THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2013
29
SOUTHWEST REPORT
An activist in Govt House •Continued from page 28 clined and the governor took Fanta. When Fayemi spoke, he thanked Abba for asking that question and began to talk about how compromises are important in politics. He said the challenge with civil society is the generalisation that everything government is bad. He called attention to the fact that most of the ‘rebel governors’ were the shining stars of PDP. He said many of them have progressive credentials and they will not have any challenges imbibing the clear democratic markers of the APC. “We have a primary responsibility to rescue this country first, and when we are in that kind of situation, you have to look for like minds and work together to save the country. We have no choice in APC but to set clear markers in our party manifesto so that we can win the trust of the people. The governors who just came in have distinguished themselves in their states. So there is no problem at all about the merger, it is for the best of the country.” There was heartfelt applause after this speech and someone asked if the governor thought he has won the heart of the Ekiti people. “If you go around asking about me, people will say yes, he’s a good man, he’s building roads and infrastructure. Things are moving but he doesn’t share money,” the governor said amid laughter. This is what he called stomach infrastructure. He said he has been able to eliminate the distribution of the commonwealth of the people to certain interests at the expense of the masses. “I don’t have money to dash to people and that’s not very popular. But I share money in a different way, you don’t have to know me to get your share or do baba rere, two fingers in the air before you get your share. The social security safety net is part of it and that is why they call me Oko Arugbo,” the governor said. Ojo wanted to know what Oko Arugbo meant, he must have given it more seriousness than intended. The governor gladly explained. The governor also chided his colleagues: “ We need to stop this puritanistic approach that everything government is bad and everything civil society is good. We should partner and not build Chinese walls between us.” It is amazing how much the governor still know about the civil society, who has moved on and what another is currently doing. It was apparent he had kept a tab on them, monitoring their activities. He told them: “You need to focus on local resource generation because when you rely on funding from outside donors, you only do what they want you to do and not necessarily what is good for your country. Let your campaign be issue based and partner with the government for development.” The dinner ended at 9:pm and the activists took the time to take photographs with the governor who, despite his tight schedule the following morning, was humble enough to accede to every request.
Tackling emerging health issues in a potential megacity
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YINDAMOLA Ademola, an expatriate, moved into Lagos on transfer from one of the Western states. He was able to secure an accommodation with ease. His house is bounded by a school on the left; a worship centre is in front while an event centre is on the right side. Oyindamola found it stressful resting during the week when he comes from office early due to the clatter of the pupils in the school. The incessant call to worship by the worship centre won’t allow him relax, as well, even at night due to their vigil. He does not look forward to his weekend with excitement because of the activities of the event centre. He thought Lagos is a megacity, a sort of Eldorado. But his three months experience does not prove that. He is not the only one exposed to such nuisance as even public facilities are not left out. Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital, for instance, is squeezed in between a stadium and a private hostel, with a boarding school. A worship centre is also in its front. The patients do complain of insecurity, because should fans go wild after a sports event, they can burst into the hospital’s premises and wards. The road to the hospital is narrow and emergencies are atimes delayed from coming into the hospital’s premises promptly. The hospital’s management is considering requesting that the road be turned to a one-way lane. Orile Agege General Hospital, Oke Odo, is also sandwiched between an expansive church building and high residential buildings. The generator sets of residents run almost 24 hours for seven days of the week. The noise and fumes of the sets disturb the patients endlessly. These hospitals are not the only victims of the stressors - noise and fumes – from generator sets in the city of Lagos. Residents by and large are at the receiving end. Not only of these pollutants, but of other things experts describe as stressors, such as uncontrolled traffic, chaos
By Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha
at open markets, moving of cattle in the dead of the night on roads, harassment bytouts and hoodlums and unsolicited cleaning of cars’ windshields by urchins, amohg others. The list is endless. According to experts, in mental health, stress is a part of everyone’s life and natural activation of the body’s stress-response system gives you extra strength and courage to be alert and stay focused. However, chronic stress can threaten your physical and emotional well-being and trigger health problems, such as anxiety disorder, depression, sleep problems, diabetes, heart disease, digestive problems and many psychosomatic illnesses. As part of its effort to make Lagos livable, the state government has held a conference to examine the implications of attaining a megacity status as well as focus on the health and social issues that characterise a megacity. The conference tagged The Livable City; Preparing for the mental and social health needs of the Lagos Mega City drew participants from the state’s Executive Council and other policy makers Lawmakers, city planners, journalists, public opinion leaders, leaders of private industry, leaders
in the health, education, environment and social welfare sectors, religious and traditional leaders, as well as members of the general public were there. Commissioner for Health Dr. Jide Idris speaking on the objectives of the conference said: “We are focusing on topics such as Society and Crime, Mental Health Services in a Mega city, Environmental Psychology: The interface between our environment and us; Social services and welfare - the role of the government.” Idris noted that the objective of the conference was to learn from the experiences of other cities that have faced the mega city and rapid urbanisation challenges, stressing that the deliberation of the conference involved participants taking stock of existing health and social infrastructure for dealing with the emotional well-being of citizens, critique of the plans and structure that are in process, and charting a pathway for development that comprehensively addresses the problems. These could be said to have been achieved at the two-day workshop involving sociologists, psychiatrist, psychologists and other social scientists. It is expected that a document with a multi-sectoral strategy for integrated development of mental and social health needs of the Lagos megacity would be pro-
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It is hoped that the implementation of deliberations at the conference will help chart a positive and realistic course towards making the evolving megacity of Lagos one of the most livable cities of the world
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duced soon as an off-shoot of the conference. Idris explained that Lagos as a megacity faces some unique challenges, such as a relatively tiny landmass and a clustering of the population which leads to density of up to 20,000 per square metrr in the metropolis and 4,193 per square metre in the whole state. He said: “The rapid urbanisation and general infrastructural developments in communication technology, transport networks and expansion of educational and employment opportunities in public and private organisations are among measures that are designed to improve the quality of life of the people. ”The health facilities and scope of services offered are being expanded at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and private sector involvement in the health sector is being fostered through a variety of government initiatives.” The Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adesina, said one of the major sociological challenges posed by a rapidly urbanising environment like Lagos was the wide variety of stresses placed on the society, adding that the effect may be logically anticipated to deepen and expand needs for social and psychological services as well as to create new needs and demand the creation of services that were not previously necessary or anticipated. She said: “The conference has afforded the state government the opportunity to have a clearer understanding of the emerging issues that come along with a megacity and how to implement short-term and long-term improvements in livability, in an emerging megacity like Lagos. ”It is hoped that the implementation of deliberations at the conference will help chart a positive and realistic course towards making the evolving megacity of Lagos one of the most livable cities of the world,” she said.