By Ayomide Otitoju
Amphibious excavators escorted by armed police have moved through Makoko, Africa’s largest and most well-known floating settlement, demolishing hundreds of wooden homes built on stilts above the lagoon in central Lagos.
The operation forms part of an ongoing campaign by the Lagos State Government to remove what it describes as illegal structures. Critics, however, argue that the exercise is aimed at clearing waterfront land for real estate development.
At least three people, including two infants, have died from the effects of teargas fired by police since the demolitions began two days before Christmas, according to three rights groups. Residents say the clearances were carried out without prior notice, a claim disputed by state authorities.
“They treated us like we are less than animals,” said Alex Wusa, a 25-year-old teacher, speaking to AFP from a canoe navigating Makoko’s waterways. “My house has been demolished. My shop has been demolished. Even the school where I teach has been demolished.”
While no official population figures exist, estimates of Makoko’s residents range from about 80,000, according to NGO Justice and Empowerment Initiatives (JEI), to more than 300,000, based on figures cited by local chiefs. The community’s stilted homes above Lagos’s polluted lagoon have long symbolised the city’s urban poverty and resilience, as well as its persistent land disputes, which often end in the displacement of low-income residents.
Makoko, which has existed for more than a century, is largely without basic services such as electricity, clean water and formal schools. Its residents are mostly low-income earners who depend on fishing and informal trading. Authorities have historically sought to contain or demolish such settlements rather than extend essential infrastructure to them.
The community has faced similar demolitions in the past, notably in 2005 and 2012. During the 2012 exercise, a community leader died when hundreds of homes were destroyed by a government demolition team.
During a recent AFP visit, many displaced families, including children and pets, were seen sleeping in canoes after heavy rainfall soaked their makeshift shelters. “This suffering is too much,” said fishmonger Iyabo Olaleye, who lost two houses. “The rain drenched my children, and I have nowhere to go.”
Authorities said structures within 100 metres of high-tension transmission lines crossing the lagoon were marked for demolition. The head of Lagos State’s urban renewal agency, Gbolahan Oki, said residents had been given notice months earlier. “We gave them a minimum of about 14 days, with a lot of pleading that they would move away from the high-tension lines,” he told journalists in December, adding that new structures had continued to spring up.
However, a coalition of five NGOs said demolitions extended beyond the designated 100-metre safety zone. The groups accused the government of colluding with powerful land-owning families and private developers, amid ongoing dredging, sand filling and land reclamation activities in nearby areas.
Lagos, home to more than 20 million people, has frequently expanded through shoreline reclamation to accommodate high-end developments. Weeks before the Makoko operation, bulldozers flattened dozens of houses in the Oworonshoki area across the lagoon. Officials said those buildings lacked proper planning approvals and posed environmental risks, claims residents rejected, accusing the government of land grabbing.
Lagos faces one of Africa’s most severe housing shortages, with homelessness widespread in Nigeria’s most populous city. Despite the demand, thousands of homes in affluent neighbourhoods remain vacant due to high rents. About half of Lagos State’s population lives in slums, according to University of Lagos professor Timothy Nubi.
“Even in shanties and makeshift homes, residents pay huge rents,” Nubi said, noting that some people pay the equivalent of $126 a year for a space under a bridge. He called for an alternative approach that would upgrade informal settlements like Makoko through inclusive gentrification, rather than displacing long-established communities.
