The theme for this year’s world Habitat Day was Urban Mobility. Lagos, which is arguably one of the fastest growing cities in the world, is not immune to the attendant problems of urbanisation, such as mobility, migration and security. Seyi Odewale writes on how to confront these challenges.
To a new comer to Lagos, the sheer number of vehicles on the road and the traffic snarl could be terrifying. But Lagos will always be Lagos. Its allure as an ever-growing city, where dreams can be actualised, continues to draw people to the city despite the transportation, migration and security challenges, among others.
In a paper delivered during the World Habitat Day in Lagos, a professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Kayode Oyeniku, noted that over the past two decades, urbanisation trend has been fastest in developing countries, adding that as an all-inclusive generalisation, the faster the rate of economic growth, the more rapid its movement towards urbanisation.
Urban population, he said, was expected to grow steadily with an estimation showing that by 2050, 70 per cent of the world’s population would live in urban areas. Lagos, according to Oyesiku, has the smallest land mass in Nigeria with about 356,861 hectares of land. Of this, about 75,755 hectares are wetlands. Its incredible population density, which is over 50 per cent of the national estimate, puts the state as the third largest megacity in two years.
A United Nations (UN) estimate, put the present growth of Lagos at 3.2 per cent,while the metropolitan part of the metroplis, an area of about 37 per cent land mass, is the abode for over 85 per cent of the population. “Demographic trend analysis, revealed that the population growth rate of eight per cent has resulted in its capturing of 36.8 per cent of Nigeria’s urban population,” Oyesiku said, citing a 2006 World Bank report.
According to Oyesiku, the effectiveness of a city lies within the realm of good infrastructural facilities like road networks. Adequate transportation system, he said, can foster spatial interactions, but rapid and uncoordinated growth of cities, he noted, “have compromised the existing transportation systems and significantly increased the challenge of creating future transportation systems, especially for developing cities.
The increase in the number of vehicles on most roads has brought with it attendant problems of traffic congestion. “In urban areas of less developed countries, car ownership rate has been on the increase. Lagos has continued to experience traffic congestion because many car owners find it more convenient to travel to work by car rather than public transport in congested conditions. This increased use of personalised motor vehicles is choking already congested roads. The environmental and social impacts are significant and directly related to quality of life and urban productivity,” he said.
Other challenges of urban mobility, he said, are: longer hours spent on commuting; inadequate public transport and environmental impacts and energy consumption, in which case, pollution of various types become serious impediments to the quality of life and health of the urban population.
To mitigate these challenges, particularly in Lagos, roads must be widened and traffic free zones created; inter-sections and road signals must be improved upon; there must be freeway bottlenecks removal initiatives; there must also be special event management strategies in place; while traffic signals, lightings and signage must be improved.
Others, such as parking policy, park and ride facilities and peak hour congestion management strategies must be in place with a working Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Light Rail Rapid Transit in optimal level of performance.
He also suggested as optional, intermodal transportation as a basic option for urban mobility. Quoting Webster Dictionary, Oyesiku described intermodal transportation as involving more than one mode of carrier during a single journey
He said: “In other words, intermodalism is characterised by multiple carriers or mixed mode of commuting during a single journey. The US Department of Transportation further noted that intermodal transportation involves the use of more than one type of transportation of people (passengers), goods (freight) and services.
“Against the background of the definition, mixed mode transport focuses on rapid transport usually by rail, to be combined with low speed mobility, which is the bus or tram. Obviously, rail rapid transit or trains offer quick transit and provides the transition and accessibility where passengers embark and disembark very quickly in the course of a single journey.”
He enumerated advantages this mode of transport has, saying it provides speed to ones destination; convenience; lower environmental impact; lower vehicle emission; insurance; lower fuel and maintenance costs, as well as increased automobile life expectancy.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lagos State Security Trust Fund, Mr Fola Arthur-Worrey, who presented a paper on Migration and Security said research showed that there is a high concentration of migrants from different parts of the country, the sub-region and the world in Lagos State.
He said although it is reputed as one of the fastest growing cities in the world and by United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) calculation in 2002, to have 25 million people in 2020, Lagos’ problems are compounded by the fact that “while yearly budgets of other cities with similar megacity status such as New York and Sao Paulo are relatively large, with 2013 budgets of $70 billion and $89 billion, Lagos only has an annual budget of about $3 billion.”
With Lagos as a preferred destination for so many people for over six and half centuries; serving as trade outposts, harbour, Slave Trade depot, administrative capital of the country and the land of opportunities for everyone, migrations to the place are sure to happen. But these, according to Arthur-Worrey, come with attendant security challenges.
Rural-urban migration, he said, brings with it problems of overcrowding, heavy pressure on existing infrastructure/resources/institutions, leading to reduced quality of life and urban tensions; large unskilled workforce; cultural confusion; criminality; resistance to public order and rising cost of living among others.
On the impact of migration on security, particularly in Lagos, Arthur-Worrey said Federal institutions operating in the states are not properly resourced and expanded to cope with the present day realities, which include population growth. This often, according to him, put undue pressure on the state by subsidising federal expenditure. Such expenditures according to him, include supporting the police and other federal agencies, providing energy and creating numerous task forces.
Large number of undocumentary immigrants, he said, makes identifying criminals difficult. To him, the presence of large, desperate and unskilled body of migrants that are predominantly averse to public order, especially if it restricts their economic activity such as Okada riding and street trading impacts negatively on security.
The impunity of the nouveau riche, Arthur-Worrey said, leads to institutional failure, which encourages criminal activity and breakdown of law and order.
He noted that undocumented migration always brings with it criminal activity “like the relationship of the ant and sugar” and areas of relative prosperity and disposable income with a high human density always attract the criminal classes such as kidnappers, robbers and burglars.
The growth of unplanned settlements, which over-stretch security resources, according to him, provide havens for criminals, just as it leads to loss of control of public spaces to destitute and itinerant migrants who pose environmental challenges. They are also involved in anti-social behaviours.
Another issue, which, Arthur-Worrey considered as impacting negatively on the security of major cities like Lagos, is what he termed “tyranny of the poor.”
According to him, there is always some sorts of resistance from the poor whenever government intends to embark on certain urban renewal programmes.
“Whenever the government attempts to institute order, e.g. by urban renewal programmes or restrictions on certain activities, there is resistance, encouraged by NGOs and other groups, ostensibly working on behalf of the poor, that accuse the government of being anti-poor. “The poor” are, therefore, to be left alone to do whatever they like. And these NGOs do not proffer any alternatives oor provide capital for improving the lot of the poor,” he said.
Raising major issues and questions, Arthur-Worrey asked if the current national political economy was a working model. “Is the developing world adopting the correct strategies for real economic and social development? What exactly is our definition of social development? Have we disconnected too far from our traditional values in addressing our social problems?-e.g. the current focus on individual as against communal well-being/materially. Have we critically examined the real causes of our social inequality? And what exactly is our practical and sustainable template for human development, rural or urban?”
His possible solutions to security challenges in megacities such as Lagos include: a “need to rethink our whole development philosophy in terms of actual targets and objectives-what really constitutes progress; a need to re-define our concept of liveable urban spaces; a national need to create more social programmes, especially massive investment in social infrastructure/welfare; identification of more public spaces to be converted into parks/leisure spots; a need for more effective resident and migrant documentation by governments (state and Federal) and a need for more public/private investment in security (a lot more needs to be done to bridge the equipment deficit) and investment in CCTVs by private sector,” he said.
