FEATURE: What Lagos Can Learn From Kenya, Morocco, Uganda’s Forced Evict

Across Africa, forced evictions continue to generate controversy as governments pursue urban renewal, environmental protection, and infrastructure expansion. From informal waterfront settlements in Lagos to forest communities in Kenya, the challenge remains the same: how to balance development priorities with the rights, safety, and livelihoods of vulnerable populations.

Findings by THE WHISTLER show that recent experiences in Kenya, Morocco, and Uganda offer policy lessons that Lagos State could study as it continues clearance exercises in several informal settlements.

Amnesty International defines a forced eviction as the removal of individuals or communities from the homes or land they occupy against their will, carried out without adequate legal protection or necessary safeguards.

“A forced eviction is the removal of people against their will from the homes or land they occupy without legal protections and other safeguards,” the rights group said in a 2011 report on Ghana.

Under international human rights law, according to Amnesty International, evictions should occur only as a measure of last resort, after all viable alternatives have been carefully considered. Even when eviction becomes unavoidable, it must follow strict legal and procedural standards. These include meaningful consultation with affected residents, sufficient prior notice, provision of adequate alternative housing, and compensation for losses incurred.

It added that authorities must also ensure proper oversight of how evictions are conducted and guarantee access to legal remedies, including legal aid where required. Importantly, governments have an obligation to prevent evictions from leaving individuals homeless or exposed to further human rights violations.

Lagos Demolitions And Growing Debate

In Lagos State, thousands of residents in communities such as Makoko, Oworonshoki, Ilaje-Otumara, Owode Onirin, and Baba Ijora have been displaced under urban renewal and safety enforcement programmes. Authorities insist the actions are necessary to prevent disasters associated with unsafe settlements, particularly structures located under high-tension power lines and other hazardous infrastructure corridors.

Speaking at a press briefing, the Special Adviser to the Governor on eGIS and Urban Development, Dr. Olajide Babatunde, said the Makoko demolitions were part of a broader statewide safety initiative designed to prevent fire outbreaks, infrastructure failures, and related emergencies.

He added that the state government had set aside about $2m since 2021 for the redevelopment of the Makoko waterfront and was working with international partners to mobilise additional funding.

“Clearing high-tension corridors is a safety requirement across Lagos State. The action taken in Makoko is consistent with what has been done in other communities,” Babatunde said.

“We need to do what we have to do. If we don’t, then we are endangering the lives of the people. However, we need to do it in a systematic way. We have to do it according to international conventions.”

Additional $8m is expected from the United Nations. He, however, noted that with shrinking funding to donor agencies and multilateral organisations, the state government is looking inward for a solution.

“Mr. Governor committed $2m for the redevelopment of the community, and we are expecting $8m in counterpart funding from the United Nations, but I am sure we all know what is happening today. There are funds that are no longer available to most of those donor agencies and multilateral organisations.

“And what we need to do is to look inwards, and this is why the Lagos State Government, together with our international partners, are calling on different donor agencies, the international community and various business organisations within and outside Nigeria to support us,” Babatunde said.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu also defended the exercise, stating that evacuation notices had been issued more than two years before the demolition of structures built within the 150–250 metre safety corridor of high-tension power lines. According to the governor, the intervention was carried out in the collective interest of residents and did not target the entire Makoko community.

“People need to understand that it is a big city we are dealing with, and the emergency and safety of lives and properties are paramount that we need to prioritise. Of what interest would it be for the government to want to unduly demolish anybody’s property? What interest if it is not for the overall safety of the citizens we are talking about?

“A lot of the people have built shanties under the high-tension wire, and the regulation is that you need to clear between 150 and 250 metres away from the high-tension wire. We are not demolishing the whole of Makoko; we are clearing the shanties so they do not get to the Third Mainland Bridge and stay behind the high tension,” Sanwo-Olu said.

Despite these assurances, civil society organisations and community advocates have criticised the demolitions, arguing that they often occur without comprehensive resettlement plans or clearly defined compensation mechanisms.

Rights activist, Hassan Soweto, alleged that at least 53 people died during demolition-related incidents in Oworonshoki, Makoko, and Owode Onirin, while advocacy groups warn that repeated evictions are worsening urban poverty by pushing displaced residents into even more precarious settlements.

“This wasn’t a normal arrest, in the sense that you arrested someone because they have cases or charges they need to answer to. I was abducted in order for the Commissioner of Police and his men, in their own words, to teach me a lesson for exposing the brutality of the police in different communities where demolitions have been taking place — brutality in the form of the killing of at least 53 people in Oworoshoki, Makoko, and Owode Onirin,” Soweto told THE WHISTLER.

He was recently arrested following his protests against demolition exercises in communities including Makoko, Owode Onirin, and Oworoshoki.

Justice & Empowerment Initiatives (JEI) co-founder, Megan Chapman, said years of engagement with the Lagos State Government on alternatives to forced eviction had produced limited results, alleging that communities that participated in collaborative planning efforts were later demolished.

