UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF SETTLEMENT PATTERN IN MAKOKO AREA OF LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Current global trends in urban development with the backing of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals stipulate and emphasize the importance of protecting the rights of indigenous people who live in indigenous slum communities. Today, global trends in urban development are expected to be based on the understanding of existing priorities and evolution of indigenous communities. However, in Makoko area of Lagos State, where many of the residents are an integral part of the city, their right to live safely within the city is not recognized or protected. The lack of a comprehensive policy on the distribution and access to land has resulted in social and structural inequalities, resulting in poor living and environmental conditions in informal settlements. The paper questions the urban development policies of the Lagos State government which are often stratified and based on segregated systems, where the poorest and less educated do not hold security of land tenure. The paper aims to examine the historical and social dynamics of settlement pattern in Makoko area of Lagos State and the strong attachment to place often exhibited by the indigenous residents. The research utilizes the social choice theory as a method for explaining the social stratification of access to land in Makoko. The paper reveals that Makoko residents are not opposed to policies that improve their wellbeing as long as they are guaranteed rights of occupancy and the right to remain after renovation exercises. This paper argues that although residents of Makoko are regarded as an indigent population, they are clearly very rational and have made calculated choices to live within the city in order to ensure their continued access to the limited socioeconomic opportunities available to them. The Lagos State government come up with better pro-poor policies that will guarantee security of tenure to the residents of Makoko as this may also encourage them to come up with several community development initiatives which will yield positive results.