a short time, moving around and leave.

Ita Marun is one major tourist site that has not been explored. The serenity is enticing, more so that it is detached from the normal busy and noisy nature of many Lagos communities.

Until recently when the residents carried out environmental sanitation around the river banks, it was littered with dirt and relics.

The major benefits residents of Ita Marun community have derived from this vast water body is fishing, which is seasonal. And during hot weather, they go under the coconut trees to sleep, which is refreshing. “Nothing makes you feel better, because the air is natural,” Akinyemi added.

And the thought of ripe coconut dropping on their head does not arise because it is seasonal and the trees are well spaced and neatly maintained such that anyone could easily move away from under a tree with ripe coconut and go elsewhere. It’s such a vast land.

According to some residents, the coconut palms were planted by people living in the community, thus, in their view, if the place could be turned to a tourist site, it would generate income for the government, provide job and business opportunities for the residents, many of whom are unemployed, and open up the site for further development.

Notably, this ocean is not isolated; there are other beaches around, and the managers of these beaches generate reasonable income from tourists who come to have fun. A good example is the Eleko Beach, which is a few kilometres away, alongside many others.

According to some persons, for an ocean that shares neighbourhood with the Lagos Free Trade Zone and Dangote Refineries, both of which are under construction, the possible patronage and huge revenue that could be generated from maximising the tourism potential of this site can simply be imagined.

Lagos, an unusual example

While some would chastise the government for not maximising its massive water bodies for tourism, the case is almost the same across the country. Hence, Lagos is not alone.

According to reports, Ondo State has the longest coastal line of over 180km in Nigeria, yet none of these has been explored for tourism. The seaside communities include Araromi, Osasogodomu and Lokuta.

In spite of this expanse of coastal line, the beaches, which should have served as tourist sites and generate income for the state, have been overgrown with grasses and this has been the case for years. It remains undeveloped.

Therefore, across the country, one could safely say that millions of naira, in revenue, that should have been made from tourism are lost to this neglect. And notably too, some of the beaches are losing their appeal, while in some cases, street urchins have taken over and are taking the revenues that should be going to the government, if it had done the needful.

Taking cues from others

There are countries across the world that generate huge revenue from tourism. Oceanside, a coastal city in California, United States, is one city that generates the bulk of its revenue from beach tourism. According to a report by Visit Oceanside, the city’s tourism agency, tourists spent about $271m, which was a huge rise from the $201m that was recorded in 2010.

Apart from the increase in revenue, hundreds of new jobs were also recorded. The agency pointed out that Oceanside remained a good place for beach vacation, and that this had helped to put the city on the map. Another report also showed that tourism provides about 15 per cent of its jobs, and that it helps to reduce the tax payable by the residents.

Also, Dubai, which is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, recorded about 15 million tourists in 2016, and according to reports, some of the tourists went for beach tourism. By 2020, it hopes to record 20 million tourists

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation, which is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism, once pointed out that tourism revenues are the lifeline of many economies. It said Seychelles derives about 50 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product from tourism, 30 per cent in Cape Verde, 25 per cent in Mauritius and 16 per cent in Gambia.

Equally, the World Bank once said tourism accounts for 8.9 per cent of East Africa’s GDP, 7.2 per cent of North Africa’s, 3.9 per cent of Southern Africa’s, 5.6 per cent of West Africa’s, where Nigeria belongs and one per cent of Central Africa’s.

According to reports, the African countries that have high tourist attraction are Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius, Senegal, Madagascar, South Africa, Gambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. Nigeria is nowhere to be found on the list, partly because it has not developed its tourist sites.

Sitting on gold mine hungry

According to a tourism expert, Pelu Awofeso, every coastline is a potential money-making “machine”, but that every state in Nigeria is guilty of neglect of tourism. He said if only states and even the Federal Government realised what they had been losing in terms of revenue, they would wake up swiftly.

He said there ought to be dozens of resorts across all the coastlines, to generate income and open up those areas, but that those in charge had failed to develop or promote them for people to visit.

He said, “In a place like Ita Marun, One would expect that there would be a resort. If we realise what it means to have a resort, we would realise what we are losing as a country. Apart from the revenue generation potential, people, especially Lagos residents, need those resorts for relaxation because of stress in the city.

“Essentially, Lagos and other such states are losing so much money by not having those resorts or partnering with private organisations to put them up. Sometimes, you find the beaches dirty. That is not the way beaches are run all over the world. Yes, Lagos is making money, but it can add to its IGR.

“I was in Ondo State about two weeks ago, and I was shocked by the natural beauty I came across and the lack of proper exploitation of that beauty. That tells us what Ondo State should be doing that it is not doing. In Idanre Hills Resort, for example, the facilities are crumbling away because we don’t understand what tourism is all about. Each of the chalets there has a swimming pool, but some of them have dried up and have become dusty, as of when I visited.

“If you go there, you would see that it’s a potentially beautiful place but it’s abandoned, so how do you get traffic to that kind of place? It’s our lack of understanding, because smaller countries are making money from it. We have them but we have neglected them.”

Awofeso, who has passion for tourism and runs a tour agency, said from a study he carried out, every state in Nigeria has at least 50 attractions, including culture, scenery, cuisine and others. “My worry is, why are states not looking at them?” he asked.

He continued, “Last year, the Bauchi State governor posted series of tweets and pictures of the Yankari Game Reserve and he called for people to sign up. Within a couple of days, 30,000 people already signed up. Can you see the potential we are talking about? We are not even promoting these attractions to Nigerians not to talk of foreigners.

“This country has got a lot, but when the right people don’t let Nigerians know about it, you can’t blame people for going to Ghana. The major poachers of Nigeria’s tourists are South Africa, Rwanda, Ghana, etc. Different countries are showcasing what they have while Nigeria is showcasing nothing.”

He then called on the states, the Nigeria Tourism Development Commission, the National Orientation Agency and agencies under the Federal Ministry of Information to brace up and showcase the potential in Nigeria. “I don’t know why they are not doing it, and they have budget every year,” he said.

The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr. Adewale Ashimi, told our correspondent that the state government was working to develop a master plan for the 180km beach line towards the development of the waterfront in the state.

He said, “One of the key tourism attractions we have in Lagos State is our beautiful waterfront, and we are working with the Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure to see what we can do to develop the beaches. We want to do it comprehensively and in a coordinated manner, and that is why we need the master plan.

“Once we have the approval of the governor, we would start working with relevant government agencies, and we have classified the beaches as leisure beach, urban beach, resort beach and fishing market beach.”

He expressed optimism that the initiative should take off before the end of the year, saying part of the projects would be private-sector driven.

On the fate of the communities that are close to the beaches, like Ita Marun, Ashimi said government would not deprive people of their properties, unless for overriding public interest.

He said, “According to the enabling laws, anything within 150km from waterfront belongs to the state. For those operating beaches within that range, we need to establish their title to the land, and even if they don’t have that, we would look for ways to carry them along.

“The emphasis is on community tourism, and people coming to the beach for recreation can also patronise the goods, like fishes, being produced in such communities. That would open up the communities.”

Copyright PUNCH.               
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.

Contact: [email protected]

Stay informed and ahead of the curve! Follow The Punch Newspaper on WhatsApp for real-time updates, breaking news, and exclusive content. Don't miss a headline – join now!

Join The Punch Newspapers Channel