Rethinking Cities

We had an engaging session yesterday with Lagos State candidates from various parties and Policy experts discussing ‘Lagos way forward’. We focused on sustainability transportation, waste management, water, flooding and wetlands, and housing for informal settlers.#Lagoswayforward

Filmmakers and artists play a vital role in shaping society, using storytelling to advocate for affordable housing and justice for the urban poor. This week in Lagos🇳🇬, alongside @avocff and @RethinkingCI, we screened the award-winning documentary #MotherCity. This event fostered a powerful conversation about urban inequality and how film can help decision-makers better understand the realities of people living on the margins of rapidly growing cities. #inclusivecity

"What is essentially taking place in Lagos State regarding Makoko is a class war. The Lagos government wants to chase out the poor from waterfront areas in order to bring in the rich elite." - @HTSoweto

I had a good time speaking with young activists and nation builders, showing and teaching practical ways to make an impact. ANYWAY! THERE’S A HUGE SURPRISE AT THE END OF THIS VIDEO! ARE YOU READY??? 😄 Organized by: @boell_eu and @rethinkingcities @dejiakinpelu #abenol

Mission to Makoko: This Saturday (February 14), we will embark on another relief mission to #Makoko community in Lagos following the demolition of a large portion of the fishing community which rendered several thousands of people homeless and devastated families. Children were the most affected. The exercise led to the death of several persons especially children from alleged teargas attacks by police personnel. We will take food items, sanitary products, blankets, baby foods, clothings etc to affected families. Since January, we have had several relief outreaches to the community funded in large part by out friends, most prominently @EcoHomef. Makoko's displaced population, with nowhere to go, currently faces a humanitarian crisis. We welcome items from public spirited individuals towards the mission. The necessary contacts are on the flyer or you can DM me. Thanks so much in advance. -- CEE-HOPE's Management @ceehopenigeria Cc: @NnimmoB, @obyezeks, @sowore @mrmacaroni @InibeheEffiong @YarKafanchan @SavvyRinu @OlumideIDOWU, @justempower @OurFavOnlineDoc @afruca @_yemia @adequatehousing @NigeriainfoFM

Dear colleagues and friends, Registration is now open for the 4-week online course, Nature Education (March 2–29, 2026), offered by the Civic Ecology Lab at Cornell University. I warmly encourage interested participants to take advantage of this opportunity to deepen their knowledge and practice in nature-based learning and community engagement. Register via bit.ly/4quXAZp

Who is the city for? 🤔 What can Lagos learn from Cape Town? On March 8, 2026, we cordially invite you to a #filmscreening and discussion, hosted by @hbsNigeria, @RethinkingCI, and Africa's Voices of Change, at Silverbird Cinemas, Victoria Island, Lagos State. 📍Save the date and join the conversation! #InclusiveCities #MotherCityFilm #UrbanInclusion

Discover the key findings and recommendations from the study in this summary blog post – or read the full research report linked at the end 👇 african-cities.org/left-in-the-da…

@bettyabah @melonyishola

(2/2): Cont'd: Punch, Lagos State Government Vs #Makoko's Dead Babies ********* Finally, if the killing of innocent babies via teargases from Lagos State's sanctioned demolition squad means nothing to the editors and reporters at Punch and shouldn't warrant an in-depth and unbiased investigation by them, if they are so dedicated to throwing professionalism through the windows for whatever reason then it's an interesting time indeed to be alive. --BA Attached photos ( Posts 1 and 2):four of the dead victims of the eviction (out of 12) and screen shots of the referenced reports by Punch Newspaper.

