Lagos To Demolish 400 Shanty Homes

The Lagos State Government has ordered the demolition of over 400 shanty homes on Ilaje Lagoon in Bariga Local Council Development Area, LCDA, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.

With this development over 1, 000 Ilaje people living on water in the area will be displaced.

While on Third Mainland Bridge, hundreds of shanties could be spotted in Bariga area, portraying a very unpleasant picture about Lagos as a slum community.

Commissioner for Waterfront and Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesegun Oniru visited the area on Wednesday and was unhappy about what he saw, saying that government could no longer tolerate a situation where its waterfront is turned into a slum by the Ilajes and that they have to quit the place.

According to him, the area had been an eyesore, especially when viewed from the Third Mainland Bridge, stressing that this ugly spectacle could drive away foreign investors visiting Lagos for the first time.

He vowed that the government would demolish all the shanties at the next visit, adding that, “we have come here to warn you to leave this place; we would not come back here to warn you again.

“The bridge you see there is an international link bridge, and we do not like the eyesore these shanties are creating here, we do not want them near the bridge anymore. The entire area has been bastardised with shanties in the water and we would remove them if you refuse to move.”

The commissioner stated that the government had told the dwellers to vacate the area long ago but that they refused to move, saying that in view of the insecurity in the country, there was no way they could be allowed to remain on the Lagoon.

“We are here because of the ongoing security problem that we have in our state today. If you look around, you would see law enforcement officers, they are here to help and enable us clear the eyesore you are looking at behind me.

“Those shanties on top of that water have no street address for anybody, so the state government is here to warn them to move from the water body because we are coming to clear all the shanties on the water bodies. Be it on the water and along the water front, the state government is here to make sure that people don’t live like this anymore.”

On the possibility of relocating them, Oniru said that there were no plans to assist the dwellers relocate to other areas, saying, “Why will you relocate someone that is not supposed to be in this area in the first place? There are people here along the water front, they are not supposed to be here; they should move away from there and I don’t believe that a plan should be put in place to relocate them”.

He said the State had a master plan for the area as well as other waterfronts in the metropolis, adding that the government would carry out similar exercise to demolish all shanties on its water bodies.

“There is a plan for the entire area not just this Bariga area in isolation, but the entire waterfront that spans from this area to UNILAG, Ebute Metta and beyond. Government has plan for it, but until that plan is solidified we can’t start speculating what it is.”

“This is not the only area but we have to start from somewhere. This is the eyesore you see when you climb the Third Mainland Bridge from Ikeja to Victoria Island and really, anyone that comes into our country, be it an investor, private or foreign; once they climb the third mainland bridge, this is the first thing they see and I don’t think it speaks very well for the state and for the country”, he stated.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga