BEYOND THE BRIDGE: RETHINKING HOMELESSNESS IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

Sa'adu and many others living under Obalende bridge

Lagos is often described as a city of opportunity. People move there believing that if they work hard enough, they can find a job, make money, and build a better life. In an interview that I did for a recent project on homelessness in Lagos, I came across one phrase that stuck with me “greener pasture”. The interviewee said some people come to Lagos without having a proper place to stay and assume that they will get jobs there when they arrive. Motor parks, markets, bridges, transportation terminals can then become locations where they remain since these locations are accessible to people, transportation and informal employment. This gave me a different perspective on homelessness. Instead of asking only why someone is sleeping under a bridge, we should also ask: Why that bridge? What makes that location special?

 An answer to that question can be found in the book Spatial Justice: A Frame for Reclaiming Our Rights to Be, Thrive, Express and Connect by Bailey, Lobenstine and Nagel. They are interested in the concept of “Spatial Links”; whether people have access to jobs, transportation, food, services, and other resources (Bailey et al., 2021). This can be particularly helpful when considering homelessness in Lagos, as areas where homelessness can be seen are areas which are extremely connected. Olajide et al. (2026), in their study of homelessness in Lagos Metropolis, found homeless people around motor parks, markets, transport terminals, flyovers, pedestrian bridges, and beaches. These locations are not random. A significant number of these are areas where people can look for employment, walk around the city, socialize with other people, or get informal jobs.

Among the 188 homeless respondents, Olajide et al. (2026) also found that 51.6 percent said they wanted the government to provide jobs and 40.4 percent said they wanted decent and affordable housing in accessible places. That is important because housing and employment cannot easily be separated. People may have jobs but not have enough money to pay their rent. At the same time, moving someone into cheap housing far from where they work can create another problem through higher transportation costs and weaker access to the networks that help them survive. A house is not automatically a solution if its location makes everyday life harder.

 The additional layer is provided by Kellett and Moore's Routes to Home. They argue that home is more than physical shelter; it is also connected to belonging, relationships, privacy, control, security, and being part of a social world (Kellett & Moore, 2003). This became more real to me when I read the BBC report on a man called Liya'u Sa'udu who has been living under Obalende Bridge in Lagos for some 30 years. There are over 60 men living there, a community known as “Karkashin Gada,” or “Under the Bridge,” according to the BBC. Sa’adu earned money collecting scrap metal and helped newer arrivals understand how to survive in Lagos (Abubakar, 2024). Although living under a bridge is not a safe place or a place to live, the story demonstrates that people can build relationships, routines, and mutual support in challenging environments.

Sa'adu working under Obalende bridge

This poses a complex spatial justice issue. What happens to people after they are removed from under the bridge? If there is no affordable housing nearby and the bridge provides access to transportation, food, work, and community, removing people may make homelessness less visible without actually solving it. Bailey et al.’s ideas about the right to “be” and “connect” are useful here. The point is not that people should permanently live under bridges. The question is, does the city provide them with viable options, where they can stay connected to the opportunities upon which they rely?

From these readings and the examples from the city of Lagos, I learned that homelessness is more than a matter of having a place to sleep and not having a place to sleep. It's also about who has the money to stay in the city, who can live close to the job, who can get around the city and use services, and who is welcome in the city. While Lagos can be “greener pasture,” it doesn't always mean secure housing. A more just response must then be more than a mere physical displacement of people from visible areas. It should make affordable housing and jobs, transportation, services, and community reachable. Spatial justice asks us to look not only at where people live, but at what those places allow them to do and whether they are able to belong.

 

References

Abubakar, M. (2024). “I’ve been sleeping under a bridge in Lagos for 30 years.” BBC News.

Bailey, K., Lobenstine, L., & Nagel, K. (2021). Spatial justice: A frame for reclaiming our rights to be, thrive, express and connect. Design Studio for Social Intervention.

Kellett, P., & Moore, J. (2003). Routes to home: Homelessness and home-making in contrasting societies. Habitat International.

Olajide, O., Afon, A., Faniran, G., Afolabi, H., & Oladunni, G. O. (2026). Addressing homelessness: Lessons and responses from Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria. International Research Journal of Multidisciplinary Scope