THE OPPRESSION OF THE POOR IN MAKOKO

Seizure of Makoko from the residents is unjust, unconstitutional, and morally indefensible, argues OBIAGELI ‘OBY’ EZEKWESILI

This memorandum is written in defense of the Nigerian Constitution, the dignity of citizenship, and the humanity of some of the poorest Nigerians- the poor residents of Makoko, Lagos.

Mr. President, Mr. Governor,

One, Do the poor have a right to the city, or only the rich?

Two, Is Lagos a commonwealth of citizens, or a marketplace where land value overrides human value?

Three, Does Nigeria’s democracy protect only those with means, or all citizens?

History will most definitely judge your answers not by the speeches you make, but by the actions you take following from here.

Makoko residents are not squatters on the Nigerian soil. They are citizens of Nigeria. They are preyed on by your same political class to vote for your parties during elections. They work. They raise families. Their children whose education is now disrupted are some of the most brilliant Nigerians I have met. They contribute to the Lagos economy through fishing, trade, and informal enterprise.

Yet, for decades, the residents of Makoko have been treated as though poverty nullifies their citizenship.

This memorandum is written for the children of Makoko who now sleep in the open, for their mothers clutching what remains of their households, and for a nation that must decide whether poverty- which by the way is mostly the result of bad governance – is a crime, and whether justice still means anything in our country.

This memorandum is written because a deeply troubling picture has emerged from the morbid silence that follows the heartless demolition of homes far beyond 100 meters of the power line in Makoko. All reasonable people can easily see the injustice to the victims of the demolitions and condemn this dubious State-sanctioned eviction unequivocally.

This memorandum is written to demand an immediate halt of the systematic oppression of the poor being done to the people of Makoko by the Lagos State Government, with the silence and acquiescence of the Federal Government. Seizure of Makoko from the residents is unjust, unconstitutional, and morally indefensible.

What has happened in Makoko is not about safety nor urban development. What is happening in Makoko is that individuals in authority of the Nigerian State are engaged in a vicious Class Cleansing – to banish the poor from the sight of the powerful and their rich friends.

It is widely reported that in earlier meetings with Makoko’s traditional chiefs and community leaders, officials of the Lagos State Government informed them that the demolition exercise was strictly limited to structures located within a 30–50 metre safety corridor from high-tension power lines crossing the lagoon. This was presented as a narrowly defined public-safety intervention, consistent with planning regulations around critical infrastructure.

Community leaders cooperated in good faith with this representation. However, what has unfolded since then constitutes a fundamental breach of trust and legality. Despite the acceptable distance stipulated by law falling within the 30–50 metre range, the demolition has continued far beyond those limits, reportedly surpassing the agreed metre mark and extending deep into the residential core of Makoko, engulfing homes, schools, clinics, and livelihoods that bear no reasonable connection to the original safety justification.

A human rights monitoring source cited a range of 277–522 metres from the power lines as part of the cleared area which is far past what was initially communicated.

A government that changes the rules mid-exercise, widens demolition boundaries without notice, and substitutes vague administrative assertions for clear legal authority is not enforcing the law- it has flagrantly abused power.

The incontrovertible conclusion to be drawn, is that Nigerians and the rest of the world have just witnessed a King Ahab-level land grab from the poorest of the poor by a pillaging political class that has captured the Nigeria-State. Like poor Naboth in the Bible who was killed by the wicked King Ahab to forcefully grab his land, at least four Nigerians – some of whom called Makoko their home for decades- were reportedly killed in this grand land heist by the Nigeria-State.

With the massive destruction of homes in one of Nigeria’s largest slums, the Nigerian State has shamelessly gone rogue by stealthily using administrative convenience to dispossess the poor of their meagre land assets.

Pretending to care about safety, the Lagos State Government has with the evident complicity of the Federal authorities in Abuja rendered thousands of Nigerians homeless by bulldozers deployed in the name of development, safety, and urban order and all done without compassion, restraint, or lawful care for human life.

Our Governments went from a safety claim to forced eviction of our citizens from their lands. What is occurring in Makoko is not merely a technical planning dispute over metres.

What is happening in Makoko is an undisputed constitutional failure of process, transparency, and restraint. Period.

