Slum from the perspective of the United Nations is when a household with a group of individuals lives under the same roof with one or more of the following conditions; access to improved water, access to improved sanitation, sufficient living area, durability of housing and security of tenure lacking. Urban slums with its attendant consequences such as crime in various forms, theft, drug abuse, underfed residents, and high rate of unemployment among several others are a global phenomenon. This shouldn’t be a surprise in today’s world where more than half of the world’s population currently lives in urban areas.
Nigeria, as a developing country, for instance, has been trying since early post-independence years to deal with slums, squatter and illegal settlements which came about as a result of rapid population increase, compounded by inadequate supply of housing and or inadequate supply of land for residential purposes, abject poverty, and economic incapability of low-income urban residents.
Urban regeneration has emerged as a tool for re-planning of cities and towns around the World, Nigeria inclusive. It has over the years been applied in correcting urban dis-functionalities such as urban decay, urban denigration, economic obsolescence and social deprivation.
Ever before independence, Lagos has been one of the most sprawling urban centres in Nigeria. Lagos keeps appealing to people for a number of reasons such as job opportunities, easy access to amenities, trade, commerce and nearness to seaports. Being a former capital of Nigeria, Lagos has become Africa’s top economic and social hub with a reasonably better public transport, providing jobs to many people in different spheres of endeavor.
A lot of Nigerians would stop at nothing to be in Lagos because of their perception of the city as a haven for economic growth, development and prosperity. And the truth is Lagos has changed the fortune of many Nigerians for good. Thus, rural-urban drift has remained on the increase since the 1960s when Nigeria became independent, and has also remained a big challenge. Migrants from within and outside the country, particularly from the West Africa sub region troops to Lagos on a daily basis in search of job opportunities and better living conditions. I could still remember the expulsion from Nigeria of about two million undocumented West African migrants, half of who were Ghanaians in 1983.
The reality of the situation however is that shelter, accommodation, safety, rest and jobs which migrants thought are readily available in Lagos are not there. Most of the migrants who cannot afford house rents due to the economic hardship being experienced in most countries of the world and especially in urban centers ends up living in informal settlements, mostly without basic infrastructure and social amenities such as electricity, pipe-borne water, good drainages, well-connected and tarred roads and other conveniences that gives life a meaning. These informal settlements in addition to other parameters are used by the World Health Organisation to rate countries poor and impoverished.
The outbreak of bubonic plague in Lagos in the 1950s brought to the fore the need for urban renewal and regeneration at that time. Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB) was established to kick-start the process of Urban Renewal in Lagos State then. The Board was later changed to Lagos State Urban Renewal Board and later to Lagos State Urban Renewal Authority before its present name of Lagos State Urban Renewal Agency (LASURA).
LASURA is saddled with the responsibility of identifying slum/informal settlements and ensure that these settlements are regenerated into what can be described as urban communities. Figures obtained from research and statistics department of LASURA indicates that as at early 2022, the agency had identified one hundred and sixty-nine (169) slum and informal settlements in Lagos State.
LASURA is currently working on Bariga, Shomolu, Isale Akoka, Badia, Makoko, Obalende and a host of other communities with the aim of regenerating and bringing them to acceptable standards.
But then, considering the number of slum communities so far identified, it will be difficult for the entire budget of Lagos State Urban Renewal Agency or Lagos State Government in its entirety to single handedly solve the problem of slum communities in Lagos. Interventions of the World Bank and World Health Organisation would be required in order to deal with this problem decisively. Incidentally, the development appearance of any community or neighborhood has a lot to do with the values of property within such community. The more an area is improved upon, the more the values will be enhanced. Communities where there are basic amenities of good roads, drainages, electricity and pipe-borne water will definitely command higher values than areas where such amenities are not provided.
If World Health Organisation’s definition of slum was to be the basis for defining the communities, then almost all communities in Lagos would be said to be slums.
The way to go is that housing shortfall and problems which give rise to slums, shanties and illegal settlements in Lagos should be more frontally addressed. Then a good number of the existing slum communities would have to be regenerated and completely redeveloped but with consideration to resettlement of indigenes, the original community settlers, property owners, tenants and other stakeholders. Carrying out these activities will not only improve the aesthetics and appearance of the communities, but will also enhance their property values, and gradually urban decay would be dealt with before it snowballs into a bigger problem. It is in addition recommended that the occupiers of such slum communities should be integrated and be a part of the process leading to better neighborhoods.
In conclusion, everybody is a stakeholder and has roles to play in urban renewal. From the Federal Government to the State Government, to Lagos State Urban Renewal Agency and other organizations saddled with the responsibility of urban renewal and regeneration, to private organizations carrying out consultancy work relating to planning and physical development, to community leaders, community dwellers, landlords and tenants. The World Health Organisation, the United Nations and its agencies would provide technical support in other to make the urban upgrade project viable. That to me is the way forward.
Abdullah is a seasoned administrator with Lagos State