(task) Lagos Slum Was Razed for Its Waterfront, Residents Say - The New York Times

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land tenure, human rights, informal settlement, population, social conflict, homelessness

> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/world/africa/lagos-slum-razed-for-waterfront-residents-say.html?ribbon-ad-idx=3&rref=world/africa&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Africa&pgtype=article <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/world/africa/lagos-slum-razed-for-waterfront-residents-say.html?ribbon-ad-idx=3&rref=world/africa&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Africa&pgtype=article>
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> Lagos Slum Was Razed for Its Waterfront, Residents Say
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> Otodo Gbame, a poor fishing community on the shores of a lagoon in Lagos, was razed by the police and a group of young men, according to residents and local activists, who say the motive was to take the land for development. Pius Utomi Ekpei/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
> LAGOS, Nigeria — Dazed and wearing a blood-spattered undershirt, Blessing Dacodonu sat on the floor of a clinic propped above a murky lagoon, wondering where his brother was.
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> The men had been walking past a demolished slum on their morning commute when a mob wielding machetes attacked them, making them the latest casualties in a scramble for land in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, that sometimes turns violent. Mr. Dacodonu escaped with cuts to his forehead and a badly swollen eye. But in the chaos, he said, he and his brother were separated.
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> Residents and local activists say the police and a group of young men razed the slum, Otodo Gbame, a poor fishing community on the shores of a lagoon in Lagos, in early November. During the demolition and for a few weeks after, they say, havoc ensued. The mob set houses on fire, as many as 30,000 people were displaced, and anyone who resisted leaving was attacked. A community activist says at least 10 people died in the clashes.
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> The same fate has befallen other slums in Lagos, according to Megan Chapman, a founder of the Justice & Empowerment Initiatives, a nonprofit that monitors land rights in Nigeria. State governments and developers have been descending on these settlements recently, clearing them out to make way for development.