The final hurdle

The final hurdle
Lagos Mega City Project goes before the National Assembly for approval

By OLUYAYO OLUBI

IMPLEMENTATION of the Lagos Mega-City Project is fast gaining speed. Investigations have revealed that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has forwarded the draft bill for the
establishment of the Lagos Mega-City Development Authority to the National Assembly for
passage into law. National Daily Real Estate reliably gathered that the decision to forward
the draft bill was reached after the FEC had extensively deliberated on the proposed bill as
presented by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo,
SAN. Reliable sources disclosed that the draft, among many other things suggested that the
president should appoint the director-general, while the funding ratio should be 45-40-15,
per cent by the respective governments: Federal, Lagos and Ogun States and planned projects
to be executed on a Public -Private Sector Partnership, PPP. These developments have
encouraged the chief beneficiary of the project, Lagos State Government, to publicly present
the Lagos Mega-City Project to traditional rulers in the state at the Iga Idunganran Palace
of the Oba of Lagos, HRH, Rilwan Akiolu, on February, 27.


By definition, the Lagos Mega-City Region covers an area of 153,540 hectares. It is a
continuously expanding built-up area that gulps the whole of Lagos and parts of Ogun State.
The Lagos portion of the Mega-City Region, by 2000, was estimated to be 130, 700 hectares,
with planned urban land uses accounting for 63,100 hectares, which is 48 per cent of the
total and non-urban land uses accounting for 67, 500, hectares, 52, per cent of the total.
Ogun State portion comprises of at least, four local government areas of Ado-Odo/Ota, Ifo,
Obafemi Owode and Sagamu. These spread through an estimated area of 22, 840 hectares,
comprising 15, 640 hectares for non-urban uses, such as, agriculture, conservation/preservation, forest and water supply reserves, recreation, tourism and
regional parks, while urban uses in Ogun State accounted for only 7, 200 hectares.


The Mega-City Project came about as a result of the chaotic nature of urban development in
Lagos State, which has impacted negatively on Ogun State. This singular factor has become a
source of concern for international investors and first-time visitors. Recent statistics by
the National Planning Commission, NPC, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, revealed that
no less than 60 per cent of total economic activities in the country take place in Lagos State. As a result of this, the Honorary International Advisory Council on Investment in Nigeria, led by Baroness Lynda Chalker, a former British Minister for Overseas Development
counselled the Federal Government to clean up the city as it is discouraging ready foreign
investors. The council had earlier facilitated an International Development Association,
IDA, facility of the World Bank for urban renewal in Lagos State. The body also mediated on
the withholding of Lagos State Local Government Fund by the Federal Government. It is
expected to be represented on the board of the Lagos Mega-City Development Authority.


Experts reasoned that the cleaning up of Lagos State may not really address the issue. The
Lagos Mega-City as already defined came about as a direct impact of the inadequacy of decent
residential accommodation within the Lagos metropolis, and its attendant encroachment on
Ogun State lands. A report of the Professor Akin Mabogunje-led Presidential Committee on the Redevelopment of the Lagos Mega-City Region, made available to National Daily Real Estate, revealed that the Lagos Mega-City is a region in crisis. Its infrastructural facilities,
services and utilities are severely stressed. Its residents are neither safe nor satisfied
and the environment is highly polluted and decaying. The population pressure in the
Mega-City Region has been heightened over the years by inadequate housing provision for the continuous streams of immigrants. The report pointed out that although the Mega-City
occupies only 37 per cent of the land area of Lagos State, it accommodates nearly 90 per
cent of the total population of the state. The average population density within the region
is about 20, 000 persons per square kilometre, compared to the national average of only 1,
308 persons per square kilometre.


The inadequacy of decent residential accommodation has resulted in the Lagos State section
of the Mega-City Region to record 42 slum areas as at 1985. Latest count has put the number
a little over 100. The effect of these ever emerging slum areas is disheartening as the
corridors of land along the Lagos-Ogun State borders have been experiencing enormous
pressure as the Lagos metropolis spills over to them. Neighbourhood areas such as Otta,
Ibafo, Mowe, Ojodu, Akute and Ogifo are already under heavy and intense pressure of physical growth with very few indicators of real development.


The prevailing idea is that these immediate areas comprising the Mega-City Region must be
planned to ensure that problems are not conflated simply because the areas involved fall
within one rather than the other state area. The report noted that greater attention must be
given to the implementation of planned proposals if the challenges presented by the
mega-city are to be seriously addressed. The report sounded that the problems already
identified within the Lagos metropolis is impacting on far-away areas like Abeokuta, the
capital of Ogun State and Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State.


It is sad to note that the prevailing problems identified within the Lagos metropolis, which
were in turn the reason for the new mega-city Project were earlier identified in 1980. These
problems were supposed to have been properly addressed in the Lagos Urban Structure Plan
[Master plan], 1980 and 2000. The plan was, however, never implemented. The experience has been a significant distortion in many parts of the plan. National Daily Real Estate reliably
gathered that some aspects grossly distorted are the Industrial Scheme Estate at Alimosho
that has been illegally converted into residential development; industrial and warehousing
facilities planned for Ipakodo, near Ikorodu Lighter Port Terminal did not take off; the
large industrial estate planned near Satellite Town east of Ojo Town was illegally developed
as a residential district; the planned Lagos State Ologe/Agbara Industrial Estate was not
developed because of lack of improvement of the wetland, and necessary infrastructure.


