Why we live in canal areas - Lagos residents cry out (Photo)

- Many residents living in canal areas have complained about Lagos house rents

- Owolo Kadril, a landlord shares his experience that he knew some landlords collecting two years house rents from their tenants before moving into the houses

- Tenants of the houses erected near the canal express helplessness over incessant air pollution within the community

Residents of Oladele in Ogba, Ojodu local government area of Lagos state have given their reasons for living in canal areas .

They said renting an apartment in Lagos is not easy.

Legit.ng discovered that some houses at the local government area were built in canal areas.

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To access the swampy area, residents have to go through a swampy hill with nothing less than 58 steps.

''Take for instance, renting a room and parlor self-contain costs N380,000 including the agreement which is like N50,000, commission and damages.

''So how much am I making monthly?

''House rent is a big issue in Lagos. I would be happy if government could regulate house rent in Lagos. People like me will not have reason to live in canal areas," Kolade said.

Recall that Lagos state government during the administration of Babatunde Raji Fashola took some move to regulate house rent in Lagos.

Before then, some landlords were collecting two years house rent in advance and which many people couldn't afford. But with the intervention of the government, there was an adjustment of one year house rent.

According to Owolo Kadril: "Before I came to this place which many people call canal today, I had experienced the issue of landlords collecting the two years house rent.

''In fact, some landlords would not allow their tenant spend more than five years in the house so as to make the house open and collect huge amount of money from other persons coming in.

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''The local government is aware that we are living here. So, there is no course for alarm. We can demand for anything from the government,’’ Kadril said.

Meanwhile, some tenants living in the canal area have cried out for help.

Tolu Aderibigbe said: ''Maintaining the canal is expensive and I feel if the landlords have money, they wouldn’t have built houses in this area in the first place.

''Imagine this scenario playing out in your community where drainage systems which are directly connected to toilet pipes are located behind your building,'' he said.

The residents also expressed their helplessness over the incessant air pollution within the community.

Jide Oluwasegun, another resident also expressed her anger at the intensity of pollution in the area.

Recall that Legit.ng reported that residents of Cement area in Ikeja local government area, say a little drop of rain can be disastrous for them.

This follows investigation from Legit.ng photo journalist Michael Obasa which indicated that the canal that passed through from Agege to other Murtala Mohammed airport and Ejigbo, where either blocked with waste or weeded, thereby making free flow of water difficult.

Whenever it rained it was believed then that the area was submerged in flood ravaging many house in the area.

This was because the passage of water through the canal was always difficult, while the living condition of residents was really dreadful.

Watch the Legit.ng video below in which an old woman was pleading with the government not to demolish her house:

Source: Legit.ng