Call to International Solidarity Action Against Forced Evictions in Nigeria

Ostensibly, acting on the orders of the Minister in the Presidency and Chairman of Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Mallam Nasir El Rufai, the officials of the FCDA accompanied by heavily armed policemen and soldiers using bulldozers, caterpillars leveled homes, schools, hospitals, churches, mosques and businesses in Abuja, without any adequate notice prior to the demolitions, neither were there any plans by the government to resettle, rehabilitate or compensate the evictees.
The results in pursuit of a publicly declared objective to rid the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of all slums and shanties to restore the FCT Master Plan:

• 800,000 people forced to become homeless, primarily in Pyakasa, Kuchingoro, Garamajiji, Aleita, Chika, Galadimawa, Gosa A., Gosa Sarki, and Sabon Lugbe, all along the International Airport Road, FCT Abuja, others include Gwagwa, Karimu and Dei dei, out of a population of around 7 million inhabitants
• Over 4 million residents of other 90 communities have also been earmarked for eviction and demolition
• 15,000 children already forced to abandon school
• Over 2,000 families are currently sleeping in uncompleted buildings, while rape of women and crime is on the increase.

Other evictions are carryng out from December 6 2005 to implement the privatization of the housing public real estate (Federal Government of Nigeria Monetization Policy 2003):

• 20,000 people evicted or under eviction in Lagos (1004 Flats, Victoria Island, Awolowo Road Towers, Eric Moore Road Towers, Alagbon Towers, Reeve Road Towers and Mulliner, Road Towers).

We denounce that the government of Nigeria is brazen violating:

• the right to life, right to a fair hearing, right to the dignity of the human person, the right to a private and family life, and the right to property guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act 1990.
• the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) specifically the target to have achieved by 2020 a significant improvement in the lives of at least hundred million slum dwellers.
• the international law: article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in particular General Comments 4 and 7 prohibits evictions without an adequate and agreed relocation, despite the Concluding observations of the UN Committee adopted at its 6th to 9th meetings held from 29 April to 1 May 1998: "42. The Committee urges the Government of Nigeria to cease forthwith the massive and arbitrary evictions of people from their homes and take such measures as are necessary in order to alleviate the plight of those who are subject to arbitrary evictions or are too poor to afford a decent accommodation. In view of the acute shortage of housing, the Government of Nigeria should allocate adequate resources and make sustained efforts to combat this serious situation. 43. The Committee recommends that more positive and open dialogue between the Committee and the Nigerian Government can be undertaken, and maintained. This dialogue need not await the passage of the next five years. The Committee calls upon the Government to submit a comprehensive second periodic report, prepared in conformity with the Committee's guidelines, by 1 January 2000." article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides a right to adequate housing, despite the Concluding observations on Nigeria adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child at its 1023rd and 1024th meetings held on 26 January 2005, and adopted at the 1025th meeting held on 28 January 2005: "70. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Undertake a comprehensive study on the causes and scope of this phenomenon and establish a comprehensive strategy to address the high and increasing number of street children with the aim of preventing and reducing this phenomenon; (b) Ensure that street children are provided with adequate nutrition, clothing, housing, health care and educational opportunities, including vocational and life-skills training, in order to support their full development;..."

Thus, joing the international solidarity appeals launched by the Zero Eviction Coalition Nigeria and the International Alliance of Inhabitants, so to give back hope to the poorest of the poor,

We firmly demand

The Government of Nigeria:

• to immediately stop all the demolitions and evictions
• to provide for the relocation of the evicted, and set a plan for the recovery of the slum areas in agreement with the interested communities in accordance with international norms
• to reject in totality its inordinate and self-centered agenda to handover lands own by the people to agents of privatization and markets to build houses, which ultimately are priced out of the reach of millions of ordinary Nigerians
• that finances used for the Abuja Master plan/beautification and evictions in the country are appropriated by the National Assembly in the Federal Government annual budgets
• that resources from debt cancellation be channeled on a 'Popular Fund for the Land and Housing Right' managed by all stakeholders including organizations of the inhabitants
• that a commission of inquiry be set up immediately to investigate the demolitions that have so far been made and accordingly, ensure that erring offenders are brought to book
• to guarantee the right to compensation for all the victims of the evictions, including the right of access to justice, restitution, recovery, compensation, amends and a guarantee that these violations will not be repeated again in future

The G8 and States Creditors to Nigeria:

• to permit the cancellation of debt only if the freed resources are allocated to the development of housing and urban policies for the poor, in particular that they are directed toward ‘Popular Funds for Land and Housing’ controlled by all the interested parties, including the inhabitants and organised civil society, with clear mechanisms to guarantee transparency block all investment in Nigeria if the effects of the investment violate international norms on rights
• to block all investments in Nigeria if their effects violate international norms on rights, particularly those concerning the FCT Master Plan and the privatization of the housing public real estate

The United Nations, the African Union and the European Union to take immediate action:

• to publicly condemn the evictions
• to provide a forum where the Government of Nigeria and all the interested parts including the recognised representatives of the inhabitants of the slums, international networks, NGOs and public agencies, can agree on the relocation of persons evicted in a manner agreed with the interested communities
• to guarantee security of tenure, the setting up of Popular Funds for Land and Housing, the reform and redistribution of land and access to basic public services.

To UN-Habitat:

• to supervise the respect of international norms protecting the housing rights with the sending of fact finding mission of the UN-Habitat Advisory Group on Forced Evictions to help and act as mediators

Signed:

Nigeria
* Priscilla Achakpa, ED, Women Environmental Programme (WEP)
* Francis Alimigbe, Co-ordinator, Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC)
* Clement Wasah, ED, Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP)
* Joseph Idahosa Amenaghawon, Snr. Program Officer Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC)
* Anthony Johnson Akpan, President Pan African Vision for the Environment (PAVE)
* Archbishop Dr. John O.Onaiyekan, President, Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria
* Dr. Kabiru Isyaku, Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE)
* C.W.Enwefah, Secretary General National Union of Tenants in Nigeria
* Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC)
* Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP)
* Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC)
* Socio Economic Rights Initiatives (SERI)
* Obi Christian
* International Action Network on Small Arms (Women’s Network)
* Africa Network on Environmental and Economic Justice (ANEEJ)
* Transition Monitoring Group (TMG)
* Network of African Peace Builders (NAPS)
* Women Right to Education Programme
* PAVE
* Mr. Leo Atakpu, Contact: Nigeria Network of Civil Society on Water and Sanitation in Nigeria
(NEWSAN)
* National Youth Council of Nigeria Tijiani Kabiru.
Internationals
* International Alliance of Inhabitants
* Vincenzo Simoni, Unione Inquilini, Italia
* Sidiki Daff, CERPAC, Senegal
* Yves Cabannes, Convenor UN-AGFE, USA
* Luz Maria Sanchez Hurtado, UN-AGFE Member, Estrategia, Perú
* Valerio Lopez, CONAM, Brasil
* Roger Muro, GIU, Peru
* Paul Maquet, CENCA, Peru

They signed the petition 1572 people!