Tales From Near Forgotten Communities, Orile Maroko Cries For Help!

Despite over two-months-and-still-counting electricity supply outage challenge coupled with bad roads and no proper drainage system, some residents of Orile -Maroko community around Lekki Scheme 11 area, near Ajah, Lekki Peninsula axis, Lagos state, are hopeful that someday, their plight will come to an end,  as they observed the monthly sanitation exercise on Saturday, October 29th, 2016. 

According to a resident who preferred to speak with Roving Informant on the grounds of anonymity, electricity supply went off in September, 2016, over a month later, after several calls to complain, visits and statement written  at the EKEDC headquarters in Marina, Lagos by affected residents, the faulty transformer located in front of the Mosque at Moroko Community was removed by some officials from Eko Electricity Distribution Company, (EKEDC) Agungi office. There is howbeit no concrete assurance of when electricity supply is expected to be restored in the community. 

According to the resident: "This issue started right before the last Muslim holiday in early September, we thought it was a minor fault and would be fixed within a couple of days; it's over two months now...as a matter of fact we are in November..that officially makes it three months and we have not seen light from EKEDC. They came and took the transformer from its located near the Mosque two weeks ago, some of the residents paid a visit to the Agungi office but they did not give an assurance of when we are expected to get back Power supply, right now, some of us spend about =N=20,000 per week on fuel for our generators...in this hard times..we dont even  know how much longer we can keep up with this situation. It seems the government do not know people live here. But we have not lost hope, we are appealing to the Lagos state government to consider our plight over here and come to our rescue by providing us with a functioning transformer." He said.

Orile Maroko is one of the communities established by the Lagos State government after the relocation of residents from Maroko, (where Oniru bus-stop and Intercontinental Hotel stood currently) in Victoria Island, Lagos - Nigeria. Since relocation, Orile Maroko, has metamorphosed into an urban community with a  growing working class population owned properties and estates. 

Orile Maroko, Moba, Alaguton and other communities around the Lekki Scheme 11 estate, is presently confronted with challenges of: absent, to blocked drainage systems, almost 0% electricity supplies due to constantly damaged transformers, resulting from transformer over-load, bad roads...etc...for its growing population. The Maroko Youth Association for instance, was formed to help meet these developmental needs, despite their efforts, a lot needs to be done from observation. We hereby call on the intervention of the Lagos State Government.