A new survey on living conditions in the world’s major cities has put a damper on claims to top-notch megacity status for Lagos, Nigeria’s premier city, by the eponymous state government. The Global Liveability Index 2021 prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Lagos as the second-worst city to live in, at 139th of 140 major world cities ranked. It beat only Syria’s Damascus and was worse than another war-torn city, Libya’s Tripoli, that was ranked 135th.
This is a wake-up message for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Despite the huge expenditure over the past two decades, Lagos remains far from delivering the optimal infrastructure, social services, and security for its 21 million people. Transforming Lagos from a megacity to a hyper city requires management methods that align city-level development with metropolitan planning.
This rating by the EIU, a unit of The Economist Group, London, is hardly surprising to residents, the business community, and visitors. It was based on a survey undertaken between February 22 and March 21, this year and focused on five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. With an emphasis on how cities are faring and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, it examined issues such as the rollout of vaccinations, the ability to handle health crises and border closures. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Algiers, Algeria were ranked third, fourth and fifth worst liveable. Lagos, sadly, ranked worst in Africa. This is pathetic. It had ranked 130th out of 140 in 2018 and 138th in 2016 on the GLI.
Lagos has earned a reputation for filth and disorderliness for decades. It is a city of contrasts, an urban agglomeration that encompasses 14 of the state’s 20 local government areas. Its story reflects the Nigerian experience writ large of infrastructure and social services falling far behind population growth. It is the country’s industrial, commercial, and financial powerhouse and until 1990, the federal capital. Its ports account for 70 per cent of maritime trade and 90 per cent of foreign trade. It hosts 65 per cent of the industry, 70 per cent of all investment and over 80 per cent of financial transactions. It counts over 2,000 manufacturing concerns and over 200 financial institutions.
It provides 26.7 per cent of national GDP and at $136 billion, would be the fifth-largest economy in Africa if it were a country. It is a magnet for millions seeking jobs, business opportunities and an escape from rural squalor. Though having the smallest land area among Nigeria’s 36 states, it accounts for the largest rural-urban migration in the country. The state government estimates that thousands of persons enter the city weekly, and a large number stay put. Facebook, the social media platform, ranked Lagos the global leader in urban migration in 2014 and it is projected by the UN-Habitat as the third most populous after Tokyo, Japan and Delhi, India.
From 1984 onwards until 1999, infrastructure rollout and renewal did not keep up with exponential population growth. While skyscrapers, modern buildings and opulence are evident in some places, slums also multiplied and social services are stretched. Only 10 per cent of the population has a regular supply of water from the state water utility. A 2016 report estimated daily demand at 724 million gallons while production was 317 million gallons, leaving most residents to rely on wells, boreholes, streams, and rainwater. Power is in short supply. Educational, health and sanitation services are inadequate. The UN estimates the housing deficit at 2.6 million units.
The daunting challenges have not been for lack of effort. Indeed, successive state administrations have striven to upgrade infrastructure and services. A series of multi-year and multi-sector master plans are ongoing, encompassing all parts of the state. Infrastructure projects dot the state. In a country where governance at the federal, state, and local levels is miserably poor, Lagos is still regarded as the star performer. Its internally generated revenue of N418.98 billion in 2020 dwarfed those of other states, and save for oil-rich Rivers, is the only truly self-sustaining state in the country.
But the efforts are simply not enough. Many problems are self-inflicted. Take transport; efforts to instil order in the notoriously chaotic traffic snarls have floundered due to the failure of strict and sustained law enforcement. Yet, Danne Research Institute estimates annual losses of N4 trillion and 14.12-million man-hours lost yearly due to traffic congestion. Lawlessness on the highways is a great disincentive to business and investment. With 40 per cent of all vehicles in the country clogging Lagos roads, chaos reigns and the average commuter wastes three hours daily on the daily commute.
There should be urban planning for Lagos. A transport plan aimed at addressing traffic congestion in megacities should be initiated and implemented. The governor needs to direct strict enforcement of traffic laws, roll out at a faster rate the planned inter-modal transport system –road, rail, water, and air. Commercial motorcycles are inappropriate for an aspiring, smart megacity and should be phased out. He needs to also speed up all delayed infrastructure projects, the Lagos-Badagry highway reconstruction, the light rail projects, the Fourth Mainland Bridge and electricity supply and waterworks projects. Focus on infrastructure, social services, housing, transport, and law enforcement.
The tax net should be widened and made more efficient. Too many persons, both the rich and poor, are either not paying at all or underpaying. Lagos suffers decay because the local government system has collapsed; the LGs should be rejuvenated to provide services-markets, housing, sanitation, primary health, roads, and water supply. The government must tame land grabbers, the Omo oniles making land acquisition so difficult.
Sanwo-Olu needs to crush rampant criminality that has forced Western governments to issue travel advisories to their citizens and investors. The street gangs/cults, thugs, armed robbers, and kidnappers terrorising Lagosians must be tracked down, arrested, and prosecuted. State security outfits should be equipped and armed. The strategy of strong support for federal security agencies should be accompanied by local initiatives; the state should establish its own arm of Amotekun, the South-West regional security agency.
Beyond projects, Lagos should henceforth roll out autonomous comprehensive economic plans and collaborate with neighbouring states, especially Ogun, in housing, agriculture, transport and industry.
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