“We have spent the last few years trying to build engagement with the Lagos State Government around alternatives to forced eviction. The last two years, the same Government has systematically destroyed nearly every community that put its hopes and efforts into participatory planning toward a win-win partnership, defaulting instead to mass land grab in service of powerful private interests,” she told THE WHISTLER.

Kenya Conservation Policies And Indigenous Land Rights

Kenya’s experience with evictions in the Embobut Forest offers one of the continent’s most debated cases involving environmental protection and indigenous rights. Beginning around 2013, thousands of residents, including members of the indigenous Sengwer community, were evicted by security forces as part of government efforts to protect forest ecosystems and safeguard critical water catchment areas.

The Sengwer people, a traditional hunter-gatherer group estimated to number about 15,000 (then), have inhabited the forest for centuries and regard it as their ancestral homeland. Although the government offered compensation of about 400,000 Kenyan shillings (roughly $4,600) to affected families, many community members rejected the payments, insisting that ancestral land could not be replaced by monetary compensation.

Legal disputes further complicated the situation, as the community had secured a court injunction against evictions pending the resolution of land rights claims. The case has since become a reference point in continental debates about the importance of consultation, legal clarity, and culturally sensitive resettlement policies before undertaking clearance exercises.

Morocco Structured Resettlement As A Policy Model

Unlike many eviction programmes across Africa, Morocco’s “Cities Without Slums” (Villes Sans Bidonvilles) initiative integrates compensation and relocation into redevelopment planning with clearly defined financial structures.

Under the programme, affected households are typically offered subsidised housing plots costing about 20,000 Moroccan dirhams (approximately $2,100), enabling families to construct new homes, or they are relocated to newly built apartment units.

In some projects, the capital cost of replacement apartments is capped at roughly $25,000 per unit, with government subsidies significantly reducing the amount residents are required to pay.

In urgent displacement situations, authorities have also provided temporary monthly support payments of around 2,500 dirhams (about $250–$277) for a limited period to help families secure interim accommodation while permanent housing arrangements are completed.

Analysts say the Moroccan model demonstrates how structured compensation systems and predictable relocation pathways can reduce resistance to redevelopment projects and minimise humanitarian fallout.

Uganda Court Driven Compensation Frameworks

Uganda provides another example of evolving compensation frameworks. In 2022, the government proposed to pay UGX 40.562bn ($11.28m) to nearly 2,000 former tenants displaced from the Nakawa-Naguru estate redevelopment project, although residents rejected the offer as inadequate.

Earlier court rulings also ordered the government to pay billions of shillings in damages to victims of forced evictions, prompting the establishment of a Land Compensation Fund to manage payments related to public land acquisition.

While implementation challenges remain, legal enforcement of compensation orders has created a more formalised approach to addressing eviction-related disputes.

Lessons For Lagos, Other African Cities

THE WHISTLER observed that Lagos, like many rapidly expanding African megacities, faces legitimate pressures to modernise infrastructure, improve safety standards, and protect environmental zones.

However, the experiences of Kenya, Morocco, and Uganda illustrate key policy lessons: the importance of early consultation with affected communities, legally backed compensation frameworks, transparent resettlement plans, and the integration of housing alternatives before demolition activities begin.

“Property in essence is almost a ticket to economic emancipation, and when you take that away from people, it is committing them to a life of penury,” said public affairs analyst, Ayodele Adio, on a radio programme, while commenting on how the demolition of properties and relocation of affected persons impact not only displaced residents but also the state.

An architect and politician, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, recently described the demolitions in Makoko as a violation of residents’ rights, calling for consultation and inclusive design in urban renewal projects.

In a video posted on his X handle, Rhodes-Vivour stressed the need to protect the livelihoods of the community’s residents.

“No matter what local government it is, because we all need each other. And in this case, we need justice for poor Makoko,” he said.

He urged authorities to explore alternatives such as resettlement and upskilling, rather than using “brute force” to remove residents.

“Consultation and inclusive design that allows for development that also preserves the footprint of that old indigenous community, not erasing them completely,” Rhodes-Vivour said.

A development economist, Oluwaseyi Popogbe, is of the opinion that urban regeneration does not always favour slum dwellers.

“So government interventions are not seen as a genuine effort to improve their living conditions, but as a mechanism to displace them to make way for the elite,” Popogbe said in a paper published by Democracy in Africa in 2025.

On Tuesday (February 3), the Lagos State House of Assembly ordered a halt to the demolition exercise in Makoko. However, relief is yet to come for hundreds of victims who have been rendered homeless, with some now living on boats.

As African cities continue to grow at some of the fastest rates in the world, the debate over forced evictions is likely to intensify. Whether redevelopment programmes are ultimately viewed as inclusive transformation or displacement-driven growth, analysts say, will depend largely on how governments manage the social consequences of clearing vulnerable settlements while pursuing urban renewal.