FOR three days, the body of a young woman whose age was put at between 17 and 20 lay along Apapa-Oshodi highway.
She was discovered lying facedown on the median separating the service lane and the highway on Sunday morning.
Motorists and pedestrians who passed by were moved with pity as they looked at what was once a pretty girl and wondered what might have been responsible for her death.
It became more pitiable when it was learnt that a vehicle knocked down the young woman when she was running to escape from a gang of hoodlums who were attacking her.
Nobody knew who she was, her name, where she was going or coming from. Neither friend nor family came till the body was removed on Tuesday afternoon.
Early that Tuesday, the body of a middle-aged woman lay covered with one of her items of clothing at Oshodi Oke.
She was reportedly killed while trying to run across the highway that morning. The driver sped away.
Between Monday and yesterday, no less than 10 bodies had been evacuated from different parts of the metropolis.
According to Moses Balogun, a resident of Brown Street, Oshodi, the frequent sighting of human corpses on Lagos highways reminds him of “those days, about 12 to 13 years ago when life in Lagos was so uncertain.
“Those were the years Lagosians confronted military despotism and many people paid with their lives.
“It was common then to see bodies lying in different parts of the city.
“The political environment has changed, but shockingly, the gory sight of bodies on the highways has returned”.
Even as some wonder at how many such bodies are found on the roads, others worry that the premium the Lagos society puts on human life and dignity may have become very low in view of the abandonment of such bodies, sometimes for days.
In the past few weeks, the number of bodies abandoned on various highways within the state has been on the increase.
Sadly, such bodies are left for days before their removal.
Perhaps they were victims of hit-and-run drivers or thieves who received jungle justice at the hands of irate mobs; old, ailing people; those with unbalanced minds; victims of ritual killing or commuter bus robbers.
The bodies in diverse stages of decomposition have been reasons for bitter complaints by Lagosians.
Such citizens are asking for more efficient arrangement that would keep such unsavoury sights away and accord the dead, no matter the circumstances of their demise some respect.
Lamenting the frequent sight of corpses on the highway within Lagos, a trader at Oshodi Market, Abbas Morakinyo said no less than four bodies have been found and removed at Oshodi in the past three weeks.
“The bodies will suddenly appear beside the road in the morning with nobody to explain how it got there.
“A shocking thing is that some of these corpses are not fresh, indicating that they were brought to Oshodi from a different place entirely.
“For instance, a male corpse in an advanced state of decomposition, two weeks ago, suddenly appeared at Oshodi-Oke.
It lay there for two days before it was removed.
Another trader, Oby Chilaka said that yet another body of a male was found lying on the flyover.
“Nobody was able to explain how he died or got there”, he said.
Another route where bodies are commonly seen is Ikorodu highway, where residents and workers say it is becoming worrisome.
A banker, Rasheed Adeoke suggests more security surveillance to unravel the indiscriminate dumping of bodies on the highways, particularly at night.
Said he: “It seems that whenever a general election is approaching, the rate of ritual killings and kidnapping increases.
“Perhaps that is one of the factors responsible for the present increase in the numbers of corpses found along the highways”.
A civil servant, Yemisi Olughogi said bodies found on the highway might be people who chose to cross-busy highways rather than use the pedestrian bridges.
Said he: “Many of the bodies I had seen are those knocked down by a vehicle. “Their relatives may not know their whereabouts. Lagosians are even sceptical to offer help under such circumstances”.
Even Lagosians living on the coastline have expressed concern over the increase in the number of bodies that are washed ashore.
A resident of Oko-Baba, Ebute-Metta, Bodum Thayomi said that some of the corpses might be victims of ritual killing.
“The psychological impact of such unpleasant sight is not good”.
An octogenarian, Pa Adigun Okeowo lamented that Lagos was fast becoming a haven for gangsters where different groups foment terror.
He also blamed security agents for not investigating some of the bodies found on the highways.
“In our days, if a corpse is found, an investigation will try to unravel the circumstance surrounding the death.
“But today, who nobody cares.
“Rather, the body is removed and given mass burial. There is no value or respect for the dead any longer,” he said.
However, it is not as if there was nothing in place statutorily to remove the corpses from the highways.
The local councils whose duty it is have consistently shown their inability to do the job.
According to the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Tola Kasali, the realisation that something better structured and equipped had to take over this responsibility led the state governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu to approve the setting up of State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU) under the Ministry of Health.
“The local council whose statutory function it is to remove bodies or carcasses from highways faced serious logistic problems, which consequently led to the littering of the highway and roads with human corpses and animal carcasses.
“The inauguration of SEHMU takes care of that”, he said, adding that the recent trend does not mean that the body is not functioning.
The Commissioner also said that since SEHMU cannot be everywhere at the same time, Lagosians should endeavour to inform the ministry on time about any corpse found in any part of the state.
“I can assured that within the next 12 hours after information might have reached us, something would be done”.
According to Funmi Oyefeso, a retired railway worker residing at Papa Ajao: “I want to commend SEHMU for the work it is doing. Compared to last year or 2004, there has been a tremendous improvement.
“What is important now is communication and constant patrol of the highways by officials of SEHMU daily to discover dead bodies.”
Oyefeso also wants the Ministry to carry the local councils along in this responsibility, as the councils are closer to the people.
“A vehicle exclusively for such evacuations may be attached to the 57 local councils in the state but with proper monitoring so that they are not diverted to other uses”, she said.
To Samson Dike, the rise in the number of bodies along the highways may be blamed on laxity in operations of SEHMU and Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA).
“Last year officials of LASTMA, particularly the bicycle riders, would leave as early as 5.00 a.m., ride all over Lagos to detect vehicles that broke down or accident victims on the highways.
“They reported back to appropriate authorities, including SEHMU.
“But nowadays, it is like the thing is no more”, he said.
Dike urged that the state government should not allow the agency to falter.
“No matter what, SEHMU, LASTMA and some other public agencies have proved useful and can always be improved”, he said.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Jide Idris said SEHMU has continued to curb the public health nuisance that could have manifested on account of human waste or dead bodies littering the major highways in the state, as was the situation before its creation.
He added that about 2,188 bodies have been evacuated from Lagos roads since 2000 with an average of 32 each month.
“But at present, not less than 10 bodies are picked up by SEHMU in different parts of the state daily, which consequently might have equalled the number since 2004.
“In 2004 alone, about 1,902 bodies were removed from the roads and it has continued to increase over time.
“Although the unit cannot go round the whole state, whenever information reaches us concerning any dead body, it would be attended to immediately.
“We depend greatly on the co-operation of Lagosians to inform the Ministry on our hotlines as soon as they discover such cases”.
The lines are 123, 4979844, 4979866, 4979888, and 4979899.
Bodies removed from the roads are kept in the morgue for about two to three weeks for identification in case the families may want to claim them after which they are buried.