CASE STUDY OF LAGOS

7. CASE STUDY OF LAGOS
7.1.Geography and climate
Lagos is the biggest and most important city in the Federation of Nigeria. The country, which is
located in the coast of West Africa, consists of 30 states. Nigeria shares borders with Benin,
Cameroon and Niger. Lagos is the main city of Lagos State, which is situated in the southwestern
coast of Nigeria. The Metropolitan area of Lagos takes up to 37 per cent of the land area of Lagos
State and houses about 90 per cents of its population (Unicef 1995, Aina 1990a).
The area of Lagos constitutes of two major regions: the Island, which is the original city and the
Mainland, which is made up by rapidly growing settlements. The climate in Lagos is tropical, hot
and wet. The environment is characteristic as coastal with wetlands, sandy barrier islands, beaches,
low-lying tidal flats and estuaries. The average temperature in Lagos is 27 °C and the annual
average rainfall 1532 mm (Aina 1994, Peil 1991).
Picture 7.1. View of Lagos from Surulele. (http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/webcards.html#pick_up)
7.2.Economy
Lagos was until 1991 the capital of Nigeria. Nowadays Abuja is country’s administrative and
political capital but Lagos is still Nigeria’s industrial, commercial and financial center. Lagos is
estimated to count for over 60 per cent of nation’s industrial and commercial establishment, 90 per
cent of foreign trade and controlling about 80 per cent of the total value of the imports of the
country. It benefits Nigeria’s oil, natural gas, coal, fuel wood and water. Also about 70 per cent of
the national industrial investment are in the Metropolitan Lagos (Aina 1994, UN 1995, McNulty
1988).
7.3.Population
7.3.1. Urbanization
The population in Lagos started to grow since 1970 due to migration from rural areas and high
fertility rate. Even the fertility rate is lower in Lagos than in the countryside, in the future the city
population tends to grow more than the population in rural areas. Also migration to the city does not
seem to decrease, rather increase. The population growth in the last ten years was highest than ever
and the growth in the future is estimated to be even higher
Figure 7. 1. Population in Lagos.
Lagos is the biggest city in West Africa. It was the first city in the continent to become one of the
world’s ten largest cities. At the moment the population is about 14 million but the city is projected
to be one of the world’s five biggest cities already by 2005. Population in the city is expected to
grow at the annual rate of 4 per cent for the next 20 years, reaching 24 million people by 2015.
Then it is expected to rank third among the world’s cities. The population density was 20 000
persons per km2 already in 1988, but it has increased a lot from this in the past 13 years (Bilsborrow
1998, Peil 1991).
7.3.2. Migration
The total population growth rate is much higher in Lagos than the national average. Between 1953
and 1980 the annual growth rate was 9.4 per cent which from, net migration rate was 5.4 per cent.
Also at the moment migration takes the biggest part of the population growth in the city and it is
estimated to even increase from the past (Bilsborrow 1998b, McNulty 1988).
Because Lagos is smallest state in Nigeria, the government has tried to change the capital to central
Nigeria, Abuja. This is one way to control the enormous migration and urbanization in Lagos.
Although, the population in Lagos is growing all the time and the pull factors of the city are high,
even higher than Abuja’s (UN 1995).
Population in Lagos
0
4000000
8000000
12000000
16000000
20000000
24000000
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Time (years)
Population
Population in
Lagos
7.3.2.1.Push and pull factors
Lagos is a unique national center for trade and commerce in Nigeria so the pull factors of the city
are evident. The main motivation for migration to Lagos is economic. Income levels are higher in
Metropolitan Lagos than in other regions of Nigeria. Many people come to Lagos in search for a job
and most of these migrants tend to work within the informal sector (Kuvaja 2001, McNulty 1988).
The main push factors to Lagos are poverty, too small arable land areas per persons, big family
sizes and worse soil quality. Due to these factors many rural people do not have other choice than to
move to the city and try their luck. Fortunately the nepotism is so strong that immigrants are often
welcomed to live in the houses of their relatives and often the first job is household work in their
relatives' houses. ( Rinne 2001)
7.4.Water resources
7.4.1. Water supply
Water supply to Lagos comes from surface and groundwater sources. Water losses caused by
leaking and illegal use are considerable and due to this the water supply of the city is inadequate. It
is estimated that only about 85 per cent of households in Lagos have access to safe water. In Lagos
12 percent of population use piped water, 33 per cent public taps, 35 per cent hand pumps, 11
percent ponds, 2 per cent wells, and 3 percent other sources. The distance to water source in Lagos
is for 11 per cent of the population more than one kilometer and for 89 per cent less than one
kilometer. In Lagos male, female and children participate in fetching of the water (Unicef 1995,
Aina 1994, Uduku 1994).
7.4.2. Demand of water
The demand of water in Lagos is much bigger than the supply. Many people use too small amount
of water because they either do not have access to water or they have to carry it from far away. In
the city only 216.000 cubic meters of treated water is available. The reliability and quality of water
supply is often not adequate and sometimes inhabitants have to survive without water for couple of
days. In this case residents have only two opportunities, buy water from vendors with very high
price or steel it from neighbors well. Often the quality of water bought by vendors is insufficient
and people get illnesses, like diarrhea from it. The price of the bought water from vendors in Lagos
is normally 4 to 10 times higher than the water got from piped water supplies (Harday et.al.2001,
Rinne 2001).
7.4.3. Wastewater treatment and sanitation
Wastewater treatment in Lagos is almost non-existing; only few per cents of it is treated. Also the
sewage systems of the city are poor, the only conventional sewerage system is in the metropolitan
area of Lagos, Victoria Island, which is the first commercial area in the city. Due to an inadequate
sewerage, much of the excreta and sullage is disposed of by the drainage of rainwater through open
ditches. During the dry season, when the flushing action of rainfall is not existing, drainage
channels become blocked with solids, creating stagnant pond of contaminated water. Some people
even use this water for household purposes (UN 1995).
About 94 percent of the population in Lagos have access to sanitary toilets, 56 per cent of
population use sewage toilets, 33 percent of pit latrines and 4 septic tanks. The rest of the
population uses pail, bush, river/stream or other kind of unconventional toilets. Likewise most of
these sanitary toilets are water closets only by name. It is quite normal than water doesn’t run in
these toilets or water is wastewater from other households (FOS 1997, Aina 1994, Unicef 1995).
7.4.3.1.Water quality
Sources of pollution of the Lagos estuary includes breweries, food processing industries, chemical
industries, solid wastes from houses, sawmills and domestic sewage. The estuary is a sink for
disposal of liquid, solid and gaseous wastes for the entire city. Sawdust from the sawmills is very
harmful because it causes silting, eutrophication, and harm the lives of fishes by clogging their gills.
Contamination of groundwater in Lagos is sometimes evident due to flooding which carries sewage
to the wells. Likewise seepage from industrial storage systems is normal. Contamination of pipe
water sources in Lagos is also common. This is either result of inadequate functioning of treatment
plants or lack of treatment. Contamination can also occur due to water tankers, through pipe or
storage systems (Aina 1994).
In piped water Escherishia coli, Salmonella, Streptococcus and Bacillus are normal contaminants.
This indicates to faecal pollution of human and animal origin. This impurity leads to diarrhea,
guinea worm, cholera and typhoid. Malaria, respiratory illnesses and measles are also normal
diseases in the area. In general Lagosian people do not boil the water they drink, they either buy
pure water from vendors or clear the water with aluminum. The visible clarity is more important to
Lagosian than microbiological clearance. Filters are not often used (Rinne 2001, Aina 1994).
