By Danielle Lobito
Makoko: Homeless woman with a child, after the demolition
The World Federation of Trade Unions denounced the decision of the Lagos State Government to violently demolish the Makoko slums in Lagos, Nigeria without taking any provision on creating a safe, clean and proper residence for the people who are driven into violently forced homelessness.
—World Federation of Trade Unions
Makoko: Proposed 'Venice of Africa' before the demolition
Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola and the State Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development Aremo Segun Oniru ‘unleashed’ terror on a section of Makoko slum, through the paramilitary, marine police, Lagos State Task Force and destroyed shanties on the Lagos Lagoon via illegal demolition. Over 20,000 people are currently homeless. The unlawful demolition of the slum-on-stilts led to the death of Egun community leader, Otun Baale Timothy Hunpoyanwa, who was gunned down by a policeman.
To prove the illegality of the demolition exercise, Falana argued that the 72-hour quit notice was reportedly pasted on houses at Makoko on Friday, July 20 to prevent the owners from seeking redress in court. Sadly, before the expiration of the illegal ejection order, the “Lagos State Government took the law into its hand by engaging in the demolition of houses without a court order,” he said. “This is a reckless violation of the provisions of the Lagos State Rent Control and Recovery of Premises which have been criminalised by the forceful ejection of any person resident in Lagos State without an order issued by a competent court and executed by the Sheriff and Bailiff of the court”, he fumed.
—Daily Sun
The comment of former Governor Segun Oni of Ekiti State that Lagos State Government should have provided alternative accommodation for the displaced people from Makoko was absolutely correct. Fashola used to be the best governor in Nigeria until many things went wrong. His list of reasons for displacing 20,000 out of around 100,000 inhabitants of a community that is older than Nigeria was based on flimsy excuses e.g., continuous lagoon expansion, threat to the ecosystem, flood, waste blockage, illegal structures and fraudsters using Makoko to collect international funds. Why could he not name the fraudsters or inform the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission? Why could he not compensate the sawmill owners with alternative sawmills in Lagos State if he really cared about the ecosystem? Is the Ministry of Housing not supposed to provide affordable homes for the masses?
To render more than 20,000 people homeless just because you want to transform Makoko to the Venice of Africa is inhumane and selfish for revenue generation. That was how former military Governor Raji Rasaki set the bulldozers rolling and mowed traces of poor livelihood out of Maroko in July 1990, and sold Maroko to the rich, after making about 300,000 people homeless. The end of Maroko led to a rich neighbourhood although most of the displaced ‘Marokoans’ are yet to recover from psychological trauma.
In 2010, we revealed our imaginary (Venice) transformation of Makoko, but not at the 'expense' of killing a community leader or rendering the poor homeless because we are against the maltreatment of human beings. It is not too late for Fashola to resettle 20,000 ‘Makokoans’. After all, they are human beings like him. Can the Ministry of Housing in Lagos State claim that there is nowhere to resettle these people when Lagos is one of the richest states in Nigeria? It is not fair. Oun ti'oda ko da.
The heartless Commissioner for Demolition needs more than a tongue-lashing. Eko’n baje lo (Lagos is getting worse). We have more projects that could improve Lagos State, generate revenue and create employment. It would be wrong for us to ‘release’ such free ideas because it is obvious that it could lead to further harassment and eviction of poor people. Neither would we be willing to ‘work’ with any government that has no respect for human life. Makoko demolition was barbaric and the gruesome murder of Otun Baale Timothy Hunpoyanwa by a police corporal was terrifying. We shall continue to say that the useless Ministry of Police Affairs should be closed down until 2015.
