- Forced evictions and demolitions
- Njemanze demolitions - displaced peoples speak
- Government threatens demolition of Abonemma wharf in May 2010
- Court adjuorned in demolitions case, again...
- Demolitions: Fuel storage tanks built in residential areas
- Organised resistance to waterfront demolitions grows
- An update on the forced evictions in Port Harcourt
- Killings in Bundu-Ama Community as residents resist demolitions
- Video: Forced evictions in Njemanze
- Njemanze waterfront demolished
- Waterfront residents take Governor to court
- Women turn to prayers to halt waterfront demolitions
- Fear of demolition grips Ikoku traders in Port Harcourt
- Displacement and conflict - healing the wounds
- Oil spills
- Gas flares
- Human rights
- Community development and empowerment
- Strengthening Transparency and Accountability
- Other organisations working in the Delta
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You are here: > The Issues > Forced evictions and demolitions > Displacement and conflict - healing the wounds
Displacement and conflict - healing the wounds
Recently the the Rivers State Government in Nigeria has announced that it intends to implement a new 'masterplan' for Port Harcourt that will include demolition and re-construction in the 17 'waterfront' areas of the city.
Old and New Bundu are examples of these waterfront communities which between them are home to over 30,000 residents from many different ethnic groups.
Over the years, Bundu has been under a semi-permanent threat of displacement. The government is uncomfortable with the existence of the waterfront communities and claim Bundu, like the many other communities in Port Harcourt, are a security threat to the State. Waterfront communities like Bundu and nearby Tere-Ama are seen by the Government as harbouring a mass of 'criminally minded persons'.
Government security operatives have carried out several badly targeted raids on Old and New Bundu to arrest 'miscreants' with limited effect but to further alienate the general population. The residents attribute the insecurity in the area to neglect on the part of a government that has failed in its social responsibilities.
In the past, isolated demolitions in other areas of Port Harcourt have had devastating impacts with many thousands of people displaced. Government promises of low cost housing have either been broken or forgotten. This follows a pattern which has serious consequences for the communities involved who, having lost their meager homes and livelihoods, become refugees in neighboring areas of the city.
"Rivers State, the Treasure base of Nigeria, seems like a bad joke when a community in the heart of Port Harcourt [has] its citizens suffering as a result of absence of basic amenities like water, electricity and primary or public health. I feel ashamed of this situation."
Youth Leader Mr. Godspower Bapakaye Fimie Koko.
During 2002 leaders of the Tere-Ama community in Port Harcourt sold about 1,292 plots of community land to local developers Abou Ghazaleh Contracting Nigeria Limited without the community being properly consulted or compensated. The resulting forced displacement caused an immediate escalation of community conflict which had already seen rival gangs struggling for territorial control of the area.
With their homes destroyed and surrounded by monolithic injustice, the youth of Tere-Ama had very little to loose. The anger and resentment in the community quickly made it ungovernable and many residents fled to safer areas as violence and insecurity became the norm.
Mr. Godspower Bapakaye Fimie Koko, 37, is a youth leader in Tere-Ama. He lost his brother to violent gang conflict at that time and has suffered along with many others from the unemployment and community conflict caused, in part, by the displacement and forced evictions;
"Unemployment is one of the many difficulties we face in the community," he says, "the youth are unemployed and unplayable. Life will not be easy for us but as long as the youth are not engaged in meaningful activities we cannot move forward with our situation".
The challenges highlighted by Godspower are common in communities across Port Harcourt. Generations of youth have grown up with no prospects, surrounded by corrupt representatives and with little faith in the authorities, authorities they see as responsible for the displacements, destruction of property and mysterious disappearances.
SDN has been working in Tere-Ama community with its partner organisation the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) engaging the youth in empowerment, conflict resolution and peace building activities. Listening to the community's youth and giving them other options to engage in political dialogue has been helping them to turn away from violence and gangs as a way of life; "The various training received from the project equipped us to effectively handle most of the community problems ourselves," say's Godspower, who is glad that the more difficult times are over, at least for his community.
But with the new 'masterplan' for Port Harcourt threatening to displace tens of thousands of other residents in the coming months, more communities like Old and New Bundu are likely to suffer the violence, poverty and desperation seen in Tere-Ama in the years following the evictions in 2002.
It looks like SDN and its partners are going to have their work cut out in Port Harcourt's many 'waterfront' communities in the coming months and years...
