Lagos communities demand N1bn compensation over demolition and forced eviction
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Residents of three Ebute-Metta West communities have asked Lagos State's planning appeals committee for N1 billion in compensation over a 2024 demolition they say was unlawful.
Residents of Ifesowapo, Ifeoluwa and Toluwani communities in Ebute-Metta West, Lagos Mainland, have approached the Lagos State Physical Planning and Building Control Appeals Committee demanding N1 billion in compensation and other reliefs over what they described as unlawful demolition, burning of property and forced eviction.
The residents allege the demolition was carried out in March 2024 by officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) with the support of the police, in violation of the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law, 2010. Their petition was presented at the opening of the committee's hearing in Alausa, Lagos, with the Communities Alliance Against Displacement and Spaces for Change supporting the affected residents.
The residents' case rests on a May 2021 announcement by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development that approval had been given for the regeneration of the Otto and Otumara communities in Lagos Mainland to create a new micro-city, with the government assuring that the plan was aimed at upgrading rather than total displacement. The residents say the demolition went ahead without the community engagement the law prescribes.
Patrick Allam, a legal officer with Spaces for Change, cited Section 53 of the Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law, 2010, alleging the government failed to publish the approved regeneration plan in the state gazette designating Otto and Otumara as an Improvement Area. He argued that the omission denied residents formal notification of the government's plans and an opportunity for community engagement.
Ifesowapo community secretary Awode David said many residents have been living in difficult conditions since their eviction, with some forced to sleep in tents, children compelled to stop attending school and more than five residents reportedly dying since the displacement. The 14-member appeal committee chaired by Olufunmilayo Osifuye adjourned the hearing to October 14 because major respondents, including LASBCA, the Lagos State Urban Renewal Agency, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and the Oloto Royal Family, were absent.