Residents and activists in the Lagos waterfront community of Makoko are raising fresh concerns over displacement and land redevelopment after lawmakers recommended relocating thousands of residents from the historic settlement.
The proposal followed demolitions carried out in late 2025 and a subsequent resolution by the Lagos State House of Assembly urging the state government to relocate residents of Makoko and neighbouring communities to Agbowa in Epe.
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But Zikora Ibeh, a development researcher and assistant executive director at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, says the recommendation misrepresents the position of affected residents and risks legitimising what she described as a broader pattern of forced displacement in Lagos.
Writing about the crisis, Ibeh told BusinessDay that residents never agreed to any relocation outside Makoko during legislative hearings into the demolitions.
According to her, presenting relocation as a solution masks what she called a state-driven effort to remove long-standing waterfront communities from valuable urban land.
“The first problem with the Assembly’s recommendation is its sheer dishonesty,” Ibeh said, arguing that relocation to Epe was never part of any agreement reached between residents and the investigative panel.
Makoko, a sprawling lagoon settlement known for its stilt houses and fishing economy, has long been at the centre of debates about housing, urban planning and poverty in Lagos.
Ibeh said tensions escalated in December when demolition teams backed by state authorities entered the settlement, citing the need to enforce a safety corridor beneath high-tension electricity lines.
However, she argued that the operation extended far beyond the designated boundary, destroying homes and public facilities including schools and displacing thousands of residents.
The incident triggered protests in January organised by the Coalition Against Demolition, Forced Evictions, Land Grabbing and Displacement, where thousands of residents and supporters gathered to oppose the clearances.
Ibeh said the protest reflected wider anger among residents of several Lagos communities that have experienced demolitions in recent years.
Security forces later dispersed protesters outside the state parliament complex, an action critics said underscored the tension surrounding the issue.
The Lagos government led by Babajide Sanwo-Olu has previously said redevelopment efforts in Makoko are intended to improve housing conditions and sanitation in the waterfront settlement.
Authorities have also spoken about plans to transform the area into a modern ‘Water City’ through collaboration with international partners.
But Ibeh questioned how such a project could benefit current residents if relocation remains the main policy option.
She said international human rights standards require that any displacement must involve meaningful consultation, clear legal justification and adequate compensation or resettlement.
“Displacement must rest on compelling reasons and the informed consent of affected communities,” she argued, referencing global frameworks on internal displacement and resettlement.
The Makoko dispute also highlights broader questions about urban land use in Lagos, according to Ibeh.
She said working-class communities have often been labelled unsafe or environmentally problematic before being cleared for redevelopment projects.
In some cases, she noted, the cleared land later becomes the site of luxury estates or speculative property developments.
Ibeh pointed to reports that landfilling activities had begun along parts of the Makoko waterfront during the demolition period, raising concerns that redevelopment interests may be linked to the clearance.
Beyond the land dispute, she also argued that Makoko represents a unique example of local adaptation to a lagoon environment.
Homes built on stilts, water-based transport systems and fishing livelihoods reflect generations of knowledge about living with water, she said.
Rather than displacing such communities, Ibeh suggested Lagos could study them as examples of climate-resilient living in a coastal city increasingly threatened by flooding and rising sea levels.
For many residents, relocation would mean losing the economic and social networks that sustain their livelihoods, she added.
Fishing families rely on knowledge of lagoon fishing grounds, while canoe operators and traders depend on daily links to nearby urban markets.
“Uprooting the community would fracture an intricate ecological and economic system built over generations,” Ibeh said.
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The controversy, she argued, ultimately raises a deeper question about who has the right to shape the future of Lagos.
Cities, she wrote, are not just physical infrastructure but spaces created through the labour and culture of the people who inhabit them.
For Makoko residents, the struggle is therefore not only about housing but about their right to remain part of the city they have long helped sustain.
