The ferryman of the Lagos Lagoon
Theophilus Orisha
goes about his daily task with a quiet mien. Because most of the
residents of Zion Street and environs who cross the dark, murky canal,
linking Sari Iganmu to the Lagos-Badagry expressway via a wooden boat
pay to a collector at the gate before boarding; Mr. Orisha says he has
no other business with them. And he doesn’t even make the effort.
His hole-laden
wooden contraption of a boat, in which passengers stand and are
propelled by means of a rope attached to two wooden poles at opposing
ends of the canal, has been serving the purpose for which it was built
for more than a decade, according to Mr. Orisha.
“This bridge was
built in 1972,” says Mr. Orisha, pointing to a decapitated remains of
what used to be a wooden bridge, “And it used to cross people across
the canal where they would pay at the table there. But later they said
they wanted to dredge the canal and so the bridge was destroyed.”
Mum is his word
With the throng of
passengers who cross the canal daily, Mr. Orisha says that adopting a
passive demeanour has been a very effective means of dealing with his
customers.
“Due to this kind
of job, man needs to be very patient. If not, human being will make you
to be annoyed and you would do what you don’t want to do. There are a
lot of problems here. Patience overcomes all the problems,” he says.
The nearness of the
canal to Orile bus stop, the first bus stop along the Badagry
expressway when coming from the National Theatre, implies it will
inevitably enjoy a huge patronage from the local touts in the area.
“They cannot
disturb us because we know all of them. When they cross, if they pay we
collect, if they don’t we leave them. We just make everything simple.
And like I told you, everything is patience. We don’t want to start
trouble then you’ll go and be giving police money,” says Mr. Orisha.
Organized business
The business at the
canal is quite organized – Murana Adebayo, a part time driver opens the
wooden pole serving as gate for the passengers to come into the toll
shanty; while Taiwo Adisa, an elderly man, always hunched over a creaky
wooden table, collects the fare from the customers before allowing them
to proceed to where they’d board the boat. Those crossing from the
opposite direction pays at the table before Mr. Adebayo let them out.
“No one can
estimate the number of people crossing here. When this place was the
only crossing point, more than 5, 000 people cross here daily,” says
Mr. Adebayo, keeping a wary eye on the influx of commuters.
“Some people are
afraid of passing the other side because of the way it shakes when they
are walking on it. But when it rains, no one can pass there,” he says.
The other crossing point to the expressway is about 20 metres away where refuse had been used to bridge the canal.
Though no one
collects toll at that point, some of the commuters say they prefer
taking the less than one minute boat ride so as to avoid the stench,
and sometimes smoke, from the from the refuse dump.
“That side is not
even hygienic. Apart from the smell of the refuse, you have to also
experience smell of shit (faeces),” says Bala Abuh, a resident at
Orisha Street in the area.
Mr. Orisha, whose
wife and two kids had been sent back to his native Ondo State when his
home was demolished during a road expansion last year, says he is
hoping to get a better job elsewhere since his current N600 daily
stipend is far from being adequate.
“It’s not much but there’s nothing we can do. We thank God that we
are just fine. We cannot go and steal. I don’t want to stay here for
long. I have a plan for myself and my family,” he says.
