Lagos and the burden of a megacity

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, is arguably the largest city state in West Africa with large commercial and industrial concentration which, together, have made it a destination for investment and employment for various skill sets.

By reason of its large population, Lagos is indisputably a mega city usually defined as a metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people. Lagos population is estimated at 20 million.

But, as a megacity, Lagos is a very difficult residential and commercial environment made worse by its small land area estimated at 3,577 square kilometers—about 0.4 percent of Nigeria’s total land area.

This small land size and its large population have placed a huge burden on the managers of the state and how well or otherwise they have been able to manage their status as a mega city is a big story.

Effective management of people and place demands a well thought and laid out process which seems to be, unfortunately, lacking in Lagos, looking at its poor transport system and grossly inadequate and largely collapsing infrastructure.

Transportation system in Lagos and the attendant city-wide gridlock are worrisome. They are such that experts who spoke at a webinar hosted by the United State’s Consulate, Lagos noted that they impact negatively on the state’s economy by killing productivity.

Increasing gridlock, according to them, also limits growth of businesses, causes severe physical and mental stress for the average Lagosian who stays in traffic for an average of 10 hours a day in order to carry out his daily activities.

Looking at the daily life and living in Lagos, it does seem that the state is just content with its description as a mega city. The filth, the chaos on the roads where traders compete for space with motorists who drive as though there is commotion and everybody is attempting an escape, all make the city a hoax.

In the midst, it is surprising that Lagos aspires to become a smart city and a 21st Century Economy. Somebody has to be told that it is not enough to just wish to be one. The city needs to do what other mega, smart cities and thriving economies of the world have done to be what and where they are today.

We agree with Robin Hutcheson, director of public works, Minneapolis, USA, that Lagos is fast becoming a world economy that is growing rapidly. But to support the growth of its economy, the state needs investment in its transportation system, bearing in mind that investors would only come if they see there is an ease for people to get to work.

Besides repurposing space and effectively removing more people per hour and per lane by converting a lot of space to bus-only lane, we are of the view that Lagos needs to urgently improve traffic situation by investing in a three-leg transport system such as rail, mass buses transit and ferries, which will also drive job creation and business growth. There should be some sanity on the roads too.

But that is not all. Poor and insufficient infrastructure stock is at the core of Lagos transportation problem. Apart from undeveloped water-ways, rail transportation for mass movement is non-existent in this city with its large population. This lack derives from failure of policies in the state.

The failure of policies, in turn, is the reason for the inability of the state to revolutionise its public mass transit system, and to focus more on functional water transportation system as a way of utilising the natural resource it has as a coastal city.

For 11 years, the state has been working on its well intentioned rail system planned to move people massively from Okokomaiko to Marina on Lagos Island. It is the same story for the reconstruction and expansion of the Lagos-badagry Expressway from four to 10 lanes.

It beats the imagination that the socio-economic benefits of that road project in terms of business opportunities and increased real estate activities all of which will generate revenue to the state are lost on a government that is so passionate about economic growth and citizens’ well-being.

Consciously or unconsciously, Lagos seems to gloss-over infrastructure maintenance. Here is a state where roads transportation accounts for over 90 percent of its entire transportation system, yet most of the roads are in terrible condition.

It appears to us that the idea of a stitch in time saves nine is foreign here. Roads are left to deteriorate terribly and collapse before they attract government attention. This too explains, in part, why drainages are left to fester with garbage until rains come with flooding that submerges homes and communities.

It is our well considered opinion that in a city as large and economically viable as Lagos, roads infrastructure must not be left to deteriorate. The repairs we see occasionally are necessary, but are poorly timed, creating the impression that government’s empathy is non-existent.

We see hope in this state based of its growth potentials, but we believe that becoming a mega city goes beyond sheer number. We believe that the state can do better by decongesting the city centre by building and/or maintaining its roads infrastructure, and also sanisting its environment which is suffocating at the moment.