7.4.4. Flooding
Flooding is a big problem in Lagos, even during the mild rainfalls streets are flooded and many
times water rises to house levels. Intensity of rainfall in short period, in rainy season, leads to
extremely high runoffs and floods. Lagos is partly extremely flat which makes the situation even
worse and prevents the water discharge to the sea. Due to poor soil infiltration only a small
proportion of rainwater seeps into the ground (Aina 1994).
Due to bad infrastructure planning, buildings often block natural watercourses and canals are too
narrow to convey rainwater away from the area. Roads are often unpaved and the hard rain makes
them muddy and bumpy. Inhabitants of the city wish to have expanded canals, paved roads and
better drainage to prevent flooding of homes and other problems during the rains (Nwangwu 1998,
Rinne 2001).
7.5.Environment
Lagos has often been referred to as the dirtiest, most disorganized, and the most unsafe mega-city in
the world. Lagos is seen as an intolerable place, which offers minimum resources for a healthy,
safe, and productive life. The problems in the city are similar to all the other mega-cities; traffic
jams make transportation inefficient, waste management is malfunctioning leaving tons of waste on
the streets, water resources are overused or polluted and inadequate housing, as well as slums, are
becoming reality for an increasing number of inhabitants. It has been estimated that the
infrastructure of Lagos is able to fulfill the needs of 300.000 people, although the population
nowadays is 14 million. Due to this it is clear that the infrastructure is not sufficient. (Kuvaja 2001).
Picture 7. 2. Tinubu square in Lagos. (http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/webcards.html#pick_up)
7.5.1. Solid wastes
About 66 per cent of the solid wastes in Lagos area are disposed. Waste is either disposed through
private or community efforts or left at various illegal dumps. The disposal is hardly ever done
properly; garbage is being dumped in valleys or swamps or untreated industrial waste is dumped to
public drains or surface water bodies. The solid waste problem is huge in Lagos with mountains of
garbage and hardly bearable stench. The estimated amount of generated solid wastes is almost
million tons per year (Aina 1994, Ogu 2000).
7.5.2. Housing
The lack of housing facilities in Lagos is enormous. Even the middle-income people have to live in
very crowded accommodations. It is normal that the size of the family is five or more persons and
they all live together in the small room, average on 4.30 m2. Most of the houses are in poor
conditions and the facilities in them are shared. The poor condition often includes lack of basic
services, serious flooding and bad house conditions. Most of the people live in the compounds,
face-to-face-facilities. Even in the better houses water often has to be carried from the backyard.
Sewage systems are non-existing, only in some high-income areas sewage is served (Aina 1990).
7.5.2.1. Shomulu local government area in Lagos
Shomulu is one of the most densely populated areas in the central Lagos consisting of more than
one million inhabitants. The area represents common neighborhood in Lagos, about 45 per cent of
Lagosians live in this kind of accommodations. Majority of the houses are low- and middle income
houses, and services such as health care, schools, roads, water systems, electricity, and communal
waste management are somehow provided. However these services are not reliable and people have
to often rely on self-help. Already in 1970’s the majority of Lagosian families lived in one-room
dwellings. At that time the average family size was almost five persons. Due to population growth
in the city the occupation of the rooms is estimated to be nowadays even higher (LHO 1996).
Slum or not?
Commonly the low-income houses are referred to as slums. In Lagos the situation is other. The
common type of housing (face-me-face-you) cannot be considered shelf-help, spontaneous, or
illegal. The houses are well constructed, and the city plans their communal services, either both are
not properly done. The lack of housing in the city is high and different social groups have to live in
this kind of accommodations even they would have more money. The rent is paid regularly and
houses are registered and legal. Even the way of living in Lagosian “slums” is not similar to other
study regions slums, they face many of the same problems; lack of adequate sanitation and water
supply, malfunctioning waste management system, bad roads and limited access to municipal
electricity sources (Nwangwu 1998).
Problems in Shomulu
Shomulu is placed to the unplanned area and the land use is uncontrolled. There is no planned trees
or green places but all the places are full of shops, houses or garbage. The area is often flooded and
it is overcrowded and dirty. There is no sewer system or drainage. Roads are unpaved and bad and
waste disposal is uncontrolled. Buildings are in bad condition, built with poor building materials
and there is no air space between them (Aina 1994).
