State government plans to demolish several slums in the unstable southern Nigerian city of Port Harcourt could spark ethnic tensions, fuel violence, and leave up to 100,000 homeless.

Rivers State Governor Celestine Omehia announced on 21 August his government would demolish 25 slum districts in the ramshackle waterfront area of the city that currently houses between 50,000 and 100,000 people, according to local estimates.

Omehia’s announcement followed several weeks of violence which culminated in running street battles in Port Harcourt between armed fighters on motorbikes and the army, which strafed several parts of the city with attack helicopters, and finally ended the violence by imposing a curfew. 

Omehia said the slums were hiding places and landing points for militia fighters and armed gangs who had made the oil-rich city one of the most insecure places in the country by frequently taking oil workers hostage for ransom, and attacking government troops and each other.

However, ethnic leaders have expressed fears that the slum clearances could backfire, and some of the rhetoric has assumed a distinctly ethnic tone, pitting against each other two ethnic groups with significant numbers in Port Harcourt and the region - the Ijaws and the Ikwerres.

Ijaw fears

“Our fears stem from the fact that residents of most of the waterfronts, especially the Okrikas who have for generations lived all their lives in these waterfronts and fishing settlements as original aborigines, will become homeless,” explained Miebaka Biapuka, spokesman of the Okrika Ethnic Nationality Survival Organisation.

For the residents of these waterfront slums who have borne much of the brunt of the fighting, it would be a cruel blow for them to have to lose their homes as well, said Biapuka.

Ikwerre opposition

Ijaw political leaders accuse Omehia, an Ikwerre, of having links to some of the armed gangs involved in the recent fighting in the city, and have called on Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua to declare emergency rule in Rivers State.

Emergency rule would mean Omehia stepping down from office for at least six months with an administrator appointed by the president running the state in the interim.

Ikwerre political leaders have already spoken out. In several newspaper adverts, Ikwerre political groups have denounced the call for emergency rule as subversive and called on Omehia to press on with efforts to rid Port Harcourt of militia fighters, welcoming the demolition plans.

“The moment these armed gangs start shooting along ethnic lines, the violence is bound to get worse,” Obudu Waritimi, a Port Harcourt resident and university teacher, told IRIN. “They will think they now have a cause to atone for their criminal past.”

Rebuilding

Omehia has promised to build 6,000 new housing units to replace the slums, and said the first phase of construction was already complete.

Local residents are sceptical. “The whole thing is so sudden and there are no plans about where to move us or any compensation,” said Dagogo Jack, a resident of Creek Road Waterside, one of the slum areas marked for destruction. “By the time they rebuild this place, it will be for the very rich and not poor people like us any more.”