𝗦𝗔𝗚𝗔: 𝗔 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗜𝗻 𝗘𝗽𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮 𝗢𝗳 𝗟𝗮𝗴𝗼𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲.

By NigerDelta Voice

𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝘁𝗮, 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮.

Beyond the busy roads, towering buildings and rapidly developing landscape of Lagos lies another Lagos—one reached not by asphalt but by boat.

It is here, on the waters of the Lagos Lagoon, that Saga, a small riverine community in Epe Local Government Area, has built its existence around the water.

For generations, the lagoon has been more than scenery. It has been a source of livelihood, transportation and survival.

But for years, Saga also represented something else: isolation.

According to accounts published by Slum2School Africa, when its team first visited Saga more than a decade ago, there was no school in the community, and hundreds of children were growing up without access to formal education.

A COMMUNITY BUILT AROUND THE WATER

Saga is a rural settlement within Epe LGA. Nigeria's electoral records list Saga Village among polling locations in the Epe area, while geographic sources place the settlement on the lagoon-side landscape of Epe.

The community's economy is closely connected to the lagoon.

Fishing and other water-based activities have historically provided livelihoods, while canoes and boats remain essential means of transportation.

But the same waterways that sustain Saga can also isolate it.

A 2025 report by TheCable documented the difficulties journalists and development workers encountered while attempting to reach Saga. Their boat became trapped in dense water hyacinth, an invasive aquatic plant that has become a major obstacle to transportation on parts of the lagoon. Local fishermen eventually helped rescue the stranded team.

For residents, however, this is not simply an occasional inconvenience.

It is part of everyday life.

WHEN THE WATER BECOMES A WALL

For communities such as Saga, geography can determine access to opportunity.

A child living in a city neighbourhood may have a school within walking distance.

For a child in Saga, reaching essential services can mean crossing the lagoon.

A 2024 report on the Lagos Lagoon Climate Response Project noted that Saga and Oriba were accessible only by boat and that more than 800 pupils in Saga, Ejirin and Oriba received textbooks and other educational materials through the project.

The problem was therefore never simply that children did not want to learn.

The problem was access.

Also noticeable is the mysterious meeting point of two water bodies of different colours, one shallow and salty, the other very deep and fresh.

THE SCHOOL THAT CHANGED THE STORY

Then came an extraordinary intervention.

After more than a decade of work with children in Saga and other underserved communities, Slum2School Africa developed what it called the Slum2School Green Academy.

The project sought to do something that had previously appeared almost impossible: build a modern learning environment inside the remote riverine community.

The result was a school designed around sustainability.

The academy incorporates solar energy, rainwater harvesting, digital inclusion and environmentally conscious construction, with bamboo forming an important part of its architecture.

Slum2School describes the academy as more than a school—it is intended as a model demonstrating how education, environmental sustainability and community development can work together.

FROM FORGOTTEN VILLAGE TO MODEL COMMUNITY

The transformation has attracted significant attention.

At the academy's commissioning, more than 400 community members, government officials, development partners, volunteers and community leaders reportedly participated in the ceremony.

Representatives of Epe Local Government, Lagos SUBEB, the Lagos State Ministry of Education, UBEC and other institutions were among those represented.

The project has also been described as serving children from Saga and neighbouring underserved communities.

That is significant because the intervention is not merely about putting four walls and a roof over classrooms.

It addresses some of the fundamental challenges of riverine communities: education, electricity, water, transportation, sustainability and opportunity.

THE BUSINESS OF SURVIVAL

Saga's story is also a story about the informal economy.

The lagoon provides livelihoods, but environmental degradation threatens those livelihoods.

Water hyacinth, for example, can obstruct boats and disrupt movement.

Yet the same plant regarded as a menace may contain economic possibilities.

A Premium Times travelogue examining communities around the Lagos Lagoon highlighted efforts to explore the potential of water hyacinth as a resource, including its use in products and other livelihood opportunities.

This raises a bigger question:

Can environmental challenges become economic opportunities for communities such as Saga?

For a community whose life revolves around water, the answer could determine its future.

THE ROAD AHEAD

The development of Saga's Green Academy is an important milestone, but it does not mean every challenge has disappeared.

Transportation remains critical.

Waterway management remains important.

Healthcare access, economic empowerment, clean water, electricity, employment and sustainable livelihoods remain areas requiring continued attention.

The story of Saga therefore should not end with the opening of a school.

It should begin there.

Because education can produce the fishermen, entrepreneurs, teachers, engineers, healthcare workers and community leaders who will eventually transform Saga from within.

A NEW CHAPTER FOR SAGA

For decades, Saga existed largely outside the attention of the wider Lagos development narrative.

Today, its story is changing.

A community once described as lacking even a school now has an innovative educational institution powered partly by renewable energy.

Children who once had to look beyond their community for educational opportunities can now learn closer to home.

And a riverine settlement that once symbolised exclusion is increasingly being presented as a case study in what community partnership, philanthropy, government involvement and social innovation can achieve.

Saga's journey is therefore not simply the story of a village in Epe.

It is a reminder that development must travel beyond the highways and into the creeks.

For Lagos to truly develop inclusively, its story cannot only be told from the mainland.

It must also be heard from the lagoon.