A boy sits in a canoe in front of a shed built on a raft in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. Makoko, a vast slum of houses on stilts in a Lagos lagoon, now boasts a new school – pyramid-shaped, floating and capable of withstanding the waterways' extreme weather, it is a beacon of hope for the nearly 100,000 Nigerians who live there. With room for 100 pupils, the school – built with locally sourced wood and floating on hundreds of recycled plastic barrels – throws a spotlight on the poverty that pervades the commercial hub of Africa's most populous nation. Aid-funded Makoko Floating School offers free education to local children, most of whose parents fish for a living and who, like most of the megacity's 21 million residents, lack a reliable electricity and water supply. Makoko was established as a fishing village hundreds of years ago but now climate change and rapid urbanization are threatening its way of life. The school, designed by Nigerian architect Kunle Adeyemi, can adapt to changing water levels and was built specifically to withstand the storms and floods that are common in the four-month-long rainy season. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





A view of the Makoko fishing community is seen from top of a floating school on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. In Makoko, a sprawling slum of Nigeria's megacity Lagos, a floating school capable of holding up to a hundred pupils has since November brought free education to the waterways known as the Venice of Lagos. It offers the chance of social mobility for youngsters who, like most of the city's 21 million inhabitants, lack a reliable electricity and water supply and whose water-based way of life is threatened by climate change as well as rapid urbanisation. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





A girl selling fuel in bottles sits in a canoe under a shed in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





Structures built on a raft are seen in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





A woman cooks on a canoe in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





Students who attend a floating school travel on a canoe to school in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





A student arrives at a floating school on a canoe in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





Students who attend a floating school arrive by canoe to school in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





Writing is seen on a plank at a floating school in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





The Makoko floating school is seen anchored in the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





A student of a floating school sweeps the floor of a classroom before the start of lessons in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





Students stand on the terrace near the entrance of a classroom at a floating school in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





A girl sings during morning devotion before the start of classes at a floating school in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





Students read a book at the Makoko floating school on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





A teacher writes on the board at a floating school in Makoko fishing community on Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)





A student stands on a bench to write on the board at a floating school in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)