Under the Power Lines, Lives at Risk

For more than two decades, pupils of Clementine Schools in Agbado Oke, Lagos resumed each morning beneath the shadow of twin high-voltage electricity transmission lines.

Then the bulldozers arrived. The proprietress, Mrs Clementine Adegoroye, watched helplessly as decades of investment disappeared, only to see shops replace her school on the same land. The conflicting claims raise difficult questions about planning approvals, enforcement, public safety and accountability.

A Troubling Pattern

For more than two decades, pupils of Clementine Schools in Agbado Oke, Lagos resumed each morning beneath the shadow of twin high-voltage electricity transmission lines.

Parents dropped off their children, teachers conducted lessons and school activities continued without any indication that the buildings stood within a restricted corridor.

Then, one morning, the bulldozers arrived.

Within hours, classrooms that had nurtured generations of children were reduced to rubble. Desks, books and equipment lay buried beneath broken concrete.

The Proprietress’s Ordeal

The proprietress, Mrs Clementine Adegoroye, watched helplessly as decades of investment disappeared before her eyes.

Months later, she says she still struggles to understand what happened next.

“If government said my school was demolished because it was under the power lines, why are shops now standing there?” she asked.

Her question lies at the heart of a troubling pattern across parts of Lagos.

Conflicting Claims and Broken Promises

Although federal and state authorities have consistently warned that living or carrying out business beneath high-voltage electricity transmission lines poses serious safety risks, fresh commercial developments continue to emerge within some of the same corridors after demolition exercises, with millions of people operating there.

Many affected residents and business owners insist they bought land from recognised owners, obtained planning approvals or occupied properties that had existed for decades without objection from government agencies.

The conflicting claims raise difficult questions about planning approvals, enforcement, public safety and accountability.

A History of Assurance

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Mrs Adegoroye insists she did not knowingly build illegally. The 70-year-old educationist said she bought the land from a private owner who had earlier acquired it from the traditional landowners.

Before construction began, she said, she conducted a survey and obtained planning approval for both the primary and secondary school buildings.

When officials first marked the school for demolition, she said she was directed to the State Secretariat at Alausa, where she presented her documents.

Consultants later visited the property, measured the setback from the transmission lines and subsequently informed her that the school complied with the required safety distance.

“They checked my school building. It was in-between two power lines with the minimum spacing met. They assured me the building would not be affected,” she recalled.

That assurance, she said, proved worthless.

Demolition commenced shortly after the inauguration of a new chairman of Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area.

“I was not allowed to remove anything. My staff only managed to rescue the WAEC certificates. Everything else was destroyed or looted,” she lamented.

A Bitter Aftermath

What troubles her most, however, is what she claims happened after the demolition.

“After they demolished the place, they started selling it. Where my school stood, they have now built shops. I heard influential people bought the land,” she said.

A Lesson for Nigerian Youths

This story is a stark reminder that planning failures and corruption can cost lives.

A school that had existed for two decades was demolished, while shops were allowed to spring up on the same dangerous land.

The same officials who enforce the law selectively will never allow their own children to be victims of such injustice. Their families are protected.

For young Nigerians, the lesson is clear: the law is not always just. The same leaders who claim to uphold the law will never allow their own families to be treated unfairly.

Demand accountability. Question authority. And never forget that justice is not always served, but it must always be fought for.