Nigeria’s homeless: Sleeping under a Lagos bridge for 30 years

It is unclear how many people sleep on Lagos’ streets, but non-governmental organisations say they are up to half-a-million.

In the last few months, the Karkashin Gada community has come under heavy pressure from the Lagos state environmental task force.

Its officers carry out occasional raids as they say people are living there illegally.

Those arrested risk fines of up to 20,000 naira ($12; £9), a week’s income for many of the people living under the bridge.

“They come at around 1am or 2am, to arrest people sleeping here. Where do they want us to go?” Mr Garba says, adding that by morning most “residents” will have returned.

He urges the government to show compassion, and “to look into the issue of housing so that poor people like us can get good places to live”.

But in Nigeria, the government does not provide shelter for homeless people. Nor is there any plan to do so.

Instead, the current focus in Lagos is on helping people on low salaries – such as cleaners, drivers and messengers in offices – to buy homes.

For people like Mr Sa’adu, any type of housing in Lagos is unaffordable – renting a shack in an informal settlement costs around 100,000 naira ($48; £62) a year, while in a working-class area, a small apartment costs around 350,000 naira ($220; £170) annually.

Worse still, many landlords demand a year’s rent at the time of occupation, with no plans by the government to regulate the market despite the fact that the cost-of-living crisis is making housing unaffordable for even some young professionals.

Against this backdrop, the likes of Mr Sa’adu have resigned themselves to continue living under Obalende Bridge.

“Considering what I do, it’s difficult to save enough to get a decent place to stay,” he says as he lies on his mattress with the noise of vehicles driving just above his head.

“I am already used to the sound of cars. It doesn’t affect my sleep at all especially after a tired day,” he adds.