Amphibious excavators escorted by armed policemen have roared through Makoko, Africa’s largest and most legendary floating slum in recent days, crushing hundreds of wooden shacks built on stilts above the lagoon in the heart of Lagos.
The operation is the latest of a campaign to remove what the Lagos State government describes as illegal structures and, critics say, reclaim waterfront land for real-estate development.
Residents say the demolitions which an NGO says have displaced over 30,000 people were done without warning, a claim the Lagos state government disputes.
They claimed that they were treated lesser than animals adding that three people, two of them babies, have died from effects of teargas fired by police since the clearances began two days before Christmas, three rights groups said.
With no official data available, Makoko’s population is hard to estimate, with figures ranging from 80,000 inhabitants, to over 300,000.
Its homes on stilts above Lagos’s polluted lagoon are a striking symbol of Nigeria’s urban poverty and resilience and a frequent arena in the megacity’s never-ending land disputes.
Largely lacking basic services such as power, water, and schools, Makoko is a sprawling home to low-income earners, many reliant on fishing and informal trade, and has existed for over 100 years.
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