Punch Newspaper, Lagos State Government Versus #Makoko's Dead Babies ******* I never knew I would see the day where @MobilePunch would become the official mouthpiece for a state government. What went wrong? What happened to the news organisation's tradition of objectivity and unbiased reporting for which is was well known and celebrated? For weeks now, Punch, previously Nigeria's most authoritative news medium, has been without fail, giddily parroting Lagos State's SOLE angle on the #Makoko demolition saga, downplaying the killings and amplifying the government's angle without due diligence or any thought for using reports from both angles. Punch's coverage of this grievous issue has been basically a dissemination of the state government's bulletin which justifies the state government's brutal attack on the improved fishing community and I guess that that justification extends to the murder of innocent babies. The reportage is so unprofessionally dished out you can't miss the awkwardness. News coverage should be about Truth, Objectivity and sprinkled with some Humanity. It should be, more than anything else, about public interest and in doing that, the interest of the society's most vulnerable should be closely abreast especially when the side with the upper hand is clearly in breach of stipulated, historical laws guiding such actions. About 12 people dead directly from this assault and what matters to you, Powerful Punch is how much effort you can put into projecting government's lies and putting a wool over the masses' eyes by painting the victims as the villains? What happens to going to Makoko to see the situation at hand, interviewing displaced residents, victims' relatives, lawyers, CSOs and experts on urban planning/Housing Justice? How come the only thing you do, and usually major headlines, is projecting Lagos Government justifying this gross injustice? And incase you don't bother to check with researching existing laws and provisions on this matter, have you, Punch editors and reporters, bothered to read reports by other local and even international news organisations some of which referenced international conventions and even Lagos State Government's own Urban Development laws and which the government has flagrantly violated with regards to the Makoko, Oworonshoki and other ongoing brutal forced eviction exercises? Is Punch aware of a 2024 ruling by a Federal High Court on Makoko Community Vs Lagos State Government which ruled against further demolition by the government and even ordering the state to pay for damages? Is Punch aware that Makoko is sited on Federal waterways and not under Lagos' jurisdiction much less subject to its forced eviction exercises? Did Punch reporters bother to visit Makoko or reach out to Barristers Femi Falana and Ayo Ademiluyi who are Makoko's counsels or other NGOs working in Makoko before running to town as the government's vuvuzela rather than probing and publishing unbiased truth so the public can demand accountability? This doesn't look like a coincidence anymore but a pointed and ready-made agenda to unprofessionally parrot a super power's agenda, to tweak public opinion lopsidedly and at the expense of society's weak and voiceless. Who are the new editors at Punch turning this historically acclaimed news reporting legacy to now favouring the powers that be against society's most powerless demographic? For what gain and to what essence? The recent reports reports (screenshots attached) didn't bother to include any other voice or positions except that extracted comprehensively from the govt's press statements. For a case currently attracting global attention? At what point did punch lose its punchy essence and starts to pander openly and shamelessly to powerful political elites? Have you bothered to borrow a leaf from other national dailies that choose to cover the news from both angles? #Thread Pix: Some of the victims (late). @obyezeks @NUJofficial @sowore @YarKafanchan

Makoko...Let the truth be told! @jidesanwoolu @tokunbo_wahab @PGeeman @pastorpoju @UNHABITAT @UNHumanRights @AfricanCities_ @USinNigeria @UKinNigeria @adequatehousing @WorldBank #EndMakokoDemolitions

@bettyabah @NnimmoB @adequatehousing @EcoHomef @ceehopenigeria @CAPPAfrica @UNHABITAT @foeeurope @OlumideIDOWU @ClimateWed @Cities4Climate @AminaJMohammed @jidesanwoolu

Dr. Nnimmo Bassey Visits, Speaks on #Makoko Demolition ********************************************** Eminent human and environmental rights activist, Dr. Nnimmo Bassey @nnimmob speaks on the ongoing illegal demolition of Makoko community by the Lagos State Government, @lagosstategovt during his visit to the community on January 14. The brutal invasion, without dueqq process, of the popular fishing community known for its traditional architecture and cultural resilience, has also resulted in the deaths of several people including babies and an aged woman owing to reported inhalation of teargas fired by security personnel into the community in the course of the demolition. A Makoko youth leader, Oluwatobi Aide was also arrested by the police on the government's order and released only last night (January 14) after three days in police detention. Dr. Bassey spoke while taking a tour of the community where about half of the water front houses have been demolished by the state's task force with many people's properties still trapped as they was no formal notice. He was accompanied by several journalists, CSO members and community youths and leaders, all in a large boat. Earlier in the day, at the Makoko community centre of CEE-HOPE Nigeria, he held a press conference and community consultation where evicted members (including a couple who lost their five day old child from alleged inhalation of teargas fired by the demolition squad), press crews, activists and other were present. The leading human and environmental advocate and ED of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) also made an earlier press statement on the forced eviction which has displaced tens of thousands of residents as follows: “We view these latest attacks on vulnerable populations and the urban poor as the most violent manifestations of Lagos State government’s contempt for those it views as human scrap to be cleared for elite profit and at the pleasure of land speculators and the rich. The thuggish arrest of community members and forced displacement of families who have always known Makoko as home underscores the helplessness of the struggling people in the country. We see this assault as comparable to what Nigerians are suffering at the hands of bandits in some parts of the nation. This state campaign of land-grabbing and displacement is repugnant and must be halted.” -- Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, eminent human and environmental rights activist, ED Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF). January 2026.