Further distortions were recorded in the weak take-off of the planned Ikorodu Industrial
Estate; the encroachment and destruction of the 'Green Belts' meant to serve as breaks to
curb the sprawling urban development which were strategically located between Alimosho and Badagry Road development corridor and between Lagos and Ikorodu; the Ogun River Forest Reserve near Majidun in Ikorodu has been excised from acquisition for expansion of Majidun Settlment; and the agricultural land uses at the inter-state border areas purposely zoned to break developments, protect the flood plains of River Ogun and keep away flooding along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway have been subjected to intense invasion by residential developers.


The impact of these various assaults on the planned urban structure of Lagos has resulted in
lop-sided population distribution, high cost of infrastructure development, drainage
obstructions, environmental and sanitation challenges, traffic congestion and numerous other
problems.


The Presidential Committee for the Redevelopment of the Lagos Mega-City Region proffers many solutions aimed at revamping the region. In its report, the committee stated that planning the transformation and re-development of the region requires first the recognition of the major activity centres so as to more efficiently disperse employment opportunities among them. This, the committee said, will help tackle the present problem of traffic congestion arising from the over-concentration of employment opportunities on Lagos, Victoria, and Apapa Islands. Twenty-eight, major activity centres have been identified. Their internal road system and major roads linking them have been identified and their planning and re-development with private sector support. The committee recognised the need for a system of ring roads to link the existing north-south axial roads that connect the mainland to the island through the three mainland bridges. The system is expected to witness the
construction of three-orders of highways Federal, state and local governments.


The second step is the improvement of planning activities within the Mega-City Region
through adequate provision of a cadastral database depending on the availability of
satellite imageries and the capacity to digitalising them along lines already initiated by
the Property Identification Exercise, PIE, of Lagos State. The committee further hopes to
secure more satellite imageries from the National Population Commission, NPC as donated by
the Department of International Development of the British Government, or from the National Space Research and Development Agency, NASRDA, of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. The committee advised that the basic unit for storing these data should not be larger than neighbourhoods in wards so as to develop an appropriate Geographic Information System, GIS, for the mega-city. This is expected to enable proper attention to be paid to the need to plan for open spaces, parks, gardens and general greenery.
The committee also addressed the issue of security within the Mega-City Region. The mega-city is grossly under-policed in the estimation of the committee. Planning for the enhanced security requires that the Nigeria Police pay more attention to establishing Police Public Relations Committee in every community along with community policing within the mega-city. The diverse environment of land, water and air in which the police will have to operate require the increase in number of the Area commands from eight, 8 to 15, and the number of Divisions from 83 to 100.


Curbing pollution within the mega-city is also of great importance. Industrial effluent and
raw untreated sewage discharge into the Lagos and Ologe Lagoons as well as the Ogun and Yewa Rivers have considerably impaired the quality of fresh water in these water bodies. The
committee suggested monitoring stations for both water and air pollution in order to improve
environmental conditions within the Mega-City.


The committee noted that the Mega-City Region is susceptible to frequent flooding. This
phenomenon is further aggravated by man-made factors as blocking of drainage channels, poor physical planning and poor sanitation. The committee deplored the fact that three drainage master plans have been prepared, with none executed. Serious erosion activities have also resulted from illegal mining of sand and laterite, and the development of squatter
settlements in different parts of the mega-city. The solution to incessant flooding lies in
the prompt implementation of the existing drainage master plans.


Proper supply of potable water to household is of importance to the mega-city. At present,
the mega-city has three main surface abstraction water works at Iju/Isheri and Adiyan on the
Ogun River and Ishasi on the Owo River. A 1986 three-phased programme of water supply
development for the Mega-City Region has been proposed and extended up to 2020.


In the estimation of the committee, the mega-city requires about 6,000 mega watts, mw, of
electricity of which only 1,000 mw is being supplied by the Power Holding Company of
Nigeria, PHCN. With the projection of the need to rise as high as between 15,000mw and
20,000mw by 2020, the committee is proposing the encouragement of Independent Power
Producing, IPP, companies to participate in the generation of the required energy.


The committee also addressed the issue of fire outbreaks. It discovered that the mega-city
now has 21, fire service stations in various locations. It, however, proposed a four-tier
hierarchy of fire-stations, Market, local government, municipal and metropolitan. It, again,
suggested the development of a master-plan for the location of water hydrants at realistic
distances within the Mega-City with access to water either from water mains or boreholes.
Upon its subsequent passage into law by the National Assembly, the Lagos mega-city
Development Authority is meant to implement the proposals of the Presidential Committee on the Redevelopment of the Lagos Mega-City Region.