Celebrating Nigeria’s 51st Independence anniversary on October 1, 2011 may not bring beaming festive smiles and cheers to the millions of Nigerians that have had their homes and business locations bulldozed and rendered homeless by government agents.
More than two million people have been forcibly evicted from their homes in different parts of Nigeria since 2000. Most were already marginalized and many had lived for years without access to clean water, sanitation, adequate health care or education. In 2006, Nigeria was named one of the three worst violators of housing rights by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions.
On World Habitat Day 2009, Amnesty International called for the end to forced evictions in Nigeria. A forced eviction is the removal of people against their will from the homes or land they occupy without legal protections and other safeguards.
Forced evictions are continuing throughout the country. Since 2003, an estimated 800,000 people have been removed from their homes in the capital city of Abuja. Between May and July 2008 forced evictions took place on an almost weekly basis in Lagos, with some communities facing their third forced eviction.
In April 2005, bulldozers demolished houses, churches, and medical clinics in the community of Makoko, Lagos. About 3,000 people lost their homes. They said that they had not been given prior notice, were not consulted on the planned evictions, and were not given adequate alternative housing. Some of them, including children, were beaten and injured by law enforcement officials, and others had all their belongings destroyed.
In Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state and the most populous city in the Niger Delta, wide scale demolitions were carried out along the city’s waterfronts, despite earlier state government promises that no evictions would take place.
The Rivers State government claims the demolition of the waterfronts is necessary to implement an “urban renewal”. However the plan that was the basis for the urban renewal was developed without adequate consultation with the communities affected and the plan was not made publicly available. Most residents were opposed to the demolitions, which they knew would ensue. Thousands of people were eventually forcibly evicted from their homes.
In one community, these preparatory stages for demolition were accompanied by excessive use of force by the Nigerian security forces. At least 12 people were shot and seriously injured in Bundu waterfront community on 12 October 2009 when armed security forces opened fire on a crowd of people peacefully protesting against the proposed demolition of their homes. It has been two years now, yet no serious investigation has been initiated by the Nigerian authorities.
Months prior to the assault on the Bundu waterfront community, government agents demolished structures at the Njemanze waterfront community, so that the land could be passed on to a corporation to construct an entertainment plaza. It was estimated that in the Njemanze community 13,800 to 19,000 people were forcibly evicted from their homes. These people including children, women and the elderly were left homeless and vulnerable to other human rights violations. Apparently the State government has not shown any empathy or provided justice for the uprooted inhabitants of these communities that have nowhere else to go.
