We have had stories of devoted dogs who sit by their master's grave till the end of the dogs' lives and there are a lot of services rendered today by dogs to humanity.In the same veing, Pastor Jacob Isaiah of the Later Day Pentecostal Church along Idoro Road in Uyo said he is appalled by the idea of eating dog meat.'People who eat dog meat only use such excuses to deceive themselves that what they are doing is right. 'Besides, I cannot eat dog meat because dogs are supposed to be seen as pets,' he says.Another dog-meat eater, Uduak Awa, a civil Servant from EtimEkpo local government area of the state says he was introduced to the cuisine years back as a cure for malaria.Despite the raging controversy over the propriety or otherwise of the consumption of dog meat, the unrelenting eating of the meat has triggered an astronomical rise in the cost of the animals. And, the dogs are brought in like cows and goats form the Northern part of the country andsome parts of the South West.However, findings show tht the dogs from the Northern part of the country, are bigger in size and are more expensive than their counterparts from the South-West.For instance, while the ones from the Northern states like Nasarawa and Kano cost between N19,000 to N20,000 those from Lagos are cheaper and go for between N9,000 and N12,000.But the Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital Professor Etteh Peters rejects the extra-ordinary medical benefits ascribed by dog consumers to the animal.'Dog meat is not any different from any other meat. The claim that it cures malaria is definitely not true.'It cannot also be true that it boosts human immunity either,' he says.He explained however that eating dog meat is a question of choice like eating any ordinary meat.'I hear that some tribes eat snakes and lizards in certain parts of the world. But I tell you, anyone who says that dog meat cures malaria or any disease is just joking; there is no truth there whatsoever,: the CMD said.At 'University of Thought' the major recipe for preparing dog meat consisit of pepper, onions, palm oil, and local gin known as Ufofop and scent leaves locally called Ntong and another known as Odusa. The meat goes well with boiled plantain, palm wine from the villages or chilled beer, which counters the pepper in the delicacy.At the university, a plate of dog meat goes for N100, a deliberate sales strategy to maintain its customers and attract new ones as opposed to what obtains at other joints whose prices range between N200 and N500 per plate. However, the head of the dog is fixed at N500 in almost all the joints because consumers claim that it contains more meat and its more tasty than other parts of the animal.But the method used in killing these dogs would make an animal-rights activist cringe. They are either strangled by an iron noose permanently attached to a wall or simply clubbed to death.This notwithstanding, dog meat has attracted a growing population of ardent consumers in the state, who are like worshippers of a cult or something of the sort in recent years and they are not about to chicken out of the practice that keeps their jaw wagging and gives them happiness at least momentarily.As it is, what others consider as poison in dog meat in other parts of the country is taken as a way of like in AkwaIbom State where the meat is eaten proudly by those who matter in the social and political spheres. Dog meat has been in hot demand for ages in the state and no one seems to be ashamed of eating it. Like a bond that binds, the three major tribes in the state ' Ibibio, Annang and Oron, relish in the art of dog consumption as a way of life. The only difference between the old days and now is that dog meat is getting more expensive than it was some years ago, due to the ever-increasing demand by consumers, who cut across the different strata of life.While normal universities offer courses on virtually all aspects of human life, the dog university on the other hand, continues to explore ways and means of preparing its dog meat in a way that no other joint in the state does.And whereas its counterparts solicit for students and other services through the mainstream media, the dog university in Uyo, relies heavily on the testimonies of its clients to bring in more customers daily.Arising from the ever increasing patronage that it has been enjoying over its competitors 'university of thought' has become a household name particularly among the male students of the University of Uyo and other institutions in the capital.As the dog joint elicits more attention and goodwill it has unconsciously created a cult of followers whose days are hardly complete without going to the 'school' to 'reflect' on contemporary national issues over a plate of spiced dog meat, fresh palm wine and chilled beers.The population just keeps growing because of one controversial animal: dog, which is seen by many as a friend and a foe by others.'x) 'The Moment On Sunday' newspaper (October 30, 2011)Headline: 'MAKOKO, WHERE PEOPLE LIVE AND DIE ON WATER''Gbubemi God's Covenant Snr tours an unusual community of hundreds of thousands of people dwelling in makeshift buildings of planks, bamboos and rags erected