Protecting Makoko From Property And Financial Speculators
“The Nigerian and Lagos State government should commit to upgrade the Makoko communities and provide support for the communities by providing adequate health, educational and other services.” This was the submission of the Executive Director and environmentalist, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, at the third Sustainability Academy Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in Makoko, Lagos tagged “Turmoil in Africa; Uprising or Chaos”.
Nnimmo Bassey during his presentation charged Lagos state government leaders to make sure they carter for the people of Makoko community by providing them with basic health facilitates and adequate education. They should not be sidelined from what they deserve from the government. “The community should also be protected from property and financial speculators as well as other disaster capitalists,” he added.
Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the community have urged the Lagos State government to stop its eviction threats to the people of Makoko.
A young girl paddling canoe to the market.
The floating hall and school, Makok
The inhabitants of Makoko are majorly the Egun people of Badagry, Ijaw and Ilaje, and they speak Egun as a common dialect. While I was thinking about how I will transport myself across the water, a boy offered to transport me in his canoe for just N400 (four hundred naira). My journey into the heart of Makoko community for the above mentioned event is an experience I will not forget in a hurry.
