As for drawing tourists, shantytown Makoko is off the cards. It is, therefore, an eye opener as Woman Editor, TEMITOPE DAVID-ADEGBOYE, and Reporter, REGINA WHENU (accompanied by photographer, ADEWALE OJELEYE), discover that this slum on stilts in Lagos attracts significant interest from the outside world.
“We want you to build a befitting school for us in Makoko.”
That was the basic request David Awhajogbe, 14; Francis Pago, 12; and Deborah Awhi, 13; made to Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.
The three children and 75 others attend Whanayinna Nursery and Primary School; the only school in the bustling Makoko slum shares a coastline border with the University of Lagos.
Yotch Club built the now dilapidated building that houses the pupils, whose seven teachers are secondary school certificate holders.
A total 25 pupils have passed out after writing the secondary school common entrance examination, 218 others are awaiting admission, said Noah Shemede, the coordinator of the school.
Though the parents are willing to educate their wards, the facilities are not there. Besides, the pupils lack textbooks which are compulsory for proper learning.
Primary five pupils offer 11 subjects, including English and mathematics. Primary two pupils offer seven.
Joshua, the primary six teacher, who earns N10,000 per month, explains that language barrier is the greatest difficulty. He has to explain to his pupils in vernacular.
Makoko slum stretches along the fringe of the Lagos lagoon, from Yaba to Bariga. A drive on the Third Mainland Bridge or a boat ride reveals murky waterways that bisect a houses-on-lagoon fishing enclave.
Makoko’s only English-speaking primary school was recently complemented by a French-speaking one. The English-speaking primary is built on an uneven reclaimed land, surrounded by constantly charging waters.
Like many homes in Makoko, this has rendered the primary school building structurally precarious and susceptible to recurrent flooding. Sadly, the inability of the building to effectively withstand the impact of rainfall and flooding threatens children’s access to their basic need – education.
The features of the community have remained unchanged over the years – The swirling cloud of smoke. The rich tangy smell of fish; smoked fish, dried fish, fresh fish. Children frolicking about in canoes or perched metres above the dirty water of the lagoon. A bevy of women with canoes full of wares, hawking on the waterways. Domestic animals, cats, goats, dogs, marooned on their homes-on-water watching the world without interest. And of course, the never-ending scenery of men returning from fishing expeditions.
All of these and more activities, take place right on the brackish water of the lagoon.
A trip into the interior cost The Niche reporters N1,000 on a chartered canoe paddled by a teenager. As he paddled along, one could not help but get fascinated by the “architectural designs” of the wooden houses on the water.
Makoko’s rustic charm is accentuated by the stark contrast of the surrounding sub-urban metropolis of Lagos, a kind of appeal that awakens curiosity.
Though not a tourist destination by any standards, Makoko attracts significant interest from the outside world.
The community was visited in 2010 by Ben Affleck, American actor, film director, writer, and producer, as part of his humanitarian campaigns across Africa. It has been subject of a series of BBC documentaries.
Not left out in this fact-finding mission is the Nigerian press, print and broadcast. Presently, an American missionary, 66-year-old Dave Douglass, and his wife, Paula Jean are on-and-off residents, living among the people since 2009.
The first port of call for any visitor is Emmanuel Shemede, the Baale of the community. On this visit, Shemede had gone “to town” for a meeting with other community elders, and so it was his brother, Noah, who welcomed us.
An estimated 45,840 people reside in Makoko in housing units built on stilts. However, the area was not officially counted as part of the 2007 census and the population today is considered to be much higher.
The community has no roads, no land and no formal infrastructure to support day-to-day survival. In many ways, Makoko epitomises the most critical challenges posed by urbanisation and climate change in coastal Africa.
At the same time, it also inspires possible solutions and alternatives to the invasive culture of land reclamation.
Noah said some of the residents are migrants from Benin Republic. Three ethnic groups dominate the community: Ijaw, Ilaje and Egun; 94 per cent of whom are Christians, 6 per cent Muslims. All have lived in the community for over 70 years.
