Cowrie Creek Estate Residents Lament Upsurge Of Shanties 

Residents of Cowrie Creek Estate, Ikate, Lekki Lagos are worried over the increasing number of shanties springing up around the estate.

Cowrie Creek Estate, a high-end residential estate, in Ikate, Lagos was conceived in 2007 by Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Cooperative Society as a private sector-led investment in the real estate sector of Lagos state.

However, the estate residents are now expressing concerns over the upsurge of makeshift shanties built with plywoods, woods and roofed with a combination of nylons and abandoned vehicle tyres defacing its surroundings, making the environment an eyesore.

The inhabitants of the shanties have also become a major source of security concerns around the estate community.

The shanty towns, at the back of Alia, and one at Caterpillar, by Spar Shopping Mall, in Ikate, Lagos are providing their own amenities like water, toilets, security, bathrooms, fast food joints, restaurants and even pharmacy.

But activities of the thousands of inhabitants across the two shanties which lack proper drainage facilities have continued to be a source of worry to the Cowrie Creek Estate residents.

During a visit to the shanties by our correspondent, it was discovered  that some of its residents pay N50 to use toilet facilities while those that cannot afford the fee go to nearby bushes around the vicinity.

One source within the shanties said residents pay N7,000 monthly to rent makeshift houses built on water platforms;  N20,000 to buy space for building the makeshift houses while outright purchase of completed makeshift houses costs N70,000.

However, the source said the risk is on the buyer of such houses, should the government eventually demolish the structures.

Speaking on the state of the estate neighborhood, one of the  the Cowrie Creek Estate residents, Richard Dozie, said the springing up of several ghettos around the estate has worsened security challenges around the estate.

He narrated: “We have all manner of people around the shanty towns which have become breeding grounds for armed robbers and thieves. We have had incidents  of armed robbers scaling the fence of the estate and stealing from different houses. There was even one of the cases where thieves scaled the  fence and made away with two generators. The thieves were sighted from the estate closed-circuit television (CCTV) and when we approached them, they ran away”.

Dozie also narrated another incident where two people were killed by unidentified people and their bodies dumped by the Cowrie Creek Estate fence.

He said: “We feel it is safer for the ghettos around the estate to be cleared to make the place safe for inhabitants of the estate. People living in the estate do not feel safe anymore  coming home at night because of bad experiences from the neighbourhood shanties.”

The Cowrie Creek Estate which sits on about 45 hectares of land is said to have been acquired several years ago.

The land at the time of the acquisition, according to the occupants of the state, was waterlogged, but had to be sand-filled and left for some years before the development began over 15 years ago.

The estate is a residential estate with one of the best infrastructure along the Lekki corridor. To make the project a reality, NLNG Cooperative invested in Grade A access road from Palm Spring Estate to the estate. This has brought a lot of development to the neighbourhood.