DEVELOPMENT-NIGERIA: 2m Squatters Threatened With Eviction

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

AJEGUNLE, LAGOS, Dec 16 1999 (IPS) - More than two million squatters in the sprawling Ajegunle slum in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, have been threatened with eviction to make way for modern buildings.

The Lagos State government two weeks ago announced plan to redevelop Ajegunle with 10,000 housing units in a project to be jointly funded by the state government, the World Bank and the private sector.

If the demolition is carried out, residents say, popular Reggae musicians like Daddy Fresh and Daddy Shokky and international soccer stars like Emmanuel Amunike, Samson Siasia, Gabriel Okolosi and Jonathan Akpoborie may for ever lose the ghetto that gave them inspirations in their respective fields.

Ajegunle is home to more than two million residents including foreigners from West Africa, and it is one of 47 identified slums in Lagos State.

John Anthonio, General Manager of the Lagos-based State Development Property Corporation (LSDPC) says the project, which will be carried out in phases, aims to upgrade the slum in which over 84 percent of the houses are not fit for human habitation.

Like Maroko, a sprawling slum demolished in 1991, the residents of Ajegunle also fear that their ghetto will be destroyed and divided among influential politicians and top government officials.

“The government wants to send us on the streetommitted suicide when all they lived for was demolished in 1991. The government wants to do the same to us,” says Innocent Chukwu, a landlord.

He told IPS that: “If the government is building the place in collaboration with the World Bank and the private sector, the possibility of our possessing the houses will be vwill be in the range of millions. How many of us has one million naira?”

“This is a clever way of taking the land from us. Most of us bought the land on lease from the Ojora Royal Family, who are now demanding full payment since government announced its plans to rebuild the area. Without full payments and our receipts, the government will not accept us as the rightful owners,” Chukwu says.

The residents have vowed to resist the planned demolition exercise.

“People are ready to die because weit. The Lagos State governor must be ready to kill all of us because we are going to resist the demolition,” says Tajudeen Adesina, a landlord.

Olayiwola Akanni, a traditional ruler with jurntion is not a sincere one. Let him (governor) leave us alone. We did not vote for him to come and destroy our property”, he says.

Reacting to the widespread outcry, Governor Bolproperty of the people as is being speculated. The present condition of Ajegunle, described in many quarters as a Jungle city, has made it imperative for government to redevelop it,” explains Tinubu.

“What we want to do is to put money into the taking any land or their property away from them”, he says.

Governor Tinubu, who has accused land speculators and exploiters of instigating the residents, has warned that government would not succumb to such threats.

To ensure that the present house owners benefitt for them.

“The government is going to assist landlords, arrangement should not be compared to what happened at Maroko.

But a Lagos-based non-governmental organisation – Shelter Rights Initiative (SRI) has suggested that Ajegunle residents be given the opportunity to upgrade the community through access to counterpart funding from the state.

“Going byeems to be in the direction of a forced eviction of the entire Ajegunle community. It appears like a ploy to grab the land of the poor and hand it over to the rich under the guise of redevelopment,” says Eze Onyekpere, Executive Director of SRI.

In a statement, made available to IPS, Onyekpere says the residents have a right to participate in decisions that affect their lives, and that neighbourhood improvements are more effective and sustainable if they are built on comevoid of intimidation and threats of forced eviction. The decision of the community after an informed examination of all alternatives and circumstances of the planned redevelopment must be respected by the Lagos State government,” says Onyekpere.

He notes that the World Bank’s regulations on relocation and redevelopment which recognises the rights of individuals and communities to adequate housing must be followed.

“For those who feel called upon to deprive others of their housing under a World Bank assisted project, must religiously and meticulously follow the bank’s procedures and due ggests that if the community and government agree to rebuild Ajegunle, the repayment for the new houses should be spread over a minimum of 25 years.