on ' wait for it ' the sea !'The houses are not as small as they appear when viewed from the Third Mainland bridge as you drive in or out of Lagos Island. But it is not what you expect. In reality, what you see is actually a thriving community with streets, avenues, and crescents, bubbling with hawkers, restaurants and bars, churches, schools (for want of a better name), a maternity centre, as well as herbalists and witch-doctors; all floating on the surface of the sea!Welcome to Makoko, a community worlds away from the world you know; it is a two-fold community in the Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State, comprising the Mainlanders and the Sea Dwellers.You wouldn't know what this place is until you stoop over at Estate bus stop, by the shore of the sea, as you head for the 3rd Mainland bridge. As you cross over to the left, to the areas called the Mainlanders, you're in a different world starting with a beehive of activities in a community of woodworkers, comprising saw-millers, timber traders and women and children packaging and selling waste planks to the huge firewood market. This segment ofMakoko is a working community of woodworkers, male and female of all ages. Pretty ladies and young men in their prime living in makeshift plank houses work round the clock among sawmill dust and waste. The stench of this environment will make a first timer gasp for clean air.Behind them are the Sea Dwellers, a large fishing community comprising indigenes of riverine communities from Togo as well as several riverine Nigerian communities such as Ilaje, Epe, Awori, Ijaw, and others from Rivers and Delta states.When the baale put the population of this community at over 800,000 it sounded like a gross exaggeration until 'The Moment on Sunday' had a feel of the place in a three-hour boat tour of the floating village. A marvelous and striking place for sight-seeing. Each house, rickety and shabby to a city dweller, is a massive explosion of children and adults with infants, adolescents and young men and women on the higher scale. The people must be as fertile as the fishes in the sea under them.Kuto George, a Togolese builder holding the title of OsiBaale, is one of the chiefs of Egun migrants in Makoko community. Holding brief for BaaleAyinde who was not available at the time 'The Moment On Sunday' visited, Kuto said that the only surviving one among their forefathers is Baba FunyemiAwude from the Egun-speaking part of the Republic of Benin who is now the head of all the leaders of the different segments of the community.He was one of a number of fishermen who came from the Republic of Benin over 100 years ago and were later joined by others, among them traders, wood-workers and craftsmen.Mr. George, a builder, said he did not know of this kind of makeshift houses dotting the waters until he came to Lagos in 1972. He got married six years later, to one of his native women and has dwelt here ever since.His time has witnessed visits from missionaries who come at different times to distribute provisions and bedding materials as well as medical missions that run medical tests on people in the community and other free medical services, including immunizing children from ages one to five. There have also been visits from some churches who distribute foodstuffs, peanuts, tin food and such like.This, according to George, has been very helpful because they have a great number of children in the community. Virtually every other day, a woman delivers a baby, sometimes babies, he said.On the rumoured threat of government's determination to evict them from the place without a plan for relocation, Goerge said: 'We appeal to the government of BabatundeFashola to help us. We Egun people who live on timber work, and the Ijaws and others on the water surface all work and dwell together peacefully. We are happy and satisfied, but we want government to build us both primary and secondary schools. We also need bore holes to give us drinkable water. We buy water from private boreholes for now, and it is not enough. We don't have hospitals, not even a dispensary.'The most important thing we want government to help us with is public toilet; in this whole community there is nothing like toilet; everybody empties his or her bowel inside the same water on top of which we live.'When it rains heavily, there is tendency for the river to over-flow. But, then, how is this place when the river over flows its banks''It doesn't pose any problem to us because no matter how much the water level rises, it goes down within a short time,' George said.EducationWhite missionaries built a school for this riverine community with planks and zinc. They also have another school where some residents who care to learn French language are given lessons. However, no teacher is interested in teaching in Makoko shanty floating schools, neither are the people interested in the rigours of Western education. As a result, 'The Moment On Sunday' could not find one literate resident in Makoko except, perhaps, the tour guide who managed to communicate in a form of pidgin with some manageable English.PopulationThe surging number of infants and toddlers indicates that these fishing