“Democracy in Decay: Aroloya Street Residents Trapped in Filth and Fear as Government Neglect Breeds Health Crisis”
By Investigative Correspondent, HeadlineNews.News
Lagos Island, Nigeria — April 2025
In the heart of Nigeria’s commercial capital, where economic ambition meets the promise of modern governance, the residents of Aroloya Street in Lagos Island face a stark contradiction. For weeks—and indeed, for years—they have lived beside, and now within, stagnant, polluted water. Today, the situation has escalated into a full-blown humanitarian concern.
Following the award of a drainage reconstruction contract by the Lagos State Government, hopes were high that relief had finally come. But those hopes have been replaced by despair. Equipment was delivered, sand was dumped, and the contractor vanished—leaving behind an obstruction that worsened an already dangerous situation.
Now, the people of Aroloya Street are locked out of their own homes by water poisoned with urine, feces, and decomposing matter.
When Government Projects Fail the People
Residents tell HeadlineNews.News that access to homes is now impossible. Borehole water sources are contaminated. Clean water is inaccessible. Sanitation is non-existent. The community now faces the risk of an epidemic, with illnesses such as cholera, typhoid, and dysentery imminent.
According to Dr. Halimat Oduwole, a community health expert:
“Once fecal matter contaminates boreholes, the risk of a cholera outbreak becomes very high. Without immediate government action, lives will be lost—not could, will.”
This is happening in Lagos, a megacity projected to become the world’s third-largest by 2050, and the economic engine of Nigeria.
Where Are the Dividends of Democracy?
Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution under Section 14(2)(b) declares that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” Similarly, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Nigeria is a signatory, guarantees the right to health, housing, and a satisfactory environment (Articles 16, 18, and 24).
Yet, the people of Aroloya live in conditions described by the United Nations Habitat Programme as “sub-human.”
Under the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — particularly:
Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being
Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
— the situation in Aroloya is a glaring violation.
Statistics Paint a Grim Picture
Only 14% of Lagos residents have access to clean piped water (Lagos Water Corporation, 2023).
Over 60% of Lagos Island’s boreholes are unregulated, raising contamination risks (Nigerian Institute of Water Engineers, 2024).
WHO reports that contaminated water causes 485,000 diarrheal deaths annually worldwide, with sub-Saharan Africa most affected.
Contractors, Corruption, and Accountability
The contractor appointed for the Aroloya drainage project remains unnamed and unaccountable. This pattern of abandoned urban infrastructure projects is not new to Lagos. Transparency International Nigeria has previously cited urban contracts in Lagos as “vulnerable to political patronage and poor oversight.”
Residents now demand that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu intervene personally. The state’s Ministry of Environment and Drainage Services must investigate the project’s status and immediately mobilize a competent contractor to resume and complete the job with urgency.
Conclusion: We Cannot Normalize Neglect
This is not just a drainage failure. It is a democratic failure. It is a failure of duty, empathy, and basic governance.
If the residents of Aroloya Street — in the very core of Lagos — are treated with such disregard, what hope exists for those in more remote communities? A democracy that cannot provide clean water or basic sanitation to its citizens has lost sight of its purpose.
The time to act is now. Before this turns from a preventable disaster into a national shame.
Dr. Amiida
Headlinenews.news Special Report.
