IT is worrisome that Nigeria’s former capital and still its current economic capital, Lagos, is ranked the fourth most difficult city to live in the world.
A survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, EIU, a subsidiary of The Economist, ranked Lagos as 137th out of 140 cities polled.
Among cities in the bottom 10were Dhaka (Bangladesh), Tripoli (Libya) Harare (Zimbabwe) and Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea), the worst of the lot. Canadian cities Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary, and Australia’s Adelaide, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne were in the top 10 most liveable cities on earth.
Indices taken into account included stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure. Lagos is the flagship metropolis in Nigeria, setting the pace in most critical development areas due to its history, geographical location and residual federal infrastructure and institutions from its days as the political capital of Nigeria.
The survey draws attention to Nigeria as a country, not just Lagos State. What standards do we apply in developing our cities?
How do we want our people to live? The indices used in the cities’ survey are largely covered in the 15-year Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, which the United Nations launched in 2000. Nigeria largely ignored the initiative and is at the verge of not achieving any of the goals by 2015.
Best indications that Nigeria participated in the MDGs are many abandoned construction projects round the country that bear the MDGs sign boards.
The failure of the MDGs pulls more people into Lagos. People seeking opportunities they think exist in the city – the skilled, the unskilled, and criminals – come in their numbers. Everyone thinks there is something in Lagos for him. In such situations, developing infrastructure to meet the elastic needs of the city is more challenging.
The MDGs offered opportunities for Nigeria to wholesomely develop her peoples and places. The neglect of the MDGs meant that poverty kept growing without any effective initiatives to tackle it. With fewer cities offering the seeming opportunities in Lagos, it became more attractive and its infrastructure further suffered.
Again, since the relocation of the capital to Abuja in December 1992, maintenance of federal infrastructure in the city has been neglected. The impact on the city shows.
If Lagos is to be redeemed from this parlous situation, the state government must work at better partnerships, principally with the Federal Government, and the private sector to re-develop the city.
It is important too that other States adopt similar initiatives to develop their principal cities, such that the choices available to Nigerians increase.
There are better reasons to develop Lagos, and other Nigerian cities, than global rankings – Nigerians deserve to live in healthy and sustainable environments.
Showing posts with label Lagos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lagos. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
MI becomes Lagos Energy Ambassador
By Charles Mgbolu
Blazing rap artist Jude MI Abaga has been made Lagos State's new Energy Ambassador.
MI made the announcement via social networking site Twitter.
[caption id="attachment_394314" align="alignnone" width="412"]
*M.I[/caption]
MI is already a GLO ambassador and a United Nations ambassador on the smuggling of Migrants.
Blazing rap artist Jude MI Abaga has been made Lagos State's new Energy Ambassador.
MI made the announcement via social networking site Twitter.
[caption id="attachment_394314" align="alignnone" width="412"]
*M.I[/caption]MI is already a GLO ambassador and a United Nations ambassador on the smuggling of Migrants.
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Couple, baby, 4 others die in Lagos building collapse
Tragedy struck this morning when a three-storey building collapsed in Lagos killing a couple, a baby and four others.
According to an eye witness, seven people had been rescued with three others critically injured, from the building located at 29b Oloto Street, off Cemetery Road, Ebute Metta.
The Spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), South-West, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the agency got information that the building started cracking at about 1:30am and finally gave way at about 2:00am.
[caption id="attachment_403333" align="alignnone" width="412"]
... debris of the building[/caption]
He confirmed that the rescued victims had been taken to hospitals for treatment.
As of the time of filing this report, emergency workers were still combing the debris for whoever might be trapped.
Also, the Nigerian Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Red Cross, NEMA, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the state Fire Service, as well as youths in the area, were helping out,
A rescued resident of the building, Miss Dalikis Abdulamid, 23, while narrating her experience said she was at the balcony of the second floor when the incident happened.
She also disclosed that both her mother and her four siblings were rescued, but had been taken to hospital. According to her, they had been noticing cracks in the walls of their rooms, but their father used to patch these up with cement.
“We did not know that the building will collapse. By about 2:00am when the building came down, some of our co-tenants were trapped, while some were dead,’’ she said.
According to an eye witness, seven people had been rescued with three others critically injured, from the building located at 29b Oloto Street, off Cemetery Road, Ebute Metta.
The Spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), South-West, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the agency got information that the building started cracking at about 1:30am and finally gave way at about 2:00am.
[caption id="attachment_403333" align="alignnone" width="412"]
... debris of the building[/caption]He confirmed that the rescued victims had been taken to hospitals for treatment.
As of the time of filing this report, emergency workers were still combing the debris for whoever might be trapped.
Also, the Nigerian Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Red Cross, NEMA, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the state Fire Service, as well as youths in the area, were helping out,
A rescued resident of the building, Miss Dalikis Abdulamid, 23, while narrating her experience said she was at the balcony of the second floor when the incident happened.
She also disclosed that both her mother and her four siblings were rescued, but had been taken to hospital. According to her, they had been noticing cracks in the walls of their rooms, but their father used to patch these up with cement.
“We did not know that the building will collapse. By about 2:00am when the building came down, some of our co-tenants were trapped, while some were dead,’’ she said.
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