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Student @ Lagos State University
Development Without The People
<p>I attended a conversation on urban development recently.</p><p>But beyond policies and plans, there were people in the room, people who had actually been displaced.</p><p>Listening to their stories stayed with me long after the program ended. The stories that feel distant, until you realize they’re happening right beside us.</p><p>This piece came from that place.</p><p><br/></p><p>*</p><p>They call it</p><p>development.</p><p>But tell me,</p><p>how do you develop a city</p><p>by deleting its people?</p><p>How do you draw new maps</p><p>while erasing the footprints</p><p>that built the old ones?</p><p>Because somewhere in Lagos tonight</p><p>a woman is packing memories</p><p>into nylon bags.</p><p>Not because she is moving forward</p><p>but because a bulldozer</p><p>is reversing into her future.</p><p>They say,</p><p>“Illegal structures.”</p><p>But what is illegal</p><p>about survival?</p><p>What law says a mother’s prayer</p><p>must be demolished at sunrise?</p><p>What policy declares</p><p>that children should wake up</p><p>to the sound of metal teeth</p><p>chewing through their bedrooms?</p><p>This house,</p><p>this house is not just zinc and wood.</p><p>It is a father's sweat</p><p>nailed into every plank.</p><p>It is the smell of pepper soup</p><p>rising from a kitchen too small</p><p>but big enough for hope.</p><p>It is homework done under kerosene light.</p><p>It is laughter</p><p>pressed between crowded walls.</p><p>This house</p><p>is a heartbeat.</p><p>Yet the city arrives with sirens.</p><p>Not to listen</p><p>but to silence.</p><p>They say</p><p>“Urban renewal.”</p><p>But renewal for who?</p><p>For the people</p><p>or for the profit?</p><p>For the skyline</p><p>or for the lifeline?</p><p>Because every eviction notice</p><p>is written in cold ink</p><p>but read</p><p>in warm tears.</p><p>And the poor in Lagos</p><p>have become experts</p><p>at disappearing.</p><p>One morning they are neighbors.</p><p>By evening</p><p>they are statistics.</p><p>But listen.</p><p>A city is not its bridges.</p><p>A city is not its towers.</p><p>A city is its people.</p><p>And justice cannot live</p><p>in a place</p><p>where homes die quietly.</p><p>So today</p><p>we raise our voices</p><p>like unfinished buildings.</p><p>We refuse demolition</p><p>of dignity.</p><p>We refuse eviction</p><p>of humanity.</p><p>Because housing</p><p>is not charity.</p><p>Housing</p><p>is not privilege.</p><p>Housing</p><p>is a right.</p><p>And until Lagos learns</p><p>to build cities</p><p>without breaking communities</p><p>We will speak.</p><p>We will stand.</p><p>We will stay.</p><p>Because this house,</p><p>this fragile, stubborn, breathing house</p><p>is more than shelter.</p><p>It is proof</p><p>that the poor</p><p>also deserve</p><p>to belong.</p>
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