Makoko demolition update: 3 persons including 2 children and an aged woman dead so far from teargas attacks on the community by the demolition squad sent by Lagos State Government, @followlasg. Several still gravely ill with respiratory symptoms as a result of the attack. Why should an 'urbanisation' agenda consistently be at the expense of the urban poor including innocent children? The ongoing gentrification across Lagos is the crudest we've ever seen. An ideal city should be an inclusive city. #SlumUpgrade, not mass displacement. Gov. @jidesanwoolu, just so you know, here are broad day #infanticides, state-sponsored murders. @adequatehousing @EcoHomef @NnimmoB @InibeheEffiong, @CAPPAfrica @YarKafanchan, @sowore @obyezeks @AishaYesufu @mrmacaroni @OlumideIDOWU @fisayosoyombo @thatverydarkman @saharareporters, @chidiOdinkalu @justempower, @GlobalRights @HenshawKate @UNICEF @afruca @UNICEFNigeria, @Globalrightsng , @EiENigeria , @MobilePunch, @ARISEtv, @BBCAfrica @EiENigeria @NewsCentralTV, @AIT_Online, @TheICIR

@bettyabah @adequatehousing @AJEnglish @ceehopenigeria @EcoHomef @ruffydfire @fisayosoyombo @UseCaseRadar @Right2CityGP @UNICEFAfrica @NewsCentralTV Makoko’s story reminds us that true development must put people before power, choosing dignity, inclusion, and partnership over displacement and erasure. #MakokoMatters #PeopleFirst @bettyabah @NnimmoB @AmnestyNigeria @ClimateWed

Makoko and Others: the Grand Plan to Violently Eliminate the Poor From Across Lagos The Lagos State Govt @followlasg is desperately resorting to media PR and damage control following public outrage as a result of the ongoing onslaught on Makoko community. The initial agreement held by the state's Ministry of Urban Dev and the community was to pull down housing structures within 30 metres corridor from the power lines. When the chiefs ran to Alausa yesterday to report that the demolition squad was razing down houses beyond their agreed spot, the ministry's reps said they would go ahead with 50 metres. They agreed and returned. Lagos State officials have gone to town with the LIE that the chiefs agreed to 100 metres. And it may all sound like figures but the fact is that's 70 extra metres into the community housing hundreds of families and implies that thousands of people would be displaced without alternative shelter. Already, hundreds are displaced with many sleeping inside boats and dug-out canoes. The demolition work is ongoing as we speak. Worse still, Lagos State is directly contravening official regulations which stipulate 30 metres distance or at most 50 metres. It is all part of the grand plan acted out by the Ministry of Urban Development and Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA). In less than a year, the government, working with private developers, some greedy traditional rulers and land grabbers using armed personnel and armed thugs, have razed down communities most times with absolutely no notice. Several of the affected community members mostly children and aged persons have died in the process. Some of the communities affected in last year's wave of demolition include Oko-Baba, Ayetoro in Makoko followed by those of Otumara and Baba-Ijora then the recent massive eviction of Oworonshoki and Precious Seeds communities all of which led to the displacement of tens of thousands of economically vulnerable Lagosians. Not to mention Monkey Village (where we lost our youth ICT centre) or Ifelodun which they attempted to demolish during the COVID-19 lockdown or Ilaje-Bariga, Otodo-Gbame and so many others over the years leading to the displacement of tens of thousands of people including several deaths. Hundreds of the houses demolished over time were either never given the mandatory notice as in Monkey Village or in gross violation of court process eg Oworonshoki and currently that of Makoko whose case is in court. As far as the Lagos State Government is concerned, human and housing rights shouldn't exist in the realms of the poor, majority of whom constitute the 'mega city's population. People at the highest level of government are seizing lands belonging to the poor so that they can, in cahoot with private developers, build private exotic structures, that's just what it is. They are driving the poor as far away from the city centre as possible even though the economy is dominated and powered/serviced by the informal sector. The poor do not fit into their urbanisation agenda, there is no construction of affordable/low cost or social housing to mitigate the acute housing crisis yet their votes are always suitably harvested for electoral wins every four years. Supposing the government decides to take a piece of land it deems or claims is suitable for a better or official use, there are laid down rules involving prior informed consent, takeover notice, relocation and compensation process and which the state government violates consistently. These are internationally laid down principles, but no, here it's the rule of might. As I write, there is ongoing pandemonium in Makoko with the demolition squad tear-gassing residents and generally terrorising them. Absolute chaos. For many across the world, it's a Happy New Year, but for thousands of people in Makoko, West Africa's most populated informal community, it's a trepid and traumatised entry into the unknown. -- Betty Abah Jan. 6, 2026 @adequatehousing

@OlumideIDOWU @NnimmoB @EcoHomef @ClimateWed @UNDPNigeria @UNOCHA @OCHANigeria @TrafficChiefNG @ARISEtv @ruffydfire Thank you, @OlumideIDOWU for giving your voice to this injustice. Please kindly use your access to top Lagos officials to inform them of the situation, as the same thing has happened in Oworonshoki. Is this how we are going to continue...government disobeying court orders?

