Description
Lagos is the capital of Nigeria and home to an estimated 15–20 million people, making its population larger than London or Beijing. As the largest and fastest-growing city in sub-Saharan Africa (estimates are that 600,000 people are added to Lagos’ population each year), Lagos is in desperate need of developing and maintaining infrastructure
to support its population, while supporting its claim as a high-technology hub on the African continent. Considering
that about 85% of the world’s population resides in the developing world and transitioning economies, and nearly
two-thirds of that population is below the age of 35, the need for infrastructure to support critical human needs is im-
mense. About 70% of the city’s population is believed to live in slums, while a 2006 United Nations report estimated
that only 10% of households in the Lagos Metropolitan area were directly connected to a municipal water supply. In
spite of these problems, Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy, driven by economic growth in Lagos, home to film and
fashion industries, financial markets, and consumer goods manufacturers.
The list of critical items on the list for urban improvement is large. For example, for a city of more than 15 million,
electricity is scarcely to be found. Lagos power stations only generate a mere 2,000 megawatts of electricity—less than
half of that available for a single city block in midtown Manhattan! “We have about two hours, maybe, of public power
a day,” says Kola Karim, CEO of Nigeria’s Shoreline Energy International. “It’s unbearable.” Everywhere in the city people are using gasoline or diesel generators to supply power when the inevitable rolling blackouts resume.
Additionally, Lagos is critically short on housing. To overcome this shortage people of Lagos resort to living in
shanty towns, one such shanty town is Makoko. Makoko is situated on the mainland’s Lagos lagoon. Home to several
hundred thousand inhabitants, Makoko lacks access to basic services, including clean drinking water, electricity, and
waste disposal, and is prone to severe environmental and health hazards. Consisting of rickety dwellings on stilts
perched over the foul-smelling lagoon, Makoko is one of the many chaotic human settlements that have sprouted in
Lagos in recent years. As these cities spread out and move too close to major bridges or electrical towers, the govern-
ment periodically sends in troops to demolish portions of the floating village.
How did the city get to this point? A big reason was a lack of forethought and development planning. In metropolitan Lagos there are 20,000 people per square kilometer with thousands more arriving each day. Given the physical
constraints of the city, originally built on a narrow strip of land and bordering the ocean, there is just not enough space
to absorb the new inhabitants. Urban planning, as we know it today, simply did not exist and the city swelled organically, without forethought or a sense of direction. Thus, Lagos has no urban transportation system, few functioning traffic lights, and a crumbling and outdated road system.
The problems do not stop there. Land prices in Lagos are extremely high, due to lack of space for commercial
development. However, because of the unreliable electricity supply that makes elevator use questionable, there
are few high-rise apartments or office buildings in the city. Banks have been reluctant to invest in real estate trans-
actions because of past failures and general economic instability. Faced with the need to drastically change the
direction of the city, Babatunde Fashola, Lagos’ visionary governor who took power in 2010, has launched a series of urban development projects to address a variety of the city’s needs. Fashola has announced $50 billion in new
infrastructure projects for Lagos, to be developed over the next 10 years. These new project initiatives include the
following:
Lagos Metro Blue line
The blue line is a major cosmopolitan light-rail transport project to connect districts in Nigeria’s largest city. Designed
to ease congestion and speed up journey times for the city’s inhabitants, the Blue Line will run between Marina and
Okokomaiko, stopping at 13 stations, and is part of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit program implemented by the govern-
ment. Originally proposed in 2008, funding issues have pushed the launch of the Blue Line back to at least 2015. The
Line is set to cost $1.2 billion and will be funded by the Lagos State Government.
Eko Atlantic
Eko Atlantic is an ambitious land reclamation project, a pioneering residential and business development located on
Victoria Island, along its upmarket Bar Beach coastline. The project is being built on three and a half square miles of
land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean and is expected to provide accommodation for 250,000 people and employ-
ment opportunities for a further 150,000. The complex will function as a city-within-a-city, including recreational
facilities, business and shopping districts, and modern conveniences.
Bus rapid-transit System
To ease the crush of public transportation, the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system was introduced 10 years ago to
streamline and modernize the motley collection of buses that had transported residents around the city. Lagos has
long suffered from an unregulated transportation system in which a variety of different “buses,” ranging from bat-
tered minibuses to old, yellow-painted school buses, competed for customers. Fares were also unregulated, leaving drivers free to charge whatever fares they chose. “They might charge $1 in the morning for one trip one way and by
afternoon they can go to $3,” says Dayo Mobereola, managing director of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport
Authority, noting that commuters spend on average 40% of their income on transportation. Before the project was
announced, the city had projected that it would transport 60,000 passengers daily, but now it transports over 200,000
passengers daily. The BRT system has reduced waiting times at bus stops, the travel time across the city, all at a reduced rate when compared to the old system.
Schools, Bridges, and Power Plants
Part of the aggressive infrastructure modernization includes improving traffic by building the first suspension bridge
in West Africa, as well as adding a number of new schools around the city. Two new power plants are also slated to be
constructed, bringing a more dependable source of power to the city, including powering street lights to ease crime
and other problems. The city has even launched a fleet of brand new garbage trucks to deal with the 10,000 tons of
waste generated every day.
Lagos’ modernization efforts in recent years have come not a moment too soon in support of its citizens. As
Professor Falade observed, these efforts to modernize the city’s facilities are a breath of fresh air. “The difference is
clear, the evidence is the improved landscape of Lagos in the urban regeneration project.