families are as fertile as the fishes underneath them. Almost every woman one sees is carrying a baby, and some are pregnant while still nursing a little one. It is like after a good fish meal the next thing is making love and one wonders where they do it in these shanty homes overflowing with children of all ages.Perhaps, living on the water surface has something to do with their procreation as wise King Solomon said: 'If two lie together they will generate heat and be warm on a cold night.' The guide puts the number of an average family in Makoko at between eight and 16 children, some as high as 22 comprising infants, toddlers, adolescents and young men and women. As you're reading this, a couple is making love inside these shanty houses and the darlings are getting pregnant by the hour. As a result, children are being born almost on daily basis.Health careThe people may be living below the poverty line, but they certainly present a picture of good health and radiate happiness, with their young men looking like stallions and very much at home with their environment and loving every bit ofit. They have recreated every activity on the land and translated it to the rhythm and style of the sea, even taking a stroll, except that where people walk on the streets or move from one house to the other they paddle in their canoes, instead of walking.They don't have much need to spend money like the highlanders. They do spend, of course, on buying those things they cannot extract from their host element, the sea. The abundance of fish in the water provides them with all their resources; they have fish they can sell and buy all their needs.Their good health is a wonder because the air is not as pure as it should be , especially on the shores where the Mainlanders dwell amidst saw-millers and hundreds of families packaging and selling woods in that environment before you go into the floating community. Surely, if a city dweller spends a night here there is every likelihood that he or she will wake up sick . The sea water they dwell upon which health authorities would frown at anyone using, they wash and bath in and some even cook with it. Somehow, the death rate is low and when anyone dies, he or she is finally separated from the water; as the corpse is usually buried in the nearby Atan cemetery in Yaba.As in every society of this age, sexual promiscuity is rife in Makoko. Children born out of wedlock are as many as those born by legitimate marriage. The moment a girl is found pregnant, the man responsible could be easily located, and the question of denying does not arise, because everyone knows everyone else and no two can copulate without the community taking note. And when it happens, the pregnant girl is led straight to the boy's family house, and she stays there while the two families sort things out. But difficult cases would sometimes require the Baale's intervention.Makoko community on water presents a picture of a fairy tale village where every human activity is done sitting or standing in a locally carved canoe; no family here is without a number of canoes of their own. In Makoko, canoes are essentialsince they are the principal means of transportation.On Olulu Street, for example, one could see the sea floating under the wooden floor in the home of the herbalist the correspondent interviewed. Everything there stank of poverty and deprivation; rags make up for roofing in many of the houses. But take away the poverty and rickety shanty houses, the riverine community, with planks anchoring each house from floating about, is a beauty to behold.Passing through streets like Upolo, Igbehinadun, Eredua, Adetia and Okoagbon, there were scenes of hawkers paddling their wares in their boats; the Yoruba tradition of hawking every domestic item from pepper to plantain, peanuts, palm oil, detergents, raw and cooked foodstuffs, and, of course, smoked fish, their most favourite food.Children as young as five were seen strolling around the neighbourhood in their boats; moms and children paddling their jerry-cans to buy water from the few boreholes somewhere in the community. Just as you see food vendors hawking their eba, amala, rice with water on their heads, walking from street to street, here you see vendors paddling all in their boat along the streets. People relaxing in their homes would call out for what they want and the vendors would manoeuvre their canoes with ease to the house and transact their businesses. Boys are seen drinking tea or pap while the vendor waits patiently in her boat; another measuring gari out to a customer.There was a wonderful sight on a major street where the maternity centre is located. Children and adolescent female and male residents were seen swimming in the street. While the older ones swam quickly to their homes upon sighting the visitors shooting away, the children swam leisurely, enjoying the beauty of nature. Many hawkers and residents protested being photographed, so 'The Moment on Sunday' had to make a deal with a woman frying yam over the fire she packaged neatly in her canoe, as she paddled from street to street, to take photographs.The family opposite the maternity on Isosan Street had a native Togolese music