Lagos turns 50: half-a-century of urban chaos

– Ingenuity of necessity –

Administrators have always promised big things for Lagos over the years.

But political rivalries between successive governments and spats with the federal government — now based in Abuja — often annihilate the ambitious plans.

As a result, Lagosians have shown ingenuity in overcoming hardship despite the failures of the state, which was totally absent during decades of military rule to 1999.

To address a housing crisis, both rich and poor have started reclaiming land.

The richest are constructing Eko Atlantic, a new coastal city described as the “Dubai of Africa” being built from the coastline of Victoria Island, an affluent Lagos suburb.

The poorest fill in the surrounding lagoons with garbage and sand to create plots of their own.

The entire neighbourhood of Ilaje-Bariga, which can be seen off the Third Mainland bridge that snakes its way over the lagoon, was built this way over the last 50 years.

New streets are thrown up at random to cater for new arrivals.

– Eviction notice –

The tens of thousands of inhabitants of Ilaje-Bariga face a battle for survival.

Recently, they were told they had eight days to leave on the order of the Lagos state government.

The police have already come to destroy fishing boats and sand mining operations, which provide the main source of income in the neighbourhood, worsening already high crime rates.

The aim, clearly, is to get them to leave.

“But where do they want us to go?” said one resident, Oladipupo Aiveomiye, as an old man tried to recover scrap metal from the rubble and a woman struggled to remove planks from a destroyed boat.

Josse, who has studied the area, said he was surprised by the “basic” demands of the Lagosians, who “ultimately complain little,” he said.

“All they wanted was to get out of the water. But the day they lose their incredible resilience, there will be a real risk of riots.”