By Yinka Kolawole

The Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) has declared that demolitions are not the solutions to slums development in Nigerian cities.

President, NIA, Mr. Olatunji Bolu, who was speaking recently, in Abuja, during the Archibuilt 2010 with the theme, “Development of Mega Cities in Emerging Economies”, cited situations where government demolished, so called, shanty structures only for people to rebuild the structures because they had nowhere to go.

“Let me cite the case of Isale Eko, where people were moved to Surulere in Lagos and some of them returned back to Isale Eko, while some of them turned the new Surulere into another slum. So we have to really study the way our people live. From the study of the history of relocation in Nigeria, you know that we must be careful. The same thing happened with Kanji dam. When they wanted to build the dam government relocated people to Kanji and built houses for them, all the people left the houses and went back to where they used to live,” he stated.

Bolu therefore counselled that demolition, where absolutely necessary, must be done gradually, and the people fully carried along in the process. He said that when necessary infrastructure are provided based on the expressed needs of the people, they will be ready to cooperate.