Maroko was a community in Eti-Osa

Eti-Osa

Eti-Osa is a Local Government Area in the Lagos Division, of Lagos State, Nigeria. Within Eti-Osa are several important areas of Lagos, including Victoria Island, Lekki, and Ikoyi...

, Lagos State

Lagos State

Lagos State is an administrative division of Nigeria, located in the southwestern part of the country. The smallest in area of Nigeria's states, Lagos State is the most populous state in Nigeria and arguably the most economically important state of the country and west Africa, containing Lagos, the...

, Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. It was adjacent to Ikoyi

Ikoyi

Ikoyi is the most affluent neighborhood of Lagos, Nigeria, located on Lagos Island. It lies to the northeast of Obalende and encompasses the eastern half of Lagos Island and lies at the edge of the Lagos Lagoon...

 and east of Victoria Island

Victoria Island

Victoria Island is an island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the eighth largest island in the world, and at is Canada's second largest island. It is nearly double the size of Newfoundland , and is...

. It was a low income area that attracted a lot of migrants since it was in close proximity to economically robust areas. Flooding and sand-filling affected Maroko during its life.

In July 1990, the Lagos State government, under Raji Rasaki

Raji Rasaki

General Raji Alagbe Rasaki is a retired Nigerian military officer who was military governor in turn of Ogun State, Ondo State and Lagos State between 1986 and 1991 during the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida....

, evicted the residents of Maroko and demolished the community. The government said that Maroko was below sea level and needed to be filled in with sand and that Maroko needed infrastructure improvements. About 300,000 people lost their houses. It was one of the largest forced evictions in Nigerian history.

The former residents tried to get compensation in the Nigerian court system. In December 2008 the Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) and Debevoise & Plimpton

Debevoise & Plimpton

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a prominent international law firm based in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Eli Whitney Debevoise and William Stevenson, Debevoise has been a long established leader in corporate litigation and large financial transactions. In recent years, its practice has taken on an...

, filed a communication with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights is a quasi-judicial body tasked with promoting and protecting human rights and collective rights throughout the African continent as well as interpreting the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and considering individual complaints of...

, stating that the eviction violated the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights

African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights

The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights is an international human rights instrument that is intended to promote and protect human rights and basic freedoms in the African continent....

.

Maroko is a setting in the book Graceland by Chris Abani

Chris Abani

Christopher Abani is a Nigerian author. Abani's first novel, Masters of the Board, was about a Neo-Nazi takeover of Nigeria...

.

External links

• Agbola, Tunde and A. M. Jinadu. "Forced Eviction and Forced Relocation in Nigeria: the Experience of those evicted from Maroko in 1990." Environment and Urbanization, 1997 9: 271 DOI: 10.1177/095624789700900214