Iju displaced residents shun transit camp

June 18, 2012 by Maureen Azuh 

Residents of Iju-Ishaga who lost their homes when the ill-fated Dana aircraft, which crashed in Lagos on June 3, have rejected the shelter offered them by the state government.
On Saturday when our correspondent visited the transit camp located at Ipaja-Ayoba area of Lagos, the expansive compound was quiet.
Only one of the displaced persons, Olatunji Lawal was in one of the buildings tagged block C5. He said the others refused to stay at the camp.
“Some of them, about six families, are still at the crash site. They complained that this place is too far from where they have their businesses and children’s schools,” he said.
Lawal said the families, mostly from Eastern Nigeria, are living with one Mr. Chike at Ishaga.
The Director General of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, told our correspondent that the victims turned down the offer because they did not want to be called refugees.
“We have over 35 persons who have been coming and going. They said the place is too far and remote but the state has provided them with buses.
“Some said they don’t want to be refugees but they are not refugees. Internationally, they are called internally displaced people but nobody is even calling them any names,” he said.
34-year-old Lawal, who is now visually impaired due to impact of the crash, said he had no regrets staying at the transit camp.
He said, “The experience has been good. They attend to my health needs; they are also working on my need to see a consultant. We have water, we have light and if NEPA takes the light, they put on the generator. I was also given torchlight.”

SOURCE: The Punch - Nigeria's Most Widely Read Newspaper 17 June 2012.