Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has condemned recent demolitions in the Jakande area of Lagos, warning that the government’s land policies are deepening inequality and creating a housing crisis for the city’s poor.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday, he criticised the government for using Section 28 of the Land Use Act—intended for land acquisition in the public interest—to benefit private developers instead.
While the Lagos State Government has pledged compensation, Vivour argues the amounts offered are inadequate and cannot secure alternative housing in the city.
He said, “All these lands are being taken for private individuals, who are only going to build more expensive housing and create more of a cost of living crisis. And then, you now have a huge amount of homeless young men that are just walking around the streets without any shelter, and they cannot afford any shelter. And you see development is constantly at the exclusion of the poor.”
Speaking of the experience he had when he visited Jakande Estate during the demolition exercise, he said, “I visited Ilesan myself. The so-called task force of Lagos state threatened to beat me and harm me, and started beating people that were next to me, mercilessly.
“When I was there, I saw people were running away, and I turned back and I saw they were running away from the task force, so I went to meet the task force. You want to beat me? Okay. Do it. And then, there were other people next to me, and they started beating them. And when I wouldn’t move, they fired tear gas at me. This is the violence that has come to define this government.
“When you have a lawless government that does not even follow court injunctions, that is talking about compensation, 11.2 million (naira). 11.2 million cannot afford a two, three bedroom apartment in that area today. And you see how the government has been turned into an institution for land grabbing.”
He argued that Lagos’s growth could be managed more inclusively.
“If they were kind and empathetic, if they had a plan of inclusive development, where they can even section some of the site away and say this part will be high-density development, the rest of this part will be luxury development, you see a plan of inclusivity, I will not talk because development must happen. Cities must grow. Cities must develop. But it should not be at the detriment of the poor.
“Lagos state is over 80% poor. To afford 11.2 million rent, you have to at least be earning almost two million a month. How many people in Lagos can afford to earn two million naira a month?”
Melissa Enoch
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