- Title: NIGERIA: Residents of 100-year-old Makoko slum struggle to pick up the pieces
- Date: 26th July 2012
- Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SHACKS BEING DEMOLISHED IN MAKOKO SLUM VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS COMPLAINING ABOUT THE DEMOLITION VARIOUS OF DEMOLISHED SHACKS VARIOUS OF DISPLACED RESIDENTS IN THEIR BOATS (SOUNDBITE) (Yoruba) COMFORT PAUL, MAKOKO RESIDENT SAYING: "At the moment, we are sleeping in the boat with a new born baby, we also give him a bath in the boat, then we cover him with some mats. Do they want to kill us, someone should plead with the government on our behalf." DISPLACED WOMEN MOVING AROUND IN BOATS (SOUNDBITE) (Yoruba) ATEJI REBECCA, MAKOKO RESIDENT SAYING: "Fashola, (Lagos state governor) what you are doing to us is a sin, please, allow us to stay. If you don't allow us to stay, how can we work ?This is what we do to take care of our children and send them to school." LAGOS, NIGERIA (JULY 25, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BAMIDELE ATURU, LEGAL PRACTITIONER IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (English) BAMIDELE ATURU, LEGAL PRACTITIONER SAYING: "I think the grand plan is to wage war against the poor now, because don't forget, slums don't come from the blues, slums are a product of incompetence of corruption, of planlessness on the part of people that are charged with doing certain things as government. So when government now wake up and begin to say we want to make Lagos a mega-city, we want to get international awards, we want to be seen as doing the right thing, and then you begin to wage war against the people just because they are living in slums that are products of your own incompetence, and I say it again, that amounts to blaming the victims for the state of their being victimised." LAGOS, NIGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) PEOPLE IN A MARKET IN LAGOS SMOKED FISH VARIOUS OF WOMAN BUYING SMOKED FISH LAGOS, NIGERIA (JULY 25, 2012) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BAMIDELE ATURU, LEGAL PRACTITIONER SAYING: "I think the government did not properly consider the general ramification of its action and that speaks a lot, speaks volume about governance in Nigeria. You don't just wake up and take a decision that has the tendency to create scarcity of commodities." LAGOS, NIGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) PASCAL AGOSU, STUDENT GETTING ONTO BOAT VARIOUS OF AGOSU IN A BOAT GOING TO HIS DEMOLISHED SHACK IN MAKOKO DEMOLISHED SHACKS AGOSU ALIGHTING FROM BOAT MORE OF DEMOLISHED SHACKS VARIOUS OF AGOSU IN HIS DEMOLISHED HOME WITH MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY AGOSU'S FAMILY MEMBER (SOUNDBITE) (English) PASCAL AGOSU, UNIVERSITY STUDENT SAYING: "Everybody came from somewhere, Lagos state population was not as this before, ten years ago. So that means people migrated from somewhere. So, if he said we should all go back to where we belong, where we come from, if everyone should go back to their various states or villages or wherever and leave Lagos, who are we building the mega-city for?" VARIOUS OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS HOLDING A PROTEST WHILE ON A BOAT CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS HOLDING UP PLACARD READING: "50 METRES AWAY FROM HIGH TENSION, WE STAND"
- Embargoed: 10th August 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: People
- Reuters ID: LVA8S6U0Z5M3BLLJLPAI0S0XYTGF
- Story Text: The demolition of Nigeria's "floating" Makoko slum continues, leaving thousands who have called the sprawling shanty built on a top of a lagoon home for over a hundred years, homeless and hopeless.
Makoko residents, who were given 72 hours to vacate their shacks before the demolition began on July 16th, watched helplessly as officials from the Lagos state authorities brought down their homes with power saws and machetes.
The slum is said to be home to more than 100,000 people, mainly fishermen, sand harvesters and timber traders.
Many residents in the slum are migrants from other countries in West Africa trying to make a living in Nigeria, and depend on fishing as their main source of income.
Authorities say only the people living on the waterfront will be affected by the exercise and not those who have their houses built on land.
The evicted residents are now living on their canoes, which were also the only mode of transportation in the slum.
"At the moment, we are sleeping in the boat with a new born baby, we also give him a bath in the boat, then we cover him with some mats. Do they want to kill us, someone should plead with the government on our behalf," said one Makoko resident Comfort Paul.
"Fashola, (Lagos state governor) what you are doing to us is a sin, please, allow us to stay. If you don't allow us to stay, how can we work ?This is what we do to take care of our children and send them to school," said another Makoko resident Ateji Rebecca.
The government, which argues that the slum demolition is in line with the state's plan to turn Lagos into a city within a city, also says the waterfront settlement poses great risk to the people, as some shacks have been built close to high voltage power lines.
However, critics have condemned Nigerian authorities for evicting the people, saying there was no proper warning and without alternative housing arranged -- the move that has left thousands destitute.
"I think the grand plan is to wage war against the poor now, because don't forget, slums don't come from the blues, slums are a product of incompetence of corruption, of planlessness on the part of people that are charged with doing certain things as government. So when government now wake up and begin to say we want to make Lagos a mega-city, we want to get international awards, we want to be seen as doing the right thing, and then you begin to wage war against the people just because they are living in slums that are products of your own incompetence, and I say it again, that amounts to blaming the victims for the state of their being victimised," said Nigerian legal practitioner, Bamidele Aturu.
The Makoko demolitions will also affect a once thriving fishing community that supplied fresh catch to greater Lagos.
Fish from Makoko is sold to traders on the mainland, and there are fears that destroying the slum will may cause fish shortage in the commercial city.
"I think the government did not properly consider the general ramification of its action and that speaks a lot, speaks volume about governance in Nigeria. You don't just wake up and take a decision that has the tendency to create scarcity of commodities," added Aturu.
Pascal Agosu is a student at the University of Lagos and has lived in Makoko all his life. Like so many of his neighbours, he and his family have nowhere to go.
"Everybody came from somewhere, Lagos state population was not as this before, ten years ago, so that means people migrated from somewhere. So, if he said we should all go back to where we belong, where we come from, if everyone should go back to their various states or villages or wherever and leave Lagos, who are we building the mega-city for?" he said.
The Lagos government says the commercial capital is set to experience a demographic explosion over the next decade, and anticipates the population could reach 40 million from the current 16 million.
The city is expanding its roads, water-ways and is constructing several light railways to ease transport and congestion. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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