Today, Victoria Island is one of Nigeria's busiest centres of banking and commerce, with most major Nigerian and international corporations headquartered on the Island. Originally designated an upscale residential area, failing infrastructure and overcrowding in the old business district on Lagos Island and lax zoning enforcement in Victoria Island led to a mass migration of businesses over the last twenty-five years. This new, enlarged area is referred to as "Oniru Estate" after the ruling family of the area. Subsequent reclamation expanded the area to the extent that Victoria Island Annex is now connected to the Lekki Peninsula. It was cleared and sold to residential buyers. This new area established after the evictions was called Victoria Island Annex. Governor Rasaki and his armed security forces caused the eviction of as many as 300,000 residents, some of whom had legal title to their property. Residents of the Island complained about this problem, leading the military Governor of the State, Raji Rasaki, to forcibly remove the residents on 14 July 1990, resulting in numerous injuries. The area of the land bridge, composed of the former swampland, became a large slum called Maroko Town which housed many of the new migrants to Lagos State. This activity, along with the rapid commercialization of Victoria Island, served to stimulate residential development along the Lekki-Epe corridor, starting with Lekki Phase 1. Īfter independence, successive state governments expanded this development, culminating in the construction of a highway connecting Victoria Island to Epe. This created a land bridge between Victoria Island and Lekki Peninsula ending its existence as a true island. The colonial government began the process of filling in the eastern swamps to reduce mosquito breeding areas. It was bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the south, the mouth of the Lagos Lagoon on the West, the Five Cowrie Creek to the North, and swamps on the East. Victoria Island was originally surrounded entirely by water. The inhabitants were later resettled at Maroko village. In 1948, the Lagos Executive Development Board paid 250,000 pounds as compensation for the land acquired from the Oniru family and an additional 150,000 pounds as compensation for the inhabitants and shrines destroyed. A large part of the Island was originally part of jurisdiction of the Oniru chieftaincy family of Lagos with tenants inhabiting the land.
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