The village of Makoko in Nigeria is located on a lagoon on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean floats on a lagoon in the center of Lagos. Houses in Makoko are built on sticks. Canoes are the main kind of transportation. Makoko by its status as an illegal settlement, the government is fighting in court to tear down the village, which some call a slum, this is their home. The populations estimates 150,000 to 250,000 people live here in Makoko.
Makoko used to be a small fishing village built by fishermen who came from Benin to make money more than a hundred years ago, before it grew into an illegally constructed. The population now consists mainly of migrant workers from West African countries, trying to make a living in Nigeria.
Makoko is believed to be more than 100 years old. The wooden houses look like they are about to fall down. To make money, people sell fish under the bridges of Lagos busy roads. Hundreds of local children do not go to school. Those who do cannot fit into the village?s one schoolhouse, which is slowly sinking into the water.
