In Nigeria, the Makoko slum sacrificed on the altar of urban modernization

The demolition of part of this slum built on water, the largest of its kind in Africa, is the latest operation by Lagos authorities aimed at destroying unsanitary neighborhoods to launch ambitious real estate projects.

Under police protection, bulldozers have been razing homes, schools and places of worship since Christmas Eve, leaving behind piles of debris made of wooden planks and sheet metal.

In three weeks, more than 1.000 informal buildings have been demolished and three people, including two infants, have died following tear gas attacks by police, according to residents and NGOs.

Like "animals"

According to the NGO Justice and Empowerment Initiative (JEI), "more than 30.000 people have been displaced" by the demolitions. For the residents, who say they received neither prior notice nor any relocation solutions, it's a shock.

"They treated us as if we were less than animals," says Alex Wusa, a 25-year-old teacher, from a dugout canoe in Makoko. "My house, my shop, and even the school where I teach have been demolished."

Built on stilts more than a century ago, the shantytown, lacking public services and basic infrastructure, housed low-income households living off fishing and informal activities.

Its population is difficult to estimate, with figures ranging from 80.000 inhabitants, according to the NGO JEI, to more than 300.000, according to local officials.

Makoko is one of the symbols of social inequality in Nigeria, a country rich in oil and gas, where the wealth of a few coexists with the extreme poverty of many inhabitants. According to the World Bank, more than 60% of Nigerians live below the poverty line.

The community has already experienced similar demolitions in 2005 and 2012, during which hundreds of wooden houses were destroyed and a community leader was killed.

Canoes as the only refuge

For many residents, Makoko is the only place they have ever known to live in Lagos.

On site, families have found temporary refuge in canoes, without protection against the bad weather which weakens most makeshift shelters.

"This suffering is too great," explains Iyabo Olaleye, a fishmonger who lost two houses during the demolitions and says she has "nowhere to go."

For the authorities of Lagos State, many houses had been built under high-voltage power lines, endangering the lives of the inhabitants, which explains the destruction of these homes.

But according to a coalition of five NGOs, several more remote houses were also razed.

Residents and NGOs accuse the authorities of serving the interests of an oligarchy of landowning families and private developers.

For months, several impoverished neighborhoods in Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria, have been destroyed on the orders of the authorities.

"When they demolish, do they build for those who occupied those properties?" asks Moses Oguneleye, a member of the Nigerian Institute of Urban Planners.

Housing shortage

With over 22 million inhabitants and a constant influx of people seeking employment, Lagos faces an extreme housing shortage.

According to a report by the Housing and Urban Development Foundation, Lagos will be short 3,4 million homes by 2025.

The situation is expected to worsen: forecasts predict that Lagos will become the most populated city in the world by 2100.

While informal settlements are being razed to build new residences, mainly for the high-end market, thousands of homes in affluent neighborhoods like Ikoyi and Lekki remain vacant due to prohibitive rents.

Over the past two years, rents in Lagos have skyrocketed, driven by inflation and the economic crisis, without any regulation, forcing many Nigerians to move to informal settlements or the outskirts.

Living under a bridge at exorbitant prices

Less than 10% of the housing supply is provided by the State, the rest being provided by private developers.

Nearly half of the state's population lives in slums, estimates Timothy Nubi, a professor of real estate management at the University of Lagos.

"When you see people paying 180.000 naira ($125) for a space under a bridge, you understand that there is a problem," he comments.

According to him, the authorities should favour a "gentrification" that improves neighborhoods like Makoko without displacing their inhabitants, rather than outright demolitions.