End Evictions in Nigeria

[Maxey L.]

Dear All, 

Apologies for cross points, please forward freely, the petition form is v short literally takes 1 minute.

I recommend this page rather than the one below as it provides further info and the petition form at the bottom, Larch

http://www.habitants.org/article/articleview/1467/1/381/
 

*Evictions in Nigeria, december 2005*

Break the silence on the evictions:
let's defend the housing rights in Nigeria! 
<http://en.habitants.org/article/articleview/1577/1/439>

What's going on in Nigeria?

On November 28th 2005, President Obasanjo gave the go-ahead for the 
most massive and violent operation of forced evictions in living 
memory, not just in Africa, but in the world. The demolitions and 
forced evictions affect over 4 million inhabitants, out of a total of 
7 million residents in the federal capital, Abuja. Acting on the 
orders of the Minister, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, Chairman of the 
Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), officials of the FCDA 
escorted by the police, the army and bulldozers, began to destroy the 
houses, schools, hospitals, churches  and mosques of Abuja.  

Local organizations and NGOs denounce 
<http://en.habitants.org/filemanager/download/155/> the action and 
stress the incredibly large number of people involved: no adequate 
notice was given; no government plans were proposed for the re-
housing or compensation of those evicted; 800,000 people were forced 
into homelessness particularly in the area along the International 
Airport Road, at Pyakasa, Kuchingoro, Garamajiji, Aleita, Chika, 
Galadimawa, Gosa A., Gosa Sarki, and Sabon Lugbe. Other forced 
evictions took place in Gwagwa, Karimu and Dei dei. Over 2,000 
families are forced to sleep amongst the rubble of their former homes 
or in makeshift camps. Over 15,000 children have been forced to give 
up school. The extreme conditions give rise to violence, especially 
against women - including pregnant women - and girls, who are thus 
even more exposed to the dangers of prostitution and AIDS.  

The reason for all this cruelty lies in the decision to implement the 
master plan <http://en.habitants.org/filemanager/download/154/> drawn 
up in 1978 by the International Consortium of Planners, Urban 
Designers and Architects (USA), to develop the city of Abuja, which 
at that time had just been nominated the new federal capital of 
Nigeria. The master plan, which has been in the pipeline for years, 
envisages a population of 3 million inhabitants at the most. 
According to the logic of the master plan, therefore, the extra 4 
million inhabitants are outside the legal limit and must be expelled 
from their homes.  

To these figures must be added the 1,388 families violently evicted 
by the Ministry for Housing and the Defence Ministry on December 6th 
2005 from publicly-owned appartments in Lagos (1004 Flats, Victoria 
Island, Awolowo Road Towers, Eric Moore Road Towers, Alagbon Towers, 
Reeve Road Towers and Mulliner Road Towers). Other planned forced 
evictions will bring the figure to over 20,000 residents made 
homeless by the policy of privatization of the housing sector 
launched in 2003 under the so-called Monetization Policy.  

/*STOP! Break the silence on the forced evictions in Nigeria!* /

/*Much, if not all, depends on international solidarity in support of
the Zero Eviction Campaign in Nigeria.*/

//

/*>>> So, sign the Appeal now! 
<http://iai.opencontent.it/appellonigeria/index.php?language=en>*//
/*/ Your signature will reach all parties involved immediately!/*

 

 

Dr. Larch Juckes Maxey

 

L.Maxey at swan.ac.uk  

 

For info. on the Lammas low impact settlement project, please visit:
www.lammas.org.uk 

 

For info. on the Participatory Geographies Working Group(PYGYWG), please
visit:

http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/research/pygywebsite/
<http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/research/pygywebsite/> 

 

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