Hundreds of Nigerians are still sleeping out in the open nearly nine months after bulldozers and armed police arrived in the Makoko community of Lagos, demolishing homes, churches, a mosque and a medical clinic. After three days of destruction, the community was obliterated, leaving about 3,000 residents -- many already destitute -- homeless.
"The poor of Lagos pay a heavy price for living on land that has increased in value: seeing their homes razed to the ground by government bulldozers," said Felix Morka, Executive Director of Social and Economic Rights Action Center, Lagos. "These evictions and destruction have got to stop."
Amnesty has called for a moratorium on evictions in Nigeria.
If current trends continue, greater Lagos will have 24 million inhabitants by the end of this decade, and it will become one of the two or three largest metropolitan areas in the world--truly Africa's leading megacity.
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2 comments:
Very interesting...why does this not make the World News?
A few cynical but straight answers. Please add to the list if you're so inclined:
--Because you can't sell papers or advertising or commercials with stories of governments and developers booting poor people from their homes.
--Because editors insist that these things go on all the time, and when things go on all the time they cease to be 'news.'
--Because the west doesn't really care about Africa
--Because, come to think of it, readers/viewers don't really care about poor people no matter where they're from. New Orleans is a good example.
--Because the problem seems intractable and there doesn't appear to be a solution.
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