Makoko - house clearances in the 'Venice of Africa'

"Everywhere in Lagos is prime land. And waterfront is always prime."


This BBC article from earlier in the year shared news of the clearance of properties in Lagos. This is an area which is a case study for quite a few schools - I wrote about it in an OCR textbook a few years back.

Makoko has been in existence for over 100 years.

Over 60% of the population of Lagos lives in informal settlements, which are prone to sudden demolition.

It's not the only area of the city being cleared judging by news reports.

There are also issues caused by nearby industrial development.

It's a reminder of the difficulty of developing a case study of an unfamiliar area, and the choices of information source that are used, which may include local news reports and news reports from other publications.

As recently as yesterday, the story has been in the local news, and there are fears for the future of "the Venice of Africa".

With little notice and no plans for alternative housing, the Lagos State government displaced thousands of Makoko residents. It claimed the demolition was necessary for safety reasons and urban renewal.
Amphibious excavators knocked homes off their stilts and crushed the fragile wooden structures, collapsing them and sending household possessions into the lagoon. The state government demolished over 3,000 homes in Makoko, with the United Nations estimating the mass evictions displaced more than 40,000 people. Before the evictions, up to 300,000 people called the settlement home.


A final reminder is to avoid using the word "slum" to describe such places... they are people's homes, and informal settlements. 

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