The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has accused the Lagos State Government of benefiting financially from the ongoing demolition of Makoko and other waterfront communities, demanding an immediate halt to the exercise and strict compliance with court orders.
CAPPA made the allegation on Monday during a press briefing in Lagos, where it condemned what it described as systemic, illegal and cruel forced evictions carried out against poor and underprivileged residents under the guise of urban renewal.
According to the group, claims that non-state actors are profiting from the Makoko crisis are false and intended to divert attention from what it described as official land grabbing and profiteering.
CAPPA insisted that Makoko is not an illegal settlement but a historic waterfront community whose residents are predominantly fishermen and women who depend on the Lagos Lagoon for their livelihoods.
The organisation accused the state government of failing to provide basic infrastructure such as potable water, sanitation, healthcare, quality schools and safe housing, only to later use these same deficiencies as justification for demolitions.
It also cited the $200 million World Bank–funded Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance Project, which was designed to upgrade informal settlements, including Makoko, without displacement, but which it said yielded little or no tangible benefit for Makoko residents.
CAPPA further alleged that the Makoko demolitions are part of a wider pattern of forced evictions across Lagos, including in Otodo-Gbame, Ilaje-Otumara, Baba Ijora, Okobaba and Orile, where thousands of residents were displaced without adequate notice, consultation, compensation or resettlement.
The group accused the Lagos State Government of repeatedly disregarding court orders restraining it from carrying out forced evictions, describing the actions as a violation of residents’ constitutional right to dignity.
According to CAPPA, the demolitions have left thousands homeless, disrupted children’s education, destroyed livelihoods and exposed families to hunger, disease and insecurity.
The organisation rejected recent assurances of palliatives for displaced residents, insisting that affected communities are not beggars but citizens whose rights have been violated.
CAPPA demanded an immediate halt to all demolitions, full compliance with court rulings, provision of emergency shelter and healthcare for displaced families, compensation for demolished homes and lost livelihoods, and a transparent, inclusive resettlement process developed in consultation with affected communities.
The group warned that Lagos cannot credibly claim global city status while treating its poorest residents as disposable, insisting that development which displaces citizens and criminalises poverty is neither just nor sustainable.
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