Abstract:
The upheaval of forced displacement and the
more arduous task of resettlement have been
known to give rise to a whole spectrum of
unprecedented problems and challenges, for
all actors involved. Although forced
displacements have constantly being on the
increase due to the increase of factors such as
conflicts, natural disasters and even massive
development projects. Yet, each case
regardless of its cause or location needs to be
handled using strategies that are situation
and culture-specific to enhance a
resettlement scheme that is holistic.
However, where a government initiated
resettlement programme is not forthcoming,
strategies for self-settlement are often
adopted.
The study is spurred from a ruling given by the
International Court of Justice in 2003, in
which the peninsula on the eastern border of
Nigeria was ceded to Cameroon. This
secession affected most of the fishing
communities that had originally inhabited the
region referred to as the Bakassi Peninsula,
inciting many to forcefully relocate away from
the region. The result of this action was the
permanent displacement of an estimated
10,000 people, most of whom were migrant
fishermen of the Ijaw ethnic origin.
Although the resettlement of Internally
Displaced Persons (IDP) is a direct
responsibility of the government of Nigeria,
the emergency management agency was ill-prepared
to handle such situations of mass
displacement. As such, the IDPs were placed
in government built transit camps with poor,
unhygienic conditions and lacking basic
sanitary facilities as well as other
infrastructure. The transit camp which later
became referred to as the "Returnee camp"
was originally intended for short stay until a
more permanent solution, such as
resettlement housing or cash compensation
would be provided.
Three years on, and what was intended as a
temporary facility to shelter the displaced
migrant fishermen, is fast becoming a
permanent squatter settlement in the heart
of the city, as families continually adapt the
buildings to suit their needs. The proposed
resettlement housing scheme has been
abandoned and the option of compensation is
locked in bureaucratic stalemate. With no
foreseeable resettlement plan, the IDPs have
developed several self-settlement strategies
to create income and cope with the
challenges of urban housing amidst growing
families. One of such strategies involves
making alterations to improve the livability of
the environment and the impermanent
shelters, which they find themselves now
trapped in.
This paper explores how architectural
modifications have been made to the camp
shelters and the immediate environment to
improve livability, over a three year period. It
also examines the influences of original
vernacular built forms of the migrant
fishermen on the architectural modifications
made to these shelters in the IDP camp.
The phrase "Trapped in impermanence" is^
borrowed from Goswani's (2006) thoughts on
the state in which IDPs lived along the
national highway 31, in Western Assam, India.