Shanties in a Lagos lagoon: Bulldozed and burnt

A mother of five, Anna Sobie’s wooden home is one of many that has been demolished in a shanty town in a lagoon in Lagos, with critics describing it as a “land-grab” by the authorities to gentrify the prime waterfront spot in Nigeria’s biggest city.

Lagos State government officials deny the allegation, saying they are demolishing parts of Makoko – the country’s biggest informal waterfront settlement – because it is expanding near high voltage power lines, posing a major health and safety risk.

Sobie and her children now sleep on the narrow broken platform where their house stood until a few weeks ago on Lagos Lagoon. This is the biggest of 10 lagoons in a mega-city that is facing an acute housing crisis – and where life is becoming increasingly expensive, pushing more people to the margins of society.

As Sobie spoke to the BBC, canoes – steered with paddles or long bamboo poles – moved through the narrow waterways, carrying mattresses and sacks of clothes belonging to the displaced people.

Residents say the demolitions began two days before Christmas, when excavation teams accompanied by armed police moved into sections of the waterfront settlement facing the Atlantic Ocean.

In a joint statement last month, 10 non-governmental organisations said that “armed thugs, security personnel and demolition teams with bulldozers descended repeatedly on the community” to tear down homes, and burn them.

“Homes were set on fire with little or no notice, in some cases while residents were still [inside],” the NGOs added.