Dolphin estate residents lament infrastructure decay, insecurity

Dolphin High-rise Estate in Ikoyi, Lagos was planned to be a model exclusive residential enclave, but broken down infrastructure, emergence of illegal structures (Kiosk) and a general state of insecurity are putting the residents on the edge.

The name, Dolphin High-rise Estate, creates an image of luxury in the mind but as ironic as it sounds, most of the residents sometimes wish they live somewhere else.

Although the estate, built by the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation, is located in one of the choicest parts of the state, Ikoyi; most of the residents have had cause to regret investing in the property.

Some of the residents, who spoke with our correspondent last week, lamented the absence of government presence in the estate, which they said had almost turned into a ghetto where all manners of illegal structures were springing up.

“There are all manners of illegal structures everywhere, people just come from anywhere and put up illegal structures,” a retired top civil servant, who owns a three-bedroom flat in the estate,said.

She added, “There are shanties everywhere built as hair dressing salons, mechanic workshops and so on, and strange people move in and out of these structures built without regards to the original plan of the estate.

“Can you believe that there are some houses, where the space under the building is turned into bedrooms and the people who live in them leave for unknown destinations as early as 4am? There are some other people who wake up early in the morning to cook with firewood on the street.

“When you see someone sleeping under a building and you are not the owner, how do you challenge the person? Some people put sand and gravel under their buildings so that cats and dogs won’t have access to the place, yet human beings sleep there.”

Besides the illegal structures, the residents said they have had to battle with a pool of water at the Ijeh/Obalende entrance to the estate.

Smith, who described the water as ‘river Somolu’, said it never dried up.

Dolphin high-rise, as the estate is popularly called, is made up of blocks of four storey buildings, with eight flats in each block, and was developed in the early 1990s by the LSPDC in collaboration with HFP Engineering Company.

The apartments said to have been allocated to people, mostly pensioners, for between N50,000 and N100,000 at the time now run into several millions.

Some of the beneficiaries, it was gathered, sold theirs, others rented out the flats, while some others retained theirs.

The residents said they began to worry for their safety when the hitherto peaceful estate became a haven of sorts for petty traders, some of who were said to be rearing domestic animals, including cows in the estate that is supposed to be highbrow in concept.

Mrs. Rose Adelabu, who has lived in Dolphin for over 15 years, lamented the deplorable state of the estate.

She said, “People don’t only rear cows here, they rear goats. There was a time the animals were moved away, I don’t understand how they found themselves back. There’s a particular church that has virtually turned the next flat into an eyesore and the legitimate owners of the flat have been made to endure the stench coming from the church.

“Besides that, the illegal structures are a menace; much as I understand that some of them serve useful purposes, but lots of them leave no room for clean habitation. Most of those salons and shops have no toilets, a lot of their workers sleep in them overnight and where do they relieve themselves?”

Another resident, Mrs. Ibukun Glover, said she usually spend most of her time in her children’s home because she felt unsafe sleeping in the estate.

According to her, even the security men employed to watch over the estate bring in their friends, relatives and colleagues to spend the night in their makeshift rooms.

“I feel very concerned about the environmental condition of the high rise, from the health and security perspective. There is the need for us to be proactive rather than wait until it is too late,” she stated.

Glover said non-residents in the estate were increasing in number on daily basis with some of them engaging in illegal activities, including Internet scams.

She said, “There are vulcanisers, food sellers, mechanics and even Yahoo-Yahoo boys everywhere. The immediate worry is the security men; you employ one and at night there are more than 10 of them gathered at a spot in your compound and you can’t tell exactly what they are discussing or doing. They have kiosks where they hide.”

Although most of the residents and shop owners refused to speak with our correspondent, it was gathered that the shop owners were paying certain amounts to some of the residents to erect their makeshift structures.

A tenant in the estate, Mr. Ade David, said the flood situation had been partially solved but the entire environment within the estate should be improved upon.

“The flood situation was worse about 10 years ago; then, you could hardly find a place to park your car. But a lot still needs to be done, especially with those who own apartments here. We have problems with the owners of the flats and not the tenants. They litter the environment with the kiosks,” he said.

The Executive Secretary, Victoria Island and Ikoyi Residents’ Association, Alhaji Abdulateef Muse, said a lot of things had gone wrong, not only in Dolphin but in Ikoyi, Victoria Island and the adjoining areas.

According to him, residents of such areas live in past glory as they suffer from lack of attention by the state government.

Muse said, “We are aware of the development; as you are aware, many things have been politicised in many areas, including Dolphin. Most of the structures that are up and running for business now are not supposed to be there and the Ministry of Environment has a unit that is supposed to be in charge of environmental issue.

The law enforcement unit of the Ministry of Environment, the Kick Against Indiscipline, the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Tunde Olusesi, said “The fact is that we cannot see everything going in an environment, people should notify us; they can write petitions to us and we will take it up from there. Sometime ago, KAI officials went somewhere in Obalende to stop people from breeding animals and we made those involved to sign undertakings that the animals would no longer be allowed to constitute environmental nuisance. So if the residents discover that the animals are back, they should inform us officially,” he said.

The Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello,  also said Dolphin Estate had been a problem for the ministry because the residents were not cooperating among themselves.

According to him, the problem of flooding is due to the road depression within the estate, adding, “When you have road depression, water cannot flow as it should, that is why you have water on the road all the time,” he said.

Bello, however, accused the residents of aiding one another in the construction of illegal structures in the estate.

He said, “When it comes to the issue of illegal structures, many of them are guilty because they will never disclose the culprits; they are always covering up for one another. We have done a lot of enforcement in that estate, but some people are always coming up with things, either building a generator house or rearing one animal or the other, and when you arrest one, others will come up.

“I have seen cows in that place this year and I asked our enforcement unit to go there and they seized some cows loitering around the canals. What we need to do is get the resident association to cooperate and constantly exchange information with us.”

Source: Punch Newspaper