Lisa Town: 17 years after Bellview plane crash, memorial arcade suffers neglect
Lisa is a village located in Ifo local Government area of Ogun state, Nigeria occupied immensely by the Egba people.
Residents of the village rely mainly on farming as a means of survival.
Lisa town came into limelight on the 22nd October, 2005 when a Boeing 737-200 aircraft flight 210 operated by Bellview Airlines crashed landed in the town, killing all the 117 passengers on board.
The plane took off from the Muritala Muhammed international airport in Lagos.
Prominent Nigerians like: Director of research and Documentation, former Postmaster General of Nigeria, Mr Argungu Abubakar, A director in the Nigerian Press Council, Mr. Omang Ojang, Mrs Maria Sokenu, Special Adviser to Ogun state Governor on Employment Generation, and traditional ruler, Ecowas Director Of Finance In Nigeria and a host of others lost their lives in the ill-fated crash.
Both the federal and state governments built a memorial arcade garden as a resting place for the souls of the departed.
The names of the victims were inscribed on the tomb stones of the victims to immortalize them.
The government also constructed the road leading to Lisa from Ijoko axis.
The construction of the road and the arcade brought socioeconomic development to Lisa and the adjoining towns.
This occurred during Olusegun Obasanjo administration as the President of Nigerian and Otunba Gbenga Daniel who was the Governor of Ogun state in 2005. The road was constructed by Ogun State Road Maintenance Agency (OGROMA).
Years after the incident, Lisa village was abandoned and neglected, while the memorial arcade had been left in ruins.
Lamenting the development, the traditional ruler of Lisa, the Olu of Lisa Kingdom, Oba Najeemdeen Oladele Odugbemi said the neglect of memorial arcade and the deplorable condition of the roads had brought untold hardships and affected the socioeconomic development of the town.
The Monarch while appealing to the present administration of Prince Dapo Abiodun not to forget its promise to resuscitate the moribund memorial arcade and the reconstruction of the road leading to Lisa community, said the people of the town are counting their losses as a result of the years of neglect.
Oba Odugbemi disclosed that, since former President Olusegun Obasanjo left office in 2007, the arcade had been in ruins.
“Also throughout the tenure of former Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, several efforts were made through the Ministry of culture and tourism, but nothing happened,” the Monarch lamented.
He added that, as traditional ruler of the town, he had facilitated several development projects single-handedly, when it seems as though the town had been forgotten and left to its fate.
Oba Odugbemi said, it took the intervention of the community to make available schools, police post, health center, electricity and social amenities hitherto promised by the government.
He added that, since 2006 till now, he has spent several millions of Naira to alleviate poverty in the community.
Speaking with Nigerian NewsDirect Newspaper, the Monarch said, “Lisa town is facing serious challenges on infrastructure, health and security.”
He said, “In area of security, I have spent a lot to secure the lives and property of my people by constructing offices for the security agencies, like the So Safe Corps, Vigilante and so on.
“Also, in area of health, I constructed a health center which the villagers are using.”
Oba Odugbemi stated that, the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Hon. Adijat Oladapo Adeleye had informed that Prince Dapo Abiodun – led administration “feels the pain of the residents in the area of infrastructural development”, assuring them of urgent intervention from the State Government.
Adeleye hinted that, the State Government planned to engage the services of a private organisation to resuscitate the moribund memorial arcade in Lisa town.
She also expressed displeasure at the deplorable state of road leading to the town from Ijoko-Oyero-Oluke -Lisa axis which was constructed in 2005 as a result of the plane crash, while assuring the residents of the area that the State Government would soon reconstruct the road to promote commercial activities and make life more meaningful to the community.
In view of the aforementioned, the State Government must as a matter of urgency reconstruct the road leading to Lisa town from Ijoko axis as well as renovate the memorial arcade to boost the economy of the state and also to make life more meaningful to the residents.