Water distribution
Most of the compound has one tap, which is located to the backyard of the compound. All the
members use tap water to household purposes, drinking, cooking and washing. This tap water is
also used for flushing the toilet and bathing. The water is carried in containers to the toilet and
bathroom. Because the tap water is not working continuously many compounds have their own well
from where the water is fetched when the tap is out of order. In some compounds the tap water is
not drinkable and they have to fetch water from taps in the other compounds. Responsibility of
fetching the water falls often on women (Kuvaja 2001).
Sanitation
Each compound member is responsible for sanitation maintenance. Cleaning is considered to be
task of women, but each inhabitant is required to clean toilets and bathrooms after use. The use of
facilities is organized by timetable, where the priviledge is for those who work outside the
compound (Kuvaja 2001).
Waste management
The compound members carry the wastes to the waste containers, which are kept in the backyard.
Then household members or “barrow-men” empty the household containers into the communal
containers. After this it is government responsibility to empty these containers. Many times
communal containers are not taken care off and people have to transport the wastes straight to the
dumping sites. Often “barrow-men” are paid to collect the wastes (Kuvaja 2001).
The common structure of Lagosian face-me-face-you compound.
7.5.3. Traffic
The traffic congestion is a fact of everyday life also in Lagos, where it takes almost three hours to
travel a mere 10 to 20 kilometers. The motor vehicle fleet is very old and most of the cars are in bad
shape. Even public transportation is quite comprehensive it is very overcrowded. Buses and taxes
are both in poor condition and they pollute a lot. Traffic congestion is common in Lagos and
because of high crime rate, robberies may occur during the peak period. The quality of air is bad
due to traffic and industries like in any other mega-city (UN 1995, Rinne 2001).
Toilet
Bathroom
Kitchen
Kitchen
Room (3)
Room (5)
Room (3)
Shop
Room (1)
Room (4)
Room (4)
Room (1)
Shop
Next compound
Toilet
Bathroom
Store
Store
Rented
rooms for
young men
from
villages. Do
not use
compound
facilities.
Tab
Waste bins
Street
Fence
Picture 7. 3. Traffic in Lagos. (http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/webcards.html#pick_up)
7.5.4. Crime
Crime is common in Lagos, especially robberies. Due to violence in the area, robberies often end up
to a murder. Police cannot do anything for the mushrooming criminality, so people have taken law
in to their own hands and they do punish the criminals straight away. This has leaded to murders
because robbers do not have anything to lose even they kill people or not. Robberies are normal in
traffic and even inside houses (Rinne 2001).
7.6.Summary of the case studies
All the case study cities Bangkok, Mexico City and Lagos are the main centers for industrialization,
business and foreign trade in their countries. The cities have massive populations and they are so
called mega-cities. Mexico City has the biggest population of 18 million. Even the populations of
Bangkok and Lagos are high they are four million lower than the population of Mexico City. The
population density is extremely high in Lagos, 20 000 persons per km2 and due to this housing
conditions in the city are very poor. The population density in Lagos is many times the density in
other cities. In Bangkok the population density is lowest 3,700 persons per km2 and in Mexico City
more than 6,600 persons per km2.
Over-population in the cities is mostly caused by uncontrolled migration from rural regions. Due to
strong urban pull and rural push people continue to move to the cities. Push factors are
deforestation, loss of biological diversity, soil erosion, flooding, constructions, diminution of arable
land per farmer, water shortages and other natural resource related problems. The main pull factor is
the attraction of the mega-cities. As big commercial centers they attract people in the search of
better live, better services and health care. They seem very exquisite and full of opportunities for
poor people.
