The dusty streets of Oworonshoki are now a landscape of loss. Where homes and businesses once stood, only broken blocks and twisted roofing sheets remain. Here, in the shadow of a government demolition, the human cost is measured in tears and the desperate sale of a fan for a meal.

Following the Lagos State Government’s midnight demolition of waterfront settlements, the women of Oworonshoki are piecing together shattered lives. With no shelter and no relief in sight, they sift through the debris, not for sentiment, but for survival.

Rebecca, a mother with a spinal injury, sits beside her rusted cooking pot. Her home and food shop are gone. The fan she bought for ₦35,000 is now a bargaining chip with a scrap collector, its value reduced to whatever she can get to buy food.

Nearby, Grace Manu wonders how she will restart her vegetable business or find a new home. “Rent in other areas is over a million naira,” she says, her voice heavy with despair. “Where do I get that kind of money?”

The demolition didn’t just erase buildings; it erased futures. A school is gone, disrupting children’s education. Businesses are buried, and a community is scattered, left to sleep under makeshift tents and the open sky. The government’s mission to “reclaim the right-of-way” has, for these families, meant the loss of everything they had.