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Housing experts, academics, and advocates have called on the Nigerian government to halt violent evictions in major cities and adopt sustainable policies that protect vulnerable urban communities.
They made the call at a gathering at the University of Lagos (UniLag) on Wednesday, where participants discussed strategies to strengthen advocacy for affordable housing and halt brutal evictions.
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The event was organised by the Heinrich Boll Foundation, in cooperation with the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development (CHSD), the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC) and Rethinking Cities.
Recently, in Lagos, there have been demolitions in waterfront and informal settlements—Makoko, Oworonshoki, Owode Onirin, Otumara, and Baba-Ijora—which have displaced thousands and left at least 12 dead. This is despite a $200 million World Bank initiative aimed at upgrading slums and improving living conditions.
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Civil society leaders described the demolitions as part of a systemic attack on the urban poor, carried out without consultation, compensation, or resettlement, raising urgent questions about human rights, governance, and the oversight of international development funds.
Lessons from other countries
Using examples from the creative advocacy strategy pursued by the “Reclaim the City,” and “Land for People Not for Profit,” movement in Cape Town, South Africa, Buhle Booi, a South African activist, emphasised that it is important to address the matter through legislative and strategic measures.
He said the movement aimed to reclaim public land for affordable housing.
Mr Booi discussed the need for transitional housing to minimise displacement, while emphasising the role of the state in providing alternative housing for evictees.
He urged the government to create a comprehensive plan that includes relocating people and providing affordable housing.
Strategising against demolitions
Timothy Nubi, a housing finance and urban regeneration expert, said Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) have a role to play in fighting for public lands.
Mr Nubi noted that it is important to change the narrative from “we against them” to a strategic approach.
He said Nigeria needs to take lessons from the South African movement to give “voice to the voiceless,” adding that “unfortunately, we don’t have such a group.”
The professor of estate management stated that there is a lack of housing advocacy in Nigeria, while emphasising the need to learn from past successes like the Employee Housing Act of 1977, which led to the development of satellite towns and mixed communities.
“Who do you think is living in 1004 now? The high and high-income earners. But if I tell you that 1004 in the 1980s, they are my colleagues, level eight to 10 that were living there,” he said.
He highlighted the impact of structural adjustment programmes and market liberalisation on housing, leading to a decline in
affordable housing. He also urged the government to revisit and continue successful working models of the past.
In her presentation, Temilade Sesan, the Lagos city manager for the African Cities Research Consortium highlighted the case of Lagos, contrasting it with experiences from Cairo in Egypt and Nairobi in Kenya to illustrate what has worked and not worked well.
Ms Sesan said Nairobi is a shining example, having enacted an affordable housing act in the past five years, which defines affordability based on the minimum wage for domestic workers.
“When the government says it provides alternative accommodation, it usually just flings people into the periphery and all of that,” she said.
“But here we see a model where they build this accommodation for low income residents in the centre of the city, close to where they were living and working before. So it’s a big step forward for an African city.”