The cities are all located in the tropical zone but their average annual rainfall varies from highest
1532 mm in Lagos to lowest 850 mm in Mexico City. In all the cities domestic and industrial water
supplies are provided by combination of groundwater and surface water. The water consumption in
Mexico City is highest of the study cities, 2.4 billion m3. Due to this high demand and location of
the city, water supply of Mexico City is not adequate and water has to be pumped from other areas.
In Bangkok the demand of water is 2.1 billion cubic meters and it is also highly dependent of
groundwater. In Lagos the water demand is only 79 million m3.
The piped water service is relatively well organized in the case study cities. The service is highest in
Mexico City, where about 94 per cent of the residents in metropolitan area enjoy piped water. In
Bangkok the service is lowest, about 66 per cent of the population has piped water connection or
standpipes. In Lagos 85 per cent of households have access to safe water. Even though the
percentages are relatively high there are differences in reliability of the service, quality of water and
type of the service.
Wastewater treatment is very poor in all the cities, at highest 10 per cent of the effluents are treated.
This has resulted to the decreased quality of the surface and groundwater. The situation is worst in
Lagos were only a few per cent of the city’s wastewater is treated. Solid waste disposal is organized
better in these cities. In Bangkok the service is highest, 84 per cent of the wastes are collected. In
Mexico City the percentage is 75 and in Lagos only 66 per cent. Still in all the cities some solid
waste is left on the streets, which has caused health problems and unpleasant odor, especially in
Lagos garbage piles in the backyards are a common sight.
Flooding is a big problem in all the cities, especially in Lagos the situation is really bad and water
rises often to the streets and house levels. Flooding is nuisance during the monsoon seasons in all
the cities. Other big problem is the land subsidence. Due to excessive extraction of groundwater,
water levels in the wells have been declining rapidly and the ground level has subsided. This has
happened both in Bangkok and Mexico City. In Bangkok subsidence has been more than 0.5
meters. Mexico City is an extreme case where the city has sunk 10.7 meters during the past 70 years
due to the enormous water demand.
City planning is poor in all the cities, especially in Lagos and Bangkok. In Bangkok the average
occupation of the room is around 6 persons and in Lagos more than 5 persons. The lack of housing
facilities in Lagos is severe due to high population density in the area. The poor and even the
middle-income people have to live in very crowded accommodations. The situation in Mexico City
is not so bad than in other case study cities. The average occupation per room is 1.1 persons.
Traffic congestion is every day life in the case study cities. The problem is due to poor
infrastructure, uncontrolled automobile growth, lack of effective mass transit system, inadequate
road networks and private car oriented traffic system. Due to massive traffic, air pollution and noise
bother the lives of the inhabitants. Especially in Lagos situation is terrible and it is said to be the
dirtiest city in the world.
Figure 7. 2. Table of different factors in the cities.
Although the cities are different they are all facing similar problems. In all the cities the population
growth has surprised the infrastructure. The housing facilities, water supply, road space, transport,
solid waste disposal and piped water service are unable to keep up with the high speed of growing
urbanization. The problems are sharpest in Lagos because of the high population, population
density, lack of finance and poor infrastructure. Due to these matters the air and water pollution and
environmental deterioration in the city are enormous. Especially the very low wastewater treatment
in Lagos has a great impact on the water quality and human health.
The main problems in Bangkok and Mexico City are also related to water supply, housing and
environmental deterioration. The water demand is very high in the cities, especially in Mexico City.
This has led to groundwater over-use and land subsidence. The land subsidence has a strong effect
on houses and other infrastructures. The quality of water has also decreased due to low wastewater
treatment. Flooding is also big problem in the cities again due to failed infrastructure planning.
Bangkok Mexico City Lagos
Population (million) 14 18 14
Pop. Density persons/Km2 3700 6600 20,000
Average annual rainfall (mm) 1482 850 1532
Annual water use (m3) 2.1 billion 2.4 billion 79 million
Piped water service (%) 66 94 85
Waste water treatment (%) 10 10 2
Solid waste disposal (%) 84 75 66
Persons per room 6 1.1 >5