About four years ago, the Lagos State government demolished some shanties around the coastal lines. Makoko residents protested and engaged lawyers to argue their case. Demolition was carried out in the community for five days before it was stopped on the strength of a petition to the government.
A resident, Timothy Hunkponyanwa, died in protest.
“On that day,” Noah recounted, “policemen came in very early and started demolition towards the Third Mainland Bridge. There was pandemonium with people trying to rescue their belongings while our elders were trying to persuade the policemen to stop.
“Timothy was in a canoe with some members of this community when a policeman fired gunshots into the air twice. After the third gunshot, he suddenly shouted ‘I am hit.’ His clothes were drenched with blood and his intestine gushed out.”
The demolition left a section of the expansive slum devastated, as if a hurricane swept through the closed society with many inhabitants still trying to pick pieces of their belongings.
A walk through the terrestrial or the over-the-water section of the enclave is enough to convince you that here is a complete community.
On the lagoon, there are eateries as there are other needful service providers such as barbers, tailors, chemists, boat repairers and borehole owners. Football lovers have the privilege of watching their favourite European clubs play as there is a viewing centre where they gather.
There are churches of different denominations – Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Celestial Church of Christ and Cherubim and Seraphim.
The community also has two mosques.
Of course, there is the floating market of food sellers and vendors of other household commodities.
Some of their socio-economic outlook may appear backward or out dated, but to view the life of Makoko inhabitants through the poverty telescope will only lead to a distortion about the reality of their lives.
The lower-crust populace of the shantytown considers the lagoon their mainstay in all ramifications; the lagoon is their livelihood.
They have lived there even before the coming of the colonialists, and today, many of the new generation have been raised with the orientation and sophistication of a modern man. Yet they are proudly fishermen and associating with their fishing community.
What is regarded by many Lagosians as “wretched” is in fact a way of life treasured by Makoko dwellers.
Last year, the community received a boost from the United Nations Development Fund, which commissioned a Nigerian architect, Kunle Adeyemi, to design a school that floats on 256 recycled plastic barrels.
Makoko Floating School is a prototype structure that members of the community hope would address school congestion.
The three-storey floating structure adapts to the tidal changes and varying water levels, making it invulnerable to flooding and storm surges. It is designed to use renewable energy, to recycle organic waste and to harvest rainwater.
The structure accommodates 100 children who travel to and fro by boat. When classes are out, the lower platform is used as a community space: fishermen sit and mend their nets or take naps in the shade.
Makoko is essentially self-governing with limited government presence and security provided by area boys.
To an outsider, an epidemic may be looming in Makoko and its environs due to poor sanitation, but Noah allays the fears, saying the community has never experienced it.
He said, however, that he could not rule out pollution from faeces dumped in the lagoon, waste water and oil wastes from power generator repairers.
State Information and Strategy Commissioner, Lateef Ibirogba, explained that government intervention in Makoko gave rise to the idea of relocating the residents.
“We thought we would solve the Makoko problem as we did with the people of Oko-Baba who have accepted our relocation programme.
“But it appears Makoko people don’t want to be relocated. That is why some of the structures built on the lagoon beyond acceptable boundaries were pulled down,” Ibirogba said.
Since the settlers were not persuaded by the resettlement plan, the government came up with the idea of re-organising them in such a way that they could become sustainable as a community and in tune with modern trends. The thought of a Lagos Venice was mooted.
The Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Urban Development is working on it, according to Ibirogba.
But the plan poses a huge challenge to the government as it would also mean cleaning up the water, providing potable water there on a sustainable basis, and providing waste and sewage treatment plants.
With a Venice idea conceived and waiting to be delivered in Makoko, the government has thus taken the decision to, within reasonable and safe limits, permit the communities on water to exist in designated areas and integrate them into the overall fiscal planning and urban fabric of the Lagos Mega City.
The government said it would restrict them to well-defined limits and introduce a phased housing, infrastructure and facilities improvement plan, in consultation with the communities, under a programme called ‘Houses on Water Improvement Programme’.
If it ends a happy tale, then the completion of the houses-on-water scheme is not only going to rub up the beauty of the new Lagos as being envisaged, but could also generate revenue for the state as a tourist destination.
