Lagos to relocate 400 Jakande Estate residents

November 25, 2019
Tajudeen Adebanjo

Lagos State government said it would relocate 400 residents of the Lateef Jakande Estate because of reconstruction.
The estate is in Ilasan, Eti-Osa Local Government Area.

The relocation, Commissioner for Housing, Moruf Akinderu-Fatai said, will be temporary to one of the state-owned schemes which will soon be completed.

Akinderu-Fatai said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration is determined to regenerate the housing estate.

He said: “We are committed to the regeneration of Ilasan and other parts of the state in line with sustainable development goal SDG 11 which is focussed on creating sustainable and livable cities and communities.

“The regeneration programme will involve reconstruction of dilapidated structures and repair of run down infrastructures which are no longer safe for further human utilisation.

“In regenerating the estate, we will also take cognisance of access to quality education, health facilities, efficient public transportation, refuse collection services, sewage, human safety and good air quality, among other things.

“We are working with other ministries and agencies to promoting a robust neighbourhood life through availability of structures that encourage community activities.”

Akinderu-Fatai said habitation in Ilasan is dangerous and injurious to healthy living, hence the government’s determination to intervene by reconstructing the estate as soon as possible.

He explained that the decision was based on the need to set good standards of sustainability for future generations of Lagosians.

“The future of our state is very important, hence we must make the right decisions today in order to bequeath a legacy of sustainability to the generations yet unborn”.

“We are set to make the provision of housing beyond mere shelter by promoting a better quality of life through enhancing inclusive and sustainable urbanisation,” he added.

agwom:
3

naptu2:
This is the 3rd or 4th time that these people will be relocated.

In 1948, the Lagos Executive Development Board paid the Oniru Family £250,000 in order to take over a large parcel of land in Iru. It also paid an additional £150,000 as compensation for the inhabitants that were displaced and the shrines that were destroyed. Some of the inhabitants were resettled at Maroko. That parcel of land was developed by the Colonial Government and by the government of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and it became Victoria Island.

In 1990, the administration of Governor Raji Rasaki said that Maroko was unsafe for its inhabitants. They said that the area was prone to ocean surge and they gave the inhabitants an ultimatum to move out of the community. The residents took the government to court, but soldiers and bulldozers showed up one day and flattened the community. Brigadier Rasaki has since stated that he demolished Maroko because it was a den of criminals. Maroko was sand-filled and it became Victoria Island extension.

Governor Michael Otedola was left with the mess that the demolition of Maroko had created. He decided to resettle the residents at Jakande Estate and Ikota Estate in Lekki. These two estates were built by Governor Jakande in the early 1980s, but they had not been completed before he was removed from office. They didn't have electricity or pipe-borne water at that time and the buildings were not painted. The former residents of Maroko moved into the estates anyway. (Electricity was provided to the estate in 1998).


There have been rumours since year 2000 that the government was going to demolish Jakande and Ikota estates and it seems like the rumours were true.