blasting from an amplifier, as the family relaxed in their compound while the kids danced away under the clear blue sky. Such is the beauty of a people at home with nature.Community herbalistTaiwo Lowe from the Republic of Benin is the Apena of Makoko. He has been the community herbalist and diviner for 12 years. The middle-aged man fits in well with the people in the absence of a medical dispensary or modern clinic in this densely populated river-community. He combines his herbal medical practice and divination with traditional birth attendance. The local women have more confidence relating with him than going outside their floating community to town where they will spend money they would rather keep for their daily domestic needs.Lowe's house is one of the shabbiest, so much so that one wonders where child delivery activity takes place. That notwithstanding, he has lost count how many women he has assisted to give birth in the last two months.In his deep Egun dialect combined with Yoruba, he sends an appeal to the government of Lagos State: We need government to help us here. Just like they have put health facilities on the land let them also give us some facilities here. We need government boreholes to give us clean water; we need schools for our children and we need electricity in our homes.'Married to two wives, the herbalist has fathered eight children thus far and he says he's just beginning. He holds the chieftaincy title of Aare Basegun and is preparing for another chieftaincy title called OluOgboni, which is synonymous with the Ogboni fraternity. According to him, money has been holding back the initiation to that title for some time, but he is saving towards it. One could imagine a herbalist in a community like this saving up money he makes from women who cannot control their fertility only to put it into some chieftaincy title.What could pass as a modern clinic and maternity home in Makoko is a 12-bedroom plant floating clinic and maternity home complete with a labour room and normal in-patience and outpatient wards with the doctor's office complete with hospital shelf holding patients' cards. The banner proclaims: Minangan Clinic/Maternity Centre (House on the Lagoon) Yaba, Lagos, but the operational address is 17, Minangan Street, Makoko, Minanga, in Egun dialect, means that a patient that manages to reach the centre under whatever condition will not die but be healed.The founding doctor is Alfonso Kuyonu, 52 years but looking very much younger, from Amope village in Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State. He said that he was in Makoko for a long time before he saw the need to undertake a course in traditional birth attendance, among related skills.His words: 'I was here long ago before I went for training in traditional birth attendance in Cotonou.There was no hospital here before. When I came back I went to see Dr. Amabibi whose hospital was in Church Street on the mainland. He agreed that I should construct this maternity centre to work in conjunction with his hospital. He used to supervise our work here until he took us to the local government office at Adekunle where they registered us and gave us approval to operate this centre under their supervision.'Government of Lagos State also uses this centre for immunization of children in this community; they equally give us vitamin drugs for patients and nets which are very useful for the people living here.'The centre has been running for 12 years and handles large cases of malaria and many other water related diseases. It is also the people's first choice in child delivery, because it is spacious, with a standby generator and a good stock of drugs. On a few occasions when delivery develops complication it is referred to Dr. Amabibi or Dr. Subairu on the mainland.Alfonso has everything he requires to run his centreexcept potable water, which his patients buy from the Mainlanders. The Tiger generator in the centre was donated by a missionary who visited last year. Alfonso attributes the success of the centre to God's mercy and says for that reason he keeps the charges to the lowest minimum possible.'We do not charge much money as they do outside because we set up this place as a humanitarian centre. The Egunpeople don't have much money, as you can see the way we live here. We charge an average of N2,000 overall for ante-natal and child delivery. Other ailments cost less, sometimes as little as N100.'Because the centre is on top of water and catering for a very large clientele mostly children and pregnant women, Alfonso sends an appeal to the state government.'We want government to help us with drugs and injections from original sources; though we buy from the market, we need government to help us with facilities like beds, BP testing materials and other hospital needs. We also need borehole water to help our work and other things.'He is grateful to some missionaries who visit the community occasionally and the donations they make to better their lot in Makoko. Alfonso is married to two wives and is a father of eight children. The senior wife, 36-year old Ajoke, is pregnant with her fourth child.
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