Lagos: Part 2

In 2006, Matthew Gandy wrote somewhat of an exposé on Lagos. Whilst there are significantly more developed regions of Lagos, the majority of it is riddled with quality of life deterioration as population continues to grow uncontrollably. Roads are increasingly more congested, and refuse collections are becoming increasingly less regular. Crime festers in the streets, much like the sewage, with a practically non-existent sewage network. At least 66% of childhood infections and diseases are due to lack of access to potable water. Lagos’ crisis truly began with its rapid urbanisation and population growth. Municipal authorities lacked institutional mechanisms and administrative capacity to cope with the city’s rapidly growing needs, which included provision of basic services such as housing quality and sanitation. This led to the rise of slums and pollution of water supplies. 

The Nigerian state also had very little technical and administrative expertise available to them. For example, in the mid-1960s, Williams and Walsh (1968) reported that there was only one skilled engineer in charge of the city’s whole water distribution system. Due to the low investment into water and sanitation infrastructure, only 10% of households were directly connected to the municipal water system. The remainder of the city relied on shared taps, stand- pipes, wells and polluted creeks. It is evident that the biggest limitation to the development of the water and sanitation is funding. This has led to huge disparities in the cost and availability of drinking water. As the price of water increases, Lagos faces an increasing economic water crisis, in which the affordability of water and sanitation is at the crux of the problem. Whilst the high-income areas had a plentiful water supply, the lower income areas considered themselves to be fortunate if they had standpipes. With regards to the sewage system, it was barely functional. 

Gandy (2006) also provides us with some striking images of the refuse and water conditions in 2003:

The second picture, marked ‘figure 4’, illustrates the extent of the water crisis in less affluent areas, such as the slum Ajegunle, where water is in such higher demand, yet such low abundance, that it is sold illegally. Slumlords capitalise on the poverty and desperation of slum inhabitants, charging extortionate prices for water.

The suggested panacea for the water provision issue in Lagos is privatisation of the water supply. However, the economic and social reality is such that the urban poor can simply not afford it. This is causing a widening of the development gap and indeed inequality in Lagos; the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, trapped in poverty. Nigeria has now transitioned to an oil exporting economy. However, the rich own all the valuable land and thus are the only ones who profit from this transition. 

Though the information in this post revolves around the situation almost 50 years ago, it is still very much relevant today. The situation has improved substantially, however, in some areas this is still the case. The pictures taken by Matthew Gandy illustrate that whilst the issues began 50 years ago, they are still very much prominent roughly 40 years on. In particular, the inequalities that have been increasing for the past half a century, still continue to widen. Next post, I will focus on the current water and sanitation crisis in Lagos, which is mostly driven by the socio-economic conditions of the poor and continues to demonstrate the widening inequalities.