In a series of discussion papers,
partners of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Lagos program give thought provoking
suggestions for an inclusive and climate resilient city building to the new
Lagos State government which will take over on May 29, 2019. The ideas are
based on the findings of our research “Urban Planning Processes in Lagos”; many of them could be implemented within a short
time span requiring in general low funding but transparent and efficient
cooperation between different stakeholders; above all it will require political
will.
Summary of the findings cutting
across the different sectors:
• Lagos is an informal city and its
future development will be driven by the informal sector, especially
considering the expected population growth in the next decade. Therefore,
vision, design and planning of the future city has to be done with a priority
of addressing the needs, wishes and capabilities of the informal sector.
• Cutting across all sectors, it
became clear that the communication with the citizens needs to be improved.
Service hotlines addressing different sectors will be required to ensure that
citizens can monitor and complain on the spot if master plans are violated or
municipal services are failing. Such service hotlines could be set up in each
local government and be run by with service-oriented staff who are able to
coordinate necessary responses from the responsible ministries and agencies.
• Flood resilience and inclusiveness
have to be the main drivers for a sustainable development of the city. The
implementing agencies, LASPARK and LASURA, have to play a more prominent role
in achieving development goals in future. They need strong political backing
and upgrade, and financial and human resource investments.
• Similarly, new infrastructure and
new investments will remain white elephants if local governments are not given
back their capabilities to execute their constitutional duties in urban
development. This has to be done in a gradual process through pilot cases with
clear benchmark schemes.
• More women need to be part in the
decision making and taking processes at all levels to allow the female
perspective of experiencing a city to be fully reflected.
• Equally cutting across all
sectors, it became clear that the passing of policies and laws or investing in
new infrastructure will remain ineffective as long as enforcement procedures
are not improved. Enforcement officers have in general not been respected by
the population because of their often corrupt and disrespectful behaviours.
A paradigm shift in the training and
remuneration of the enforcement officers is needed, they should be seen as
mediators and trainers who will treat citizens respectfully when using the
power of enforcement entrusted in them.
Read more on
the discussion paper on "Flood and Wetland Management" for more details:
