The State Environment and Sanitation Task Force forcefully evicted a whole community triggering a massive internal human displacement crisis.
Eko Atlantic City

Marina at West Point – circular road.

At nightfall in Ijora-Badia, two-month-old Joy Kalu sleeps in the open. When it’s time for the family to retire for the day, her mother, Ada, unfolds a worn out mattress, lays her baby on it, and lights up a mosquito coil.

“Is it a crime to be poor? I managed to escape with my baby when they came on Saturday,” Ada, 26, said, cradling her baby behind her back.

Last Saturday morning, the Lagos State Environment and Sanitation Task Force forcefully evicted residents of Badia East Community in Lagos.

By nightfall, what used to be homes for thousands of residents were reduced to a mass of wooden and concrete rubble.

The occupants said that they were taken unawares.

“They came around 7 a.m., gave us 20 minutes to pack out our things,” said John Momoh, 28.

“Some people were able to pack some of their things. When they started, they didn’t allow anybody to come in. I lost everything,” he added.

Homeless and helpless

Two bulldozers, accompanied by dozens of armed police officers, continued to rip through buildings into Sunday.

Three “dissident residents” were imprisoned in a Black Maria, but later released.

“Some area boys were trying to steal our properties and were fighting with them,” Mr. Momoh, who was among those arrested, added.

On most nights, Ada said that she stays awake so her baby could sleep.

“I want to stop using (mosquito) coils. It’s giving her catarrh,” she said.

For Bimbo Oshobe and her family – four children and a grandchild- there is nowhere to go.

“What do you do when you don’t have any alternative? We’ve been in this area since 1973,” Mrs. Oshobe said.

“My husband has gone to look for money from his people.”

On Monday, hundreds of the residents marched to the state governor’s office to register their displeasure with the evictions.

After a four-hour wait, Bosun Jeje, the Commissioner for Housing, came out and merely stated that they form a “technical committee” to meet with the government.

By Tuesday, the demolition squad had left, but the residents – most of them – remained, squatting near drainage channels and railroad tracks that pass through the community.

Clothes, torn books, broken torchlight and plates littered the ground.

Albert Olorunwa who spearheaded the protest on Monday said that the demolition was “illegal and callous.”

“We have nowhere to go. No food, no shelter. We have passed through a lot of agony,” Mr. Olorunwa, a former youth leader in the community, said.

“It’s a bad government. They are callous, useless government who has not got anything upstairs to offer the people,” he said.

The Social and Economic Rights Action Centre, SERAC, a nongovernmental organization that had been working with the community, said that the demolition is an illustration that “nothing has changed in Lagos since the days of military government.”

“The Lagos State Government still has no shame in carrying out mass forced evictions in flagrant contravention of international law and the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution,” the group said in a statement.

A history of evictions

The history of Badia in Apapa-Iganmu local council and their inhabitants are dotted with forced evictions.

In 1929, the federal government acquired a huge chunk of the land to build a railway.

By the early 1970s, the federal government called again, this time displacing occupants at the present location of the National Theatre, Iganmu.

However, the people were moved to Badia-East, a few kilometres away, where they had continued to live until Lagos State began its forced evictions.

“Aside from periodic demolitions, the community has, since 2005, been engaged with the federal government in planning for possible in situ urban renewal,” said Felix Morka, SERAC’s Executive Director.

On February 22, SERAC said that it held a meeting with the Lagos State Government in which Mr. Jeje “unequivocally denied” knowledge of any planned demolition.

“By the close of the meeting, the commissioner committed to raising SERAC’s concerns about the need for a more consultative planning process at an inter-ministerial meeting the following week,” Mr. Morka said.

“Flying in the face of all such denials and promises, the massive demolition and forced eviction commenced unannounced less than twenty hours later,” he added.

Speaking during the demolition, Bayo Suleiman, who led the Task Force, said that a slum existing in an area housing big industries such as the Nigeria Breweries is “not acceptable.”

“There is no way we can achieve the mega city status with this kind of slum in this area,” Mr. Suleiman said.
http://premiumtimesng.com/news/122292-how-fasholas-mega-city-policy-renders-thousands-homeless-in-badia-lagos.html

Hmmmm my dear Lagos is not a must o. Relocate Sharply.

I was passing by when i saw the demolition going on more than six thousand people renderd homeless. Is this how usa and england you people are found of comparing nigerian to was built. Is it a crime to be poor in lagos state. When I saw this people and thier children sleeping in the open i ask my self if the govt we have are just after refurbishing street light and building an utopian society for only the rich in eko atlatic city.

Akshow: Hmmmm my dear Lagos is not a must o. Relocate Sharply.

durring the abiola riot when a lot of people relocated lagos was a shadow of itself. You might understand me better if you know the period i am talking about. Besides why are we one nigeria . Apart from lagos i you ever tried to visit other state. I know you will say abuja.

Sad. Peeps have got to brace up for these shocks as they keep coming or they do have a choice? Many have argued you should just "shape up or shape out" while the reign of terror lasts. Yes poverty is a crime and a mark of not being worthy of any regard or respect. As usual there really is no need to give the affected people plenty of time or to xray other better available options than all the sudden eviction. Even a wicked judge is urged to tamper justice with mercy. On the state of Lagos that is rigidly governed by strangulating laws, I guess I may now be guilty for speaking against the impeccable govt of Lagos.

Omexonomy: durring the abiola riot when a lot of people relocated lagos was a shadow of itself. You might understand me better if you know the period i am talking about. Besides why are we one nigeria . Apart from lagos i you ever tried to visit other state. I know you will say abuja.

Frankly speaking, Lagos as we know it today is a product of collective efforts of Nigerians, not just the indigenes themselves.
'One Nigeria', a phrase that is never always true.

one of the reasons why the following is such an erroneous statement:

simply put it that lagos apart,all other sw states are slow in development due to many internal and external factors, not that the people like it that way.

Can't wait for 2015 to come !! Let's throw dis useless party from the alausa goverment house

Its very sad, very very sad.

chukwudi44: Can't wait for 2015 to come !! Let's throw dis useless party from the alausa goverment house

Yorubas will determine who govern their land not ibos.
Get that into your shaky head.

Very sad story and touching. In as much as i support Fashola's transformational policy,i think the government could have given them enough time to relocate. Order must be restored no matter how painful but these stories kinda make u wonder if these good and welcome development is moral. Emotions aside,i think it's for the great good of Lagos. EKO O NI BAJE O