Until the latest safety reasons, the repeated justification of demolitions in Makoko was under the banner of “urban renewal” or “megacity aspirations” and that in itself reveals a deeply troubling governance mindset. It is the classist mindset that thinks of development as something done to the poor, not with them and that the city is for the wealthy, while the poor are disposable.

A State that cannot build with its poorest citizens but can only bulldoze over them has failed the most basic test of leadership.

Global best practice rejects forced evictions. I should know. As then Vice President of the World Bank responsible for forty eight countries in the Africa Region, it was imperative for any of the countries which borrowed money for urban infrastructure projects to present comprehensive environmental and social commitment plans that are consistent with global best practices on how they would treat people in cases like Makoko.

What will make Lagos a respected mega-city is to strategically build up to the status of an inclusive city. Inclusive cities invest in in-situ upgrading, secure tenure, sanitation, schools, and livelihoods. Makoko’s residents and civil society groups have proposed these solutions repeatedly but have persistently been ignored by governments.

Painfully, the poor of Makoko have been made to pay, overnight, the price of a city’s ambition. With this latest demolition, there is a question that cannot be ignored – What does citizenship really mean if the State can destroy your home and leave you with nothing?

Most alarming is the State-created homelessness and the acute humanitarian emergency now confronting Makoko residents. Thousands of families of men, women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities have been rendered instantly homeless by these demolitions. Security forces are deployed against civilians whose only crime is being poor and visible on valuable waterfront land. Many are sleeping in the open, exposed to rain, heat, disease, violence, and hunger. Children have been pulled out of school. Livelihoods have been destroyed overnight.

The conditions of the evicted residents of Makoko is both a Constitutional and Moral Matter. This level of displacement triggers an immediate duty of care by the state. Therefore, continued silence or delay by the Federal Government to protect and care for our beleaguered citizens in the face of this crisis amounts to complicity in their suffering.

A government cannot create homelessness and then plead administrative delay. A state that leaves citizens homeless after state action has violated everything that the Nigerian Constitution guarantees – the dignity of the human person, the right to a fair hearing, and the obligation of the state to promote social justice and welfare – regardless of how it labels the exercise. The pattern of arbitrary demolitions and displacement in Makoko violates both the letter and spirit of these guarantees.

Even where governments lawfully acquire land or enforce planning regulations, international standards and basic decency require the immediate provision of temporary shelter, emergency accommodation, sanitation, food access, and protection for displaced persons. To demolish homes without simultaneously providing short-term shelter is not only callous – it is inhumane and unlawful.

I have a few demands as a citizen of Nigeria. I demand the following immediate and non-negotiable actions to correct the injustices and wrongs committed against the residents of Makoko:

One, an immediate halt to all demolitions and evictions in Makoko.

Two,public disclosure and legal clarification of the exact planning standards governing power-line setbacks, including the authority under which demolition exceeded 50 metres.

Three, immediate provision of short-term emergency shelter for all displaced Makoko families, including, temporary housing or safe accommodation, access to water, sanitation, and healthcare, protection for children, women, and vulnerable persons.

Four, compensation and livelihood support for those already displaced.

Five, a transparent, participatory process for long-term solutions developed with the community, prioritizing security of tenure, access to basic services, and protection of livelihoods through in-situ urban upgrading rather than mass displacement.

Six, public accountability for past abuses, including the use of force against civilians and by officials who authorized demolition beyond lawful limits.

I wish to sound a considered warning to our politicians in and outside of government. A nation that fails to govern well and turns around to criminalize poverty while celebrating wealth has lost completely its moral compass and teetering on the edge.

The Nigeria-State can never successfully hide away her poor by seizing their land and killing them.

Our distressed country of over 133 million multidimensionally poor people (more than 60% of our population) according to the National Bureau of Statistics, cannot be respected because we built a city that chases global prestige by crushing its poorest residents to achieve so-called “world-class” status.

With such overwhelming poverty numbers, how many poor Nigerians can your Governments, Mr President and Mr Governor evict, kill or hide away from sight?

I advice that you both think deeply about this and choose to do right by your majority poor citizens.

Start immediately with the grieving children of Makoko and their families.

It is fiercely urgent.

Ezekwesili is the

Founder, School of Politics, Policy and Governance