Crocodile terrorizes community in Lagos

Residents of Joshua Okeowo and Bepo Communities in Ikotun/Igando suburb of Lagos State have raised the alarm over the continued presence of a ‘mystery crocodile’ in the area.

Some of the residents told the News Agency of Nigeria on Saturday that the reptile had lived in the area for 15 years and had constantly been tormenting them.

“We are tired of this crocodile. It has been around for some time and comes out during the rainy season into the flooded streets to attack us.

“A number of residents had been attacked and seriously wounded by this animal. Only a fortnight ago, it was spotted swimming toward a school boy playing in the flood.

“If not that some adult residents rushed to the scene and rescued the boy, it would have been a different story. Honestly we are tired,” said a resident, Mr. Alabi Rabiu.

Another resident, Babatunde Alabi, said the continued presence of the crocodile in the area had made the residents live in perpetual fear.

According to him, the reptile has chosen a permanent habitat in an uncompleted building in the area, making it difficult for residents to move freely.

Pointing at the abandoned building sitting on a swamp, he said, “That is where it lives, everybody knows but nobody dares go there.

“Some people have made attempts to get rid of it without success. The animal is feared by everyone. We need the government to help us,” he said.

According to Alabi, the crocodile once lived in a nearby canal from where it swam into the community and decided to stay there permanently.

Another resident, Mr. Adeyemi Oke, said once a solution was found to the problem of perennial flooding in the area, the problem posed by the animal would be solved.

He, therefore, urged the Lagos State Government to come to their aid by building new drains in the area, into which the floods could be channelled.

The Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, who monitored the monthly sanitation exercise in the area on Saturday, said the government was already taking steps to solve the flooding problem.

-Punch