INFOGRAPH: The assault on Makoko is a heartbreaking reminder of how a vulnerable community can be treated as disposable, its homes shattered and its people left in fear and despair. Makoko is not just under siege—it is crying out for justice, dignity, and the right to exist.

Groups Decry Renewed Attack by Lagos State Government on Makoko Community Two non-governmental organisations have decried the ongoing attack on Makoko community, an impoverished and predominantly fishing community in Lagos, describing it as a symbolically inhuman and vicious New Year gift on the urban poor while calling on the state governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to halt the exercise. The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and Centre for Children's Health Education Orientation and Protection (CEE-HOPE) in a joint statement condemned what they termed a gross human rights abuse against the people of Makoko community in Lagos in response to the ongoing forced eviction exercise being carried out by the Lagos State Government using armed security personnel and thugs. Houses are being set ablaze with people's properties in the houses and with community members including children, women and aged persons scampering for safety amidst a major chaos. According to community insiders, in a swift and unannounced move on January 5, the Lagos State Government sent the bulldozers into the water front community and started setting fire on houses. "We earlier had a meeting with some government representatives and they assured us that only houses which were 30 metres to the high tension corridor that would be pulled down. We are extremely shocked that they came and started setting fire on other houses. They came around 8am today and starting shooting, spraying teargas and seizing people's boats. As I speak they have almost reached 100 metres into the community, burning houses down. Many of the occupants of the houses have either gone to the market or fishing jobs or traveled for the holidays and their properties are being set on fire. The chiefs were summoned to government house house today after they complained about the presence of bulldozers in the community and while they were away, the demolition squad came and started the destruction. This is unimaginable. They are bent on driving us away by hook or crook." HOMEF and CEE-HOPE described the latest eviction exercise as unlawful and condemnable and another attack on poor and vulnerable members of the society. "It is really sad that rather than securing citizens, government and their agents are adding to the horrors, deprivations, harms and insecurity in the land. The assault on Makoko is absolutely reprehensible and unacceptable", said Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, HOMEF's Executive Director and eminent human and environmental rights activist. "The human and shelter rights of every resident of Makoko must be respected by the Lagos State Government. Enough of this dehumanising treatment of the urban poor by the state in cahoot with private developers," he added. '"It is sad indeed that the state government has shown itself to be consistently lawless on so many fronts especially in its dealing with the urban poor", said Betty Abah, CEE-HOPE's Executive Director. "Just after the savage attack on Oko-Baba, Ayetoro in Makoko followed by those of Otumara and Baba-Ijora then the recent massive eviction of Oworonshoki all of which led to the displacement of tens of thousands of poor Lagosions, the government is turning its vicious searchlights on Makoko again which suffered demolish in 2012 during which a local chief was killed by a police man in the demolition team). Lagos has an acute housing deficit housing issue, why then is it not provision of affordable or social housing that is making the headlines from Lagos every year? Why is it the vicious attack on poor and vulnerable masses and massive forced homelessness, most times in direct violated of set down rules of prior and informed notification, resettlement and compensation plans? Why are these evictions mostly in direct flouting of existing court rulings or injunctions?" She further lamented the toll of the demolition on kids, thousands of whom are typically removed from sch following such dev. @sowore @YarKafanchan @ruffydfire #Thread

My 2025 X wrapped @grok

Representatives from evicted communities from across Lagos deliver letter of appeal to Governor @jidesanwoolu —> 1) end mass forced evictions of the urban poor, 2) respect court orders, and 3) immediately resettle evictees made homeless by the Lagos State Govt

@YemiDavids Sir, please intervene in the Oworo demolition ...let us stand by the truth. The church shouldn't continue to watch this injustice. Fresh demolition close to your church today cc: @PGeeman @pastorpoju

For the avoidance of doubt: PFN has not issued any communique restricting churches from inviting any minister of the gospel. The PFN Lagos State chapter reiterates that no directive was issued at any level instructing churches not to invite certain ministers.

One tale, two stories. The Ibadan circular road project in Oyo state by Seyi Makinde vs Oworonshoki communities displacement story in Lagos state.