Urbanizing Lagos, In Whose Interest?

Half the world’s population live in urban areas and taking the lead on the world’s fastest urbanizing region is the Sub-Saharan African region.

As advanced societies transition towards building more sustainable and equitable towns and cities, the commercial hub of Africa’s most populous nation where I live and work, seeks to transform into Africa’s model mega city. In whose interest?

The city of Lagos has been on massive campaigns to promote its vision for the state to become a center for global business as a way to attract investors.

To many who have heard about the government’s ‘strides’ towards making it a mega city but have never lived in the two major parts of Lagos, it would be difficult to imagine the state as what it truly is. I have experienced this city as nothing but a neighborhood of over-crowded slums in the Mainland cohabiting with luxurious estates on the Island. In this sense, Lagos depicts perfectly the image of inequality.

When the Lagos state government signed a multi-billion dollar concession deal to reclaim 9 million square meters land in 2006, many were optimistic the project would serve as a strategic business hub for all Lagos residents. The plan appeared to focus on local economic growth for the benefit of all. Thirteen years down the line, it has become clear that the middle class may not even access the gains of that mega city.

Citizens expectations of the mega city are not far-fetched. The availability of structures to address poverty and sustainable economic growth as well as the integration of diverse demographic groups’ needs, in the present and for the future are reasonable expectations.

My long-held concerns for the region’s development always have been the adoption of models without adapting to local needs and context. It seems to be a recurring approach that undermines the development of Sub-Saharan Africa and her people.

The city of Lagos with all its investment promises and prospects needs to take a critical look at the prevailing problems of traffic congestion, inadequate housing, poor waste disposal, unemployment and social deviance to qualify as a mega city.

The two major operational sea ports in the country located in the state have made the city of Lagos a kind of torture. The experiences of residents like me exposed to risks as we navigate through the fury of road users and the fumes of trucks lined on the bridges are a clear indication that this model of urbanization portends more danger than good.

In the view of many, relieving the pressure on the state’s infrastructure due to over-population ought to take priority over the construction of imposing towers on the shorelines of the Atlantic ocean for the wealthy few.

As the United Nation promotes urbanization as providing unprecedented opportunities to transition to a green economy, cities like Lagos are well placed to play a major role in finding a better balance between social and environmental as well as economic objectives.

The elites and government of Lagos must think about what gains to harness from urbanization and in whose interest it serves _ the Haves’, the Haves’-not or those in-between?