Ajose Inspects Ongoing Canal Dredging at Esepe, Intensifies Olorunda Flood Control Efforts

By Peter Dansu 

The Executive Chairman of Olorunda Local Council Development Area, Hon. Ajose Peter Kumayon, yesterday, paid an inspection visit to the ongoing canal clearing and dredging operation at Esepe as the council intensifies efforts to tackle flooding across the LCDA.

The dredging operation, which commenced on Friday, is part of a broader flood control initiative by the Ajose administration to clear and open up waterways in communities identified as vulnerable to flooding.

During the inspection, Ajose assessed the progress of the work and reviewed the ongoing efforts to remove silt, debris and other obstructions that have restricted the free flow of water through the canal.

The intervention at Esepe is the starting point of a wider exercise planned by the council to cover flood prone communities across Olorunda LCDA. The administration said the objective is not merely to respond to flooding when it occurs but to take preventive measures that can reduce the risk of flooding in the future.

The canal clearing exercise is particularly significant following the drainage challenges experienced in parts of Olorunda during the recent rainy season. By opening up existing waterways and improving the movement of stormwater, the council expects to reduce waterlogging and improve drainage around affected communities.

Speaking during the inspection, Ajose reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to practical interventions that directly address the environmental challenges confronting residents.

He noted that regular maintenance of canals and drainage channels is essential to effective flood management, stressing that the council would continue to identify vulnerable areas and extend the exercise to other communities.

The ongoing operation is being coordinated by the Vice Chairman and Supervisor for Environment, Hon. Bolaji Adele, Supervisor for Works, Hon. Jimoh Amosu, and Special Adviser on Environment, Hon. Olonde Sunday.

The canal clearance and dredging exercise is part of the Ajose administration’s RE-SHAPE Agenda, with the council maintaining that proactive environmental management remains critical to protecting communities and improving the living conditions of residents.

From Esepe, the exercise is expected to move to other flood prone communities across Olorunda as the council continues its efforts to strengthen drainage infrastructure and prepare the LCDA for future rainfall.

From Dilapidated to Renewed: Ikoga Junior Grammar School Badagry Gets a Major Facelift by SCRPS

By Peter Dansu 

Badagry Today has captured the ongoing transformation at Ikoga Junior Grammar School, Ikoga-Zebbe, Badagry Local Government Area, where three school buildings are currently undergoing major rehabilitation by the Lagos State Government through the Special Committee on Rehabilitation of Public Schools (SCRPS).

A visit by the Badagry Today team showed ongoing repairs, installation of new windows and doors, and repainting of the buildings to give the school a cleaner and more appealing appearance.

The facilities were previously in poor condition, but the ongoing intervention is gradually giving the school a much-needed facelift.

Badagry Today will continue to monitor and report developments across communities in the Badagry division, bringing grassroots projects and issues to public attention.

Dainty Joe: The Maverick that Carried Gun into Nigerian Popular Music, By Ṣeun Williams

By Dr. Ṣeun Sèdẹ̀ Williams 

Within the Nigerian music industry, few artists have endeavoured to bring their community’s voice into the national arts scene as distinctly as Joshua Mihẹmide Kutọn. Better known as Dainty Joe, Kutọn was born in 1954 into the Misinayin Compound of Jẹgba Quarters in Badagry. He had his roots within the Ogu ethnic nationality, a Gbe-speaking people whose language, Gungbe, has historically been in the shadows of the Yoruba-dominated soundscape of Lagos and southwestern Nigeria.

As guitarist and bandleader of the Dainty Joe & His Fancy Brothers Band, Kutọn plied his trade as a Juju artist, the vibrant guitar-driven genre that defined Nigeria’s popular sounds especially during the 1970s and 80s. Where the most celebrated names within the space built their careers primarily in Yoruba, Dainty Joe chose a different path, composing and performing his tracks in Gun language, bringing his mother tongue directly into the mainstream art form.

That conscious choice really mattered. Badagry’s Ogu community has long occupied a marginalised position within Nigeria’s cultural life; its language and musical traditions—from Kaka, Akọhun and Gangbẹ genres to Ajogan, Masẹ and Satọ performances—sustained mostly within the community itself with little outward projection. By recording in Gun and placing his works within an internationally circulating genre, Dainty Joe did something few of his contemporaries attempted. He gave an under-represented Nigerian language a place on the vinyl, in the same rotations as the country’s biggest juju acts. His craft was supported by notable personalities of the time, including Chief Afọlabi James (who would later be enthroned as the Ahọlu of Kwẹmẹ Kingdom), Chief Gboṣe Zannu, Chief S. A. Oyerinde, and Chief Bọlarinwa Abioro (renowned music executive of African Songs Ltd. and TYC Records).

Joining Joshua Mihẹmide Kutọn in His Fancy Brothers Band were drummer Hunsa Toyọn, bass guitarist Ajọsẹ Minapọn, Joseph Kutọn and Zacco Joshua who played the Bongos and maracas respectively, as well as a few other talented acts. The group produced one long-play record in 1976 under Hasbunalau Record Company. The band decidedly kept its track titles in Gun language including: Odẹ Dagbe Wẹ Mi Joro Na Ho [‘We Want to Offer Benediction’], Gbẹtọ Mafa Na Gbẹtọ [‘Man Makes Life Difficult for His Fellow Man’], Hana Wẹ Hodẹ De [‘Hannah Said A Prayer’], Manọ Gboathọ Tho Gbẹtọ Go [‘Do Not Be Trusting in Humans’], Mausin Azọn Koro [‘God’s Works Are Enormous’], and Jesu Gigonọ Sẹvi [‘Jesus the Glorious Son of God’].

Today, Dainty Joe’s catalogue stands as much more than a nostalgic artifact for collectors of vintage African music. It is as well a documented, audible record of Ogu identity asserting itself within Nigeria’s popular culture at a moment when few platforms existed for that to happen. Decades after his stint, Dainty Joe’s music remains a point of pride for the Nigerian Ogu person, wherever he may be, a fine proof that a local voice, singing in a local tongue, could boldly hold its own within the national creative space, even if at the cost of going mainstream.

Revisiting Dainty Joe today is worthwhile both as a case in music history, collective memory and material culture. It is equally a fine reminder that Nigeria’s popular canon has always been broader, and more linguistically diverse than what currently obtains.

Listen to Side 1 of Dainty Joe’s album here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXRDCyA1tFU.

𝑫𝒓. Ṣ𝒆𝒖𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒅ẹ 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑶𝒈𝒖 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑫𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