A three-year-old boy, Chibuike Uba, tragically died after falling into an uncovered soakaway in the Babarinsa area of Ibeju Lekki, Lagos State. The heartbreaking incident occurred on Wednesday while Chibuike’s mother, Utoro, was visiting her aunt. She had been packing her belongings to return to her home in Epe when her son left the room to follow her aunt, who had stepped out to answer a phone call. When the aunt returned, she assumed the boy had gone back inside, but Utoro quickly realized he was missing.
In a desperate search, Utoro noticed her son’s slippers beside an uncovered soakaway in the next compound, which had no perimeter fencing. “I immediately shouted that my baby was inside the soakaway,” she recalled tearfully. Residents quickly came together to retrieve the child and rushed him to a nearby hospital in the Sapati area. From there, he was referred to the General Hospital in Akodo, where he was placed on oxygen but was sadly pronounced dead by the attending doctors.
Utoro blamed the incident on negligence by the landlord, claiming that her aunt had consistently warned him about the danger posed by the open soakaway. “My aunt called the man and said she had repeatedly warned him to close the soakaway, but he kept promising to. Even the plank my aunt used to cover it was damaged by flood. As I speak to you, the soakaway is still open,” she said. The absence of a protective covering and proper fencing around the compound contributed to the tragic fall.
A local human rights advocate, Harmony Tachie, confirmed that efforts were being made to report the case to the authorities, as the landlord does not reside within the community and has not been reachable. The tragic death of Chibuike echoes a similar incident in November 2024, when a 10-year-old boy, Obinna Okoro, drowned after slipping into a drainage during a flood in the Alimosho area of Lagos. These repeated tragedies highlight the ongoing risks posed by poor infrastructure and negligence in many communities.
