Olusosun: Defying the odds, Lagos slum rises above filth, produces Africa’s football king

Victor Osimhen, who was recently crowned CAF African Footballer of the Year, has a truly remarkable story. He came from Olusosun, a community in Lagos known for its health hazards and dumpsite, to become one of the best football players in the world through his exceptional performances. ABIODUN ADEWALE reports on this.

As you enter Lagos from the Lagos-Ibadan motorway, immediately after the 7up Bus Stop at Oregun, you’ll be met with a mountainous dumpsite on your right.

Nothing in the dumpsite beyond the landfill points to the existence of a community or settlement.

Situated along the Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun, is the 100-acre Olusosun dumpsite, which is the largest dumpsite in Africa.

Up to 10,000 tonnes of trash are sent to Olusosun every day, with electronic debris from container ships making up a sizable amount of this rubbish. Chemicals are absorbed into the ground and toxic vapours are discharged from the location.

But there are a thousand or so houses close to the location. Some of the locals scrounge scraps from the garbage and recycle, burn, and sort what they can to make ends meet.

Due of health risks, the Olusosun landfill was initially situated outside of the city when it was constructed in the 1950s. However, since Lagos has experienced exponential urban growth, residential, commercial, and industrial structures have subsequently sprouted up all around the landfill.

Newly won CAF Player of the Year Victor Osimhen was born and reared in one of the homes in the Olusosun neighbourhood.

Football fans all throughout the world are familiar with Napoli striker Osimhen’s humble beginnings; the striker, who was raised by impoverished parents, has never hidden his hardships as a young child.

Olusosun, the community where the striker was born on December 29, 1998, has gained a lot of popularity for the right reasons since he shot to prominence in 2015, when his record-breaking ten goals helped Nigeria win their fifth FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile. This is in contrast to the community’s reputation as an eyesore and dumpsite.

Osimhen is liked, revered, and regarded as a hero in Olusosun.

Despite not living there anymore, Olusosun, the great football player, lights up the pitch everytime he scores or wins a trophy. In the last eight years, he has won eight awards, the most recent of which was African Player of the Year, which he won in Marrakesh, Morocco on December 11th, 1999, making him the first Nigerian to win the trophy since Nwankwo Kanu.

Back in the town, people cancelled their sleep to celebrate their golden kid, who had persevered in turning adversity into opportunity during his ascent to the top of the world football rankings.

The Super Eagles striker’s former home was easy to find, as neighbours easily described the narrow pathway and sharp bends that led to Anisere Street. However, the road narrowed as our correspondent visited the community on Tuesday, December 12, the morning after Osimhen’s CAF award.

Congratulatory banners from when he won the Scudetto with Napoli the previous season still lined the street a short distance from the house.

Adesoye Adeyemi, one of Osimhen’s childhood pals, appeared to be suffering from a hangover, suggesting that the night after Osimhen’s CAF award was not easy for the young people in the neighbourhood.

With a hazy voice, Adeyemi said to our correspondent, “It was a night to remember for everyone; we did not sleep until about 2am.”

He had a lot of confidence going into the CAF POTY since he had finished seventh in the 2023 Ballon d’Or. His friends back home never questioned his chances of winning.

“We have been anticipating him to be the best in Africa, and I was never any doubt about that. In light of this, we were all excited to see the event,” Fatai Bello, who resides across from Osimhen’s former home, also informed our correspondent.

Olusosun’s most visited location is unquestionably Osimhen’s former home. Jamiu Sanni, the landlord and Chairman of Olusosun Council Development Area, is a proud guy since the one-story building where the striker was born in 1998 has turned into a sort of tourist attraction.

“When he was in my living room upstairs the last time he was home, the entire village came out to see him. Here, he is adored, Sanni remarked.

Osimhen is my son, I boast everywhere I go, having been raised in my father’s home from birth. He also feels like everyone in this community’s brother and son.

During his childhood, Osimhen’s impoverished family could only afford to live in the well-known landfill, which was notorious for its strong odour, frequent fires, and thick smoke emissions.

The youngest of seven children saw the loss of his mother at a young age, along with his father’s job loss, placing him and his siblings in a world of uncertainty.

His family was faced with poverty, insecurity, and the constant worry that they might be evicted by the Lagos State Government.

Similar to his unwavering perseverance on the pitch, he never gave up.

In addition to playing football on the streets of his area and joining the young team Ultimate Strikers Academy, he kept an eye on football while selling sachet water on Lagos’s always congested roadways.

“Despite coming from a place where a lot of dreams have died, I’m the kind of person who perseveres no matter what.” I had to go out and get a life for myself as a result,” Osimhen remarked.

The family’s hardships were related by a former neighbour of the Osimhens, who went by the name Abosede.

“They were feeding from hand to mouth before Victor’s mother passed away; she was a cleaner,” Abosede stated. Though she had purchased food products on credit, she was nonetheless a very kind woman who made sure at the end of each month to pay off all the obligations she had accrued. In order to survive, Osimhen and his siblings occasionally sold sachet or table water to drivers at Ojota.

Additionally, Sanni, the footballer’s former landlord, described how the family struggled to make ends meet.

I was aware of his father’s desire for him to attend school at all costs while they were residents. He continued to play football even after his mother passed away. They were having so much trouble, Sanni added, that they were having trouble even making ends meet.

Osimhen, however, was so modest that he did errands for the majority of us. Another seller, Mama Chichi, offers food items. Osimhen did various tasks for her, such as carrying her goods and cutting the shafts out of the beans, the vendor continued.