SHANTY TOWN DEMOLISHED IN PORT HARCOURT; THOUSANDS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000476

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W
STATE FOR DS/IP/AF
STATE FOR INR/AA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2015
TAGS: NI PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: SHANTY TOWN DEMOLISHED IN PORT HARCOURT; THOUSANDS
DISPLACED

REF: MARCH 8 LITKE-EPSTEIN EMAIL

Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reasons 1.4 (D & E)


1. (C) Summary: In early March, the Rivers State government
demolished the bulk of the "Agip waterside" shanty-town in
Port Harcourt. Hundreds of dwellings have been leveled and
thousands of people displaced. Former residents say the
government neither paid compensation nor offered alternative
housing. State House Assembly Speaker Rotimi Amaechi
defended the actions as necessary to expand an adjacent road,
but there is no on-going road work and many of the homes
demolished were a substantial distance away from the road.
Amaechi said alternative housing was inappropriate because
the residents were all squatters, a claim local NGOs dispute.
End summary.

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Rivers State Demolishes Shanty Town and Displaces Thousands
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2. (SBU) On March 8, representatives from Movement for the
Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) reported that Rivers
State had demolished most of the "Agip waterside" shantytown
(ref). MOSOP estimated at least 5,000 people were evicted in
the process. The government told MOSOP the demolition was to
further urban renewal. Photos of the demolished area are
posted at www.stakeholderdemocracy.org/main/content/vie w/13/.

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Mountains of Rubble, No Sign of A New Road
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3. (SBU) Pol chief visited the area and confirmed hundreds of
dwellings have been completely leveled and thousands left
homeless. The area looks as if it has suffered a natural
disaster, with children and women sifting through mountains
of rubble, trying to salvage what is left of their
belongings. Numerous individuals told pol-chief that the
government initially marked a small section of homes for
demolition. Government officials reportedly said these
specific homes were to be destroyed in order to expand the
road. However, the demolitions turned out to be much more
extensive, and homes 50-100 yards from the road were affected.


4. (SBU) The displaced claim the government only gave notice
to residents whose homes they marked previously (next to the
roadside). They further maintain the government neither paid
compensation, nor offered alternative housing arrangements to
the homeless. Adding insult to injury, the displaced
bitterly note that there is no road construction underway.

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Government Feels No Obligation To Rehouse Displaced
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5. (C) Rivers State House Assembly Speaker (and Governor
Odili prot Rotimi Amaechi told us the occupants were all
illegal squatters. (Note: MOSOP claims many residents had
valid occupancy certificates and that many had lived in the
area for over a decade. End Note.) Amaechi maintained the
demolitions were part of a road expansion project. He added
the state was concerned about "criminals" who find
shanty-towns a convenient haven from which to operate.


6. (C) Asked what was the state's plan for alternative
housing, the speaker replied bluntly, "There is no plan.
Those people were living there illegally." Pressed as to
whether he thought inhabitants would likely return to their
villages in the absence of alternative accommodations, the
speaker replied blithely, "I have no idea."

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Residents Suspect Agip; Civil Society Feels Helpless
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7. (SBU) MOSOP told us it had written letters to Rivers
State Governor Peter Odili and to Agip oil company on behalf
of the residents. The shanty-town lies adjacent to Agip's
Port Harcourt headquarters. Many residents believe the
dwellings were demolished in order to facilitate unconfirmed
rumors of Agip expansion. Neither Agip nor the governor's
offices have replied, according to MOSOP officials. (Note:
MOSOP is involved in this issue because according to it, the
vast majority of the shanty dwellers are Ogoni. End Note.)


8. (C) MOSOP officials explained that given the "legacy of
violence" against the Ogoni people, there was no resistance
to these mass demolitions. When pol-chief asked one woman
milling about whether the inhabitants tried to prevent the
demolitions or whether they had tried to present their case
to the governor's office directly, she responded that the
"Caterpillars came with Mopol (mobile policemen)."


9. (C) On issues such as this, civil society leaders
complained aggrieved people have no redress to their
governmental representatives since these individuals owe the
public no fealty. Government representatives were all
"selected" by power-brokers and therefore the threat to
withhold your vote is hollow, they averred.

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Comment
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10. (C) These demolitions did not register a blip in the
Nigerian national media and clearly they do not discomfit
state officials. It speaks volumes that the state government
can in a single week displace thousands, without feeling
compelled to take any ameliorating actions. However, these
types of demolition are not unheard of in Nigeria's major
cities whose shanty-towns harbor the poorest of the poor.
This is just another example of a state government's
unnecessarily harsh treatment of its most hapless citizens.
BROWNE