Located in one of Nigeria’s biggest informal settlements, the Makoko Floating School is an innovative new building that can house up to 100 students and teachers.
The pyramid-shaped structure is buoyed by over 200 plastic barrels and is able to withstand tidal changes and extreme weather patterns.
The 100-year-old slum is home to thousands of people whose major source of income is fishing, sand harvesting and timber trading
Nicknamed the Venice of Lagos, Nigeria’s Makoko slum is home to nearly 100,000 people.
Residents, who are mostly fishermen, live on stilts in the lagoon and move between their houses by canoe.
47 students currently study here. The Floating School offers free education but receives funding from donors.
Makoko was designated for demolition in 2013 which would have left many homeless.
Most residents in the slum are migrants from other countries in West Africa trying to make a living in Nigeria.
Majority of Lagosians live in what are effectively slums with no reliable electricity or water.
Projects like Makoko’s Floating School are helping to address some of the growing challenges
of climate change and urbanization that people here face.
CCTV’S Maria Galang with this report.
