Rising seas have flooded this Lagos town three times. Can it survive?

As waves and storms erode the Okun Alfa shoreline, the locals fight on – and hope a Yoruba deity can help where politicians have failed

“This beach used to be full of life,” says Henry Franc, the owner of Space Tavern, as he walks along Alpha Beach in Lagos on a rainy morning, indicating dozens of collapsed homes and shops. “All these stores belonged to people.” He gestures to a ruined structure – the entirety of the second half of the building is destroyed but you can still see the roof and what were once the window panes sticking out of the sand. “That was a church.”

When Franc, 33, first set up the simple wooden beach hut that is Space Tavern five years ago, the shore was a good distance away. Today, Space Tavern is just a few feet from the lapping waves. Soon his tavern might be gone, too.