About three months since the eviction of an estimated 30,000 from the Makoko waterfront, the community says it stands firmly united to reject any forced relocation away from the ancestral home and to insist on full inclusion as the primary beneficiaries of the United Nations-supported Water Cities project.
It will be recalled that the demolition of thousands of homes and businesses at Makoko waterfront from December 2025 to January 2026 was brought to a halt through a series of demonstrations and a petition from the community to the Lagos State Governor and the Lagos State House of Assembly. Once the demolition was halted, the community was invited for a series of engagements with the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Despite demanding a stop to the demolition, immediate humanitarian assistance and emergency shelter for the displaced, and the rebuilding of illegally demolished homes, government reportedly failed to honour the request.
“Not even the most modest form of palliatives,” community members stated, adding: “Instead, we were surprised to hear the Lagos State House of Assembly recommending that our community should be relocated to an empty land at Agbowa, the far side of Lagos State.”
They added: “We firmly reject this recommendation and insist that we should remain in our ancestral home where we have lived for well over one 100 years. This is moreso our right since the Lagos State Government has announced its intention to proceed with the Water Cities project in our community.
“The Water Cities project was first invited by we, the residents of Makoko, to help put forward an alternative to demolition to the Lagos State Government. Based on our invitation, support for the project was sought and obtained from the United Nations. The idea that we, the residents and intended beneficiaries, should now be forcibly evicted and relocated so that another group of people can come to enjoy this project is completely unacceptable.
“We are aware of some statements made by some purported leaders of Makoko that would seem to welcome the proposed relocation. We state firmly and clearly today that those purported leaders may be representatives of the Oloto Royal Family, but they do not represent Makoko community. We firmly deny their statements as we make the position of the community clear.
“Thank you to the people of Lagos State, the people of Nigeria, and the people of the world who are standing with our community today as we struggle to ensure the survival of our community.
|We appeal to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Governor of Lagos State, all our elected leaders, and the United Nations to head our call and ensure a just outcome in line with our original demands – relief and emergency shelter for evictees in situ here at Makoko, the rebuilding of our homes, businesses and schools in situ here at Makoko, and a Water Cities project that can ultimately exemplify people-centered development despite all the destruction.”