Beachfront Communities and the Trickle-Down Effect

Last week, I received my copy of the premier edition of Irin Journal, a bi-annual African culture and travel magazine which discusses African culture, people and communities. I was captivated by the piece ‘Finding Home’ on Wale Silva, an artist and a Tarkwa Bay resident. I was struck by the timing. Whether or not you believe in coincidences, it is curious that the interview conducted in mid-2019 is published and of particular relevance at a time when Tarkwa Bay residents were forcibly evicted from their home on the 21st January 2020. Wale Silva brought a real sense of the journey to find home, however home is conceptualized. Wale spoke of his childhood in Lagos – did you know that you could get Christmas trees from Ikoyi Park? Ikoyi Park is now Parkview Estate an estate without I might add, a park. Wale spoke of his weekly visits to the National Museum in Onikan and the free Saturday cultural classes on offer for children. For me, it shows that to some extent Nigeria used to work and this is encouraging because the decay happened over time and the rebuilding, must happen over time.

Wale described his travels around the world and his decision to eventually settle in Tarkwa and by so doing he painted a vivid picture of a vibrant community. This community was not without its struggles but notwithstanding it was home to its residents who sought a calmer pace of life whilst still close to Lagos. Tarkwa Bay residents came together to contribute in some way, to the experience of life: a surf school was founded to develop the surfing community in Lagos, residents worked hard to clean up plastic waste. The last time I visited Tarkwa as I loved to do, I remember remarking on its cleanliness and was told that the residents had put a concerted effort to clean up the beach, clean up the waste that comes in from the city of Lagos. 

And now, all that community work, development, calm, tranquility, home has vanished. It is interesting how quickly ‘normal’ can change.

Evictions are not new, and beachfront evictions particularly so. On Tuesday, the 20th of August last year, residents of Wxlacodji beach in neighboring Cotonou were forcibly removed from their community with 160 houses demolished. The residents had been given two weeks notice to vacate their homes. In July 2019, representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development together with the Mayor of Cotonou had visited several waterfront communities along the Cotonou lagoon and Lake Nokoue to mark some houses for eviction. They provided no information about subsequent resettlement. Following this notice, federation members of six waterfront communities under threat quickly organised to write to the Ministry, the representative of the Littoral Department, and the Mayor of Cotonou in search of a reason. They received a response: the residents of the waterfronts of Cotonou were uncivilised and were at the risk of public health. There is no documentation on the current use of the site which was once known as the Wxlacodji beach community.

Picture of residents of Wxlacodji beach community.Source: Enviro news Nigeria

Farther afield, there was another beachfront eviction on the 1st of October, 2019 at the Sylvan Beach Mobile House Park New York. The residents of Mariners landing park in Sylvan beach were issued an eviction letter on the 15th of April, 2019. The letter from the Oneida Indian Nation provided a reason for the eviction: to redevelop the land around its Mariners Landing so as to increase accessibility to a marina and allow for a greater number of people to utilize and enjoy the location. Recognizing the disruption for the renters, a 6 months notice period (the law required 30-day notice for renters) was given – residents had till October 1 2019 to vacate and the final month of rent was waived.

If only this had been the case for Tarkwa Bay residents. Tarkwa Bay is an island along the coastal cove which became a settlement for thousands of Lagosians . For over three decades, it provided an escape from Lagos. On the 21st of January 2020, the residents of Tarkwa bay were forcefully evicted. According to the news, no notice was given to the 4,500 residents who were rendered homeless. The manner of the eviction by the Navy who shot and assaulted residents was brutal.

The reason given for eviction of residents from Tarkwa Bay: pipeline vandalism.

Picture of dug out pit found in Tarkwa bay source: CNN.com

Some structures were reportedly identified as a disguise for crude oil theft operations. At least 300 illegal spots and dug-out pits revealed that oil products were being tapped for illegal sales. The way to tackle criminal activity usually is to address the crime, provide more security for the pipelines, not eviction of the community’s residents.

Picture of displaced residents of Tarkwa Bay Source: Quartz Africa

Some hypotheses about the real reason for the eviction have come up about possible redevelopment of the land. Whilst unconfirmed, they are not baseless.

Let’s look at the evacuation of beachfront residents in July 1990 in Maroko displacing a total of 300,000 people; the displacement of 15,000 people in Banana Island on January 1995, the displacement of 15,000 people from the Ilubirin beachfront community in January 1997, the eviction of 5,000 Badia East residents on October 2003, in August 2008 Bar Beach was residents were evicted rendering 80,000 people homeless and more recently Otodo Gbame residents were evicted in April 2017 displacing a total of 30,000 residents. The same reason was provided by the authorities for all these evictions: crime and insecurity. The reality however tells us more, as new estates, luxury residences and offices have cropped up in these areas – the dispossession of the poor for the redevelopment of prime land for the wealthy. 

Understandably, cities evolve and as the infrastructural pressures of a congested city such as Lagos rise, city officials are tasked with addressing the requirements of the population. Many times, only a segment of the population is focused on, usually the wealthy, because of a belief in the trickle-down effect.

The trickle-down effect does not work. Rising economic growth results in rising inequality, one need only to look at the inequality rates in emerging economies to see that trickling down can only result in a trickle, leaving a significant proportion of inhabitants dispossessed, marginalised and increasingly hopeless. And it is this hopelessness that we must focus on and address. Because when a man has been pushed to the wall, and realises there is no where else to go, he becomes fearless. Fearlessness and hopelessness do not mix well.

So is there any hope, what can we learn from this and what does this all mean? Well, I try to see how the experience of life in our society can be enhanced, how we use the issues we see to provide solutions that advance life. It comes from how we understand our way of life as a people, and how we use this way of life to advance. This is how I understand development, and the complexities within are difficult to unpack in a single article. To be continued.

Dr Adun Okupe is a researcher focused on socio-cultural development in Nigeria. She focuses on leadership as a tool for sustainable development with a sector interest in the cultural and creative industries, and a particular focus on the tourism industry. She is the country investigator for the GLOBE Leadership project which seeks to understand the cultural dimensions of leadership behavior in Nigeria. You may connect with her on @adunova or a.okupe@gmail.com