More than one billion people live in informal settlements globally, according to the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC)- a research project funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom Government.
The statistics, according to the researchers, highlight the challenges of urban development in some of Africa’s biggest cities.
The Director of the project, a professor from the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester, Diana Mitlin, disclosed this on Wednesday in Lagos during ACRC’s stakeholders’ meeting.
Ms Mitlin noted that in cities and towns in sub-Saharan Africa, 56 per cent of urban residents live in informal settlements, and just under 45 per cent- about 500 million sub-Saharan Africans, live in urban areas.
She said the figure of Africans living in urban areas is predicted to reach 666 million by 2030.
“That is an astonishing statistic. A large number of people do not have access to water, sanitation, waste management, and they do not have adequate housing,” she said.
She noted that the challenges of fast-growing populations, inadequate infrastructure and services, weak governance, and limited economic development exacerbated by climate change, are critical challenges across African cities.
The presentation is part of the ACRC project in partnership with international partners to explore and tackle the complexity around urban development in 12 Africa’s biggest cities, including Lagos in Nigeria’s South-west, and Maiduguri, Borno State capital in the North-east.
Other cities are Accra, Ghana; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Bukavu, DRC; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Harare, Zimbabwe; Kampala, Uganda; Lilongwe, Malawi; Mogadishu, Somalia; and Nairobi, Kenya.
State progress
In his welcome address, the Director of the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development (CHSD) at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Timothy Nubi, said Lagos is fortunate to be among the cities under the ACRC project.
Mr Nubi said studies like this will help to change the narrative, even as he urged policymakers to make decisions that are evidence-based for the development of the state.
“We appreciate working together with the ACRC project which has been going on for the last three years and Lagos is fortunate to be selected for the next phase,” he said.
He said the CHSD was established in 2014 through funding from the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), adding that the centre designed the Resilience Policy of Lagos.
Commissioner speaks
The Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, Moruf Akinderu, in his reaction, said the stