When American missionary and science teacher, Jack Kyle, arrived in the mega slum of Makoko, Lagos in August 2023, I doubt if he ever thought that one day, his love for slum dwellers and the underserved would never find expression in the area, at least not among the tough-skinned ones living on the dirty lagoon at the backyard of the Ebute Meta area of the mega city. Sixty-year-old Kyle, who left his family of five children and lovely wife in Manhattan, Kansas, United States, didn’t settle in Makoko because of his love for the ghetto, but to be able to add positive values to the lives of these strange fellows in their ‘natural habitat’.
Apart from building a ‘house’ that cost about $4,000 in the community for himself and other volunteers, the American missionary, who defied the opposition of family members back home to embark on this treacherous journey, ensured that, from rainwater, he was able to provide clean water for some residents using solar power. He equally had plans for aquaculture and sewage-to-menthane gas, among other utilities, ignored by the relevant authorities.
At a time in the past, I wondered if the throng of willing donors never had any other locations, orphanages and struggling public schools, apart from this waterfront ghetto, where their supports are much needed both in Lagos and beyond. The little contributions of Kyle and several other Nigerians – individuals and organisations – in helping the slum dwellers in Makoko have sadly gone down the lagoon, where the residents and landlords once had their log houses.
Some years back, a few heads of a few organisations truly took the support of their organisations outside Lagos in order to reach out, no matter how little. A financial institution with its headquarters in Lagos ‘adopted’ a private school in Abuja where the organisation pumped in money like water from a big tap. It wasn’t until the school was involved in a big crisis that the undiscerning minds among us knew that the school actually belonged to the Oga Patapata of the organisation which had adopted the school. A few years later, the chairman of the board took a loan of N120bn to buy a Disco that the Goodluck Jonathan government put on sale, and of course, refused to pay back. And you think such an organisation wouldn’t go under?
Do you equally want me to tell you about the ‘adoption’ of the private school of the late wife of a living former military president, where the Niger State Government paid the salaries and other expenses of the private institution for years before such brazen impunity was discovered? Could it be because the founder of the school had died? Nigerians love to help in wonderful ways, you know! Let’s go back to Makoko for now, please.
Ever since I noticed this curious settlement from the vantage view of the Third Mainland Bridge, I never ceased to wonder if real humans actually lived in those shanties until it became clear that all manners of fishermen – Ijaws, Beninese, Ghanaians, and their families – had their abode in the Makoko floating slum. You will be dead wrong if you believe the massive ghetto housed fishermen alone. There were schools, a big orphanage, churches, and others, mostly established by private individuals, charitable groups, corporate entities and organisations.
While the location was conducive for the occupation of the residents and providing contents for local and visiting bloggers, it had long been an eyesore. So, the end of this kingdom, if it hadn’t been foretold by some of our self-styled prophets, had been long in coming. The inevitable end came in January courtesy of its demolition by the Lagos State Government, which is not in any way new to demolitions and land reclamation by the way.
In some other parts of the world, pets (and other animals) almost have the same right to life and decent living as their human owners. Imagine driving on a highway (not Nigerian highway o), and you are warned of ‘deer crossing, apply caution’! God helps you if you are unfortunate enough to run into any deer. Imprisonment or deportation beckons or both, depending on your immigration status. In broad daylight, some squirrels deliberately torment your imagination as they playfully jump from one tree branch to another and sometimes take over a small field by your residence. May God deliver you from those deadly thoughts you are entertaining at the moment – in case you are thinking of breaching their ‘animal’ rights.
In our dear country, however, the case is different for a simple reason. We tend to act before we think about the consequences, no matter how fatal the outcome may be. Some of the reactions the Makoko demolition has attracted may sound political, especially from those who seek to reap political capital from this and other sad episodes. The underbelly of this demolition is that we have collectively lost our sense of humanity, not that we have ever prioritised our lives and our living at any time before now.
It may interest you to know that Makoko isn’t the first slum to be demolished with the same sense of insensitive logic. During the military era, the Maroko slum (now Lekki) was levelled on the orders of then-Col. Raji Rasaki, the military administrator, who acted with ruthless alacrity in 1990. In July 2012, thousands of residents were displaced when a part of the Makoko ghetto was turned upside down. In March 2016, no fewer than 3,000 were sacked in Mosafejo, Ajegunle, allegedly on short notice.
Otodo Gbame, a Lekki waterfront ghetto, suffered the same fate between November 2016 and April 2017, where 30,000 were said to have been evicted, and the shanties housing them were demolished. There were claims that no fewer than 11 lives were lost. Ilubinrin, a neighbourhood of Obalende/Osborne, Ikoyi, wasn’t spared the same year from the reclamation of more land. Ilaje Otumara fell in March 2025, while the Itesiwaju Ajumoni in Oworonshoki followed suit in October, drawing a massive outcry and protests.
Uncle, are you saying the government should have left those squalid settlements to thrive side-by-side with our much-desired megacity, especially when the Makoko slum, which is the focus here, is expectedly illegal in every sense? Not at all! I was taught as far back as my secondary school days that the government holds power in trust for the people, and the same government has a responsibility to protect and provide social services for the people who put them in power.
It then presupposes that the government of the day must ensure that, apart from ensuring that it protects its citizens from any harm under whatever circumstances, adds value to their living standards and must equally incorporate their interests into governance. With the manner in which the Lagos State Government has dispatched these illegal slum residents of Makoko, I bet my social studies teachers might need to revisit their notes or question their own teachers if they are still alive to take their angry questions.
I happen to be one of the apolitical Nigerians who have a lot of good words for the Lagos State Government in terms of its forward-looking development strides, no-delay project execution and its consistent security arrangements that have ensured that the state can live in relative peace, especially when compared to other states. But may I ask when it becomes a fashion for a supposedly progressive and responsive government to throw out people and their families into the lagoon, demolish their shelters and their minimal facilities provided by private individuals and groups without any safety valve?
I’m sure you may like to ask why the government should help these distressed families to settle down, even in temporary camps, till they find their feet again. They are human beings created in the image of God as those in power. They are citizens of this great nation (I know some of them are from Ghana, Togo and the Benin Republic) who deserve to be protected and have a right to decent living so that they can put the pieces of their lives together. There are children in ghetto schools and orphanages who also aspire to rise in life and deliver their families from the slum and the stranglehold of poverty. In what ways are their interests protected or considered in these mindless demolitions?
You may equally like to find out how the few lucky ones displaced by previous demolitions have fared in their much-trumpeted new settlements in Jakande (Ajah) and Ikorodu, which are pitiably drops in the ocean? It is no longer news that the state government is pressed for land in all areas, having to contend with the lagoon, the ocean and Ogun State on all sides. These boundaries should not be an excuse to allow economic and political banditry to override our sense of humanity, as if blood does not flow in the veins of our leaders. So, happy land reclamation in pursuit of our megacity!
