Challenges for the Emerging Mega-City of Lagos
This analysis from Nigeria's Daily Independent looks at the challenges facing Lagos, the country's biggest city, as it grows into a global mega-city.
Sprawl, inadequate infrastructure, and the scarcity of clean water remain some of the city's major challenges.
"Nigerian cities such as Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Kaduna and Calabar grow mainly through rural-urban migration. This urbanisation process has outpaced the existing urban management system. 1996 World Bank reports on Nigeria indicated that the growth rate of urban areas has increased from 20 percent in 1970 to 33 percent in 1993. It is also projected that by the year 2025, 75 percent of Nigeria’s population of about 245 million persons is expected to live in towns and cities.
Basic problems in Nigeria’s urban management include inadequate professional and supporting technical staff as well as inadequacy of current digitized data and information on urban conditions. Effective urban management strategies depend on comprehensive and up to-date information base."
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No more mega-cities
Underlying this topic is that of scale in constructing cities. Mega cities aren't natural.
Mega cities often are home to thousands of residents who were forced off of their previous rural lands, seeking work in the city to survive. They are the product of neo-liberal economic policies and efforts to emulate Western development.
Think villages, first.