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Makoko: Living on water and in danger

There are several waterfront communities in Lagos, but one that has attracted the world’s attention is Makoko, when in the recent past the state government…

There are several waterfront communities in Lagos, but one that has attracted the world’s attention is Makoko, when in the recent past the state government embarked on demolition of structures on the lagoon. The waterfront communities have one thing in common – they are predominantly slum settlements. Weekly Trust observed that Makoko community dwellers possess a high degree of vulnerability to epidemics and natural disaster due to their immediate environment. The living conditions there are in direct contrast to the state government’s efforts in the last 15 years, where billions have been spent on developmental programmes.
Makoko comprises mainly houses built on the lagoon on stilts. Although some part of the community is situated on land, those areas referred to as ‘land’ in the community are reclaimed wetlands, done with a mixture of refuse and sand decades ago. It is one of the 42 blighted communities identified in 1984 for intervention by Lagos State government in its bid to improve living conditions.  Also, under the Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance Project (LMDGP), a World Bank-assisted project aimed at rehabilitation of nine communities, the state had intervened in the section of Makoko that is on the land by making provision for borehole water, rehabilitation of primary schools, markets, building of public toilets, installation of electricity transformers and solar-powered streetlights.
One of the dwellers in the lagoon structures, Mr. Simeon Avoseh, told Weekly Trust that the LMGDP interventions is of primary benefit to the old Makoko that was on the land and not the part on the lagoon. He said, when the state government evicted some of the occupants of the structures on the lagoon last year and demolished their structures, government promised to turn the place to Venice (a floating city in Italy) of Africa.
“The state government’s efforts at improving our living conditions are yet to be fulfilled. When government officials came by demolishing structures here last year, those of us left behind were told that the government has its sights set on transforming the slum but we are still waiting,” he said.
On pollution, he pointed out that with human faeces being dumped in the lagoon, coupled with waste water, including oil wastes from generator repairers, one cannot rule out pollution of the lagoon water.
Majority of the landlords in the community are fishermen while some of their wives sell fish brought by their husbands from the lagoon. Other women seen around engage in petty trading which includes hawking food on the mainland. There is also a floating nursery and primary school on the lagoon.
Investigations into the history of dwellers in Makoko community revealed that the area first started as a fish market a long time ago, before it grew into small fishing settlements along the waterfront. Thus, the houses are built on short wooden stilts with planks and cardboard.
Over time, a number of these makeshift structures were rebuilt with cement blocks. This was after the wetland had been filled up with a mixture of refuse and sand. The initial settlers, revealed Chief John Mautin, Secretary, Makoko-Iwaya Waterfront Community, were mainly migrant Egun fishermen from Badagry, and also Ilaje indigenes from Ondo State.
“As time went on, the population of Makoko started increasing because there is high demand for fish by residents of the surrounding areas, like Ebute-Metta, Yaba, Bariga, Lagos Island, Ikoyi and other parts of Lagos. There is a ready market for the fishes caught in the lagoon by the fishermen,” the chief said.
He added that as Lagos’ population increases with corresponding demand for shelter, saw-millers brought timber to the city from Ondo State to Oko-Baba which is sliced into pieces. The closeness of Oko-Baba Community to Makoko and operations of the Oko-baba Sawmill led to Makoko’s extension.  The saw-milling activities drew a large number of people from other parts of the country to the Sawmill. Thus, there is need for more accommodation within Okobaba and Makoko because an average worker at the sawmill could not afford rent outside the slum.
As a result, this led to Makoko’s extension into the lagoon when land became scarce. Structures sprung up indiscriminately on the lagoon, clogging the waterways and posing a threat to the Third Mainland Bridge.
This continued for decades, until last year when the Lagos State government decided to pull down large numbers of the floating structures. The reason given is that the lagoon had begun to shrink on account of illegal encroachment by the water-dwelling communities. Also, there is a high level of environmental degradation at Makoko and Weekly Trust observed that refuse and human waste are directly dumped into the lagoon on a daily basis.
There is also no source of drinkable water on the lagoon, echoing residents’ mantra, which is ‘water is everywhere, but there’s none to drink’. That, they attested to the fact that most times they fetch water from the lagoon for bathing and washing of clothes while they access drinking water from water vendors or borehole operators on the mainland.   
Speaking on government’s intervention at Makoko, the State Commissioner for Information and strategy, Lateef Ibirogba, explained that government’s intervention at Makoko gave rise to the idea of relocation which was the other critical excuse upon which the state had sustained its intervention.
Ibirogba said, between the people of Makoko and Oko-baba, the state had caused an engagement about planned resettlement. “We thought, we would solve the Makoko problem like we did with people of Oko-Baba that have accepted our relocation programme. But it appears Makoko people don’t want to be relocated. That is why some of the structures built on the lagoon beyond acceptable boundaries were pulled down,” he said.
On the  Venice Initiative, he said since the earlier settlers in Makoko were not persuaded by the resettlement plan, government had come up with the idea of re-organising them in such a way that they could become sustainable as a community and in tune with modern trends. Thus, the thought of a Lagos Venice was mooted. He also explained that agents of government in the Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Urban Development have been working round the clock on the initiative as a new assignment on the table.
However, Weekly Trust discovered at the ministries that the idea required much more than the initiators bargained for.  An official of the Ministry of Environment who pleaded anonymity explained that the plan poses a grave challenge to the state government as it would also mean cleaning up the water, providing potable water there on a sustainable basis, providing waste and sewage treatment plant. “If you have human waste, you can’t empty it into the lagoon and then take water from the lagoon to drink,” the source pointed out.
With a Venice idea conceived and waiting to be delivered in Makoko, government has thus taken the decision to, within reasonable and safe limits, permit the communities on water to exist in designated areas and integrate them into the overall fiscal planning and urban fabric of the Lagos Mega City.
To rationalise their existence, government said it would restrict them to well-defined limits and introduce a phased housing, infrastructure and facilities improvement plan in consultation with the communities under a programme called ‘Houses on Water Improvement Programme’. If it ends a happy tale, then the completion of the houses-on-water scheme is not only going to burnish the beauty of the new Lagos as being envisaged, but could also generate revenue for the state as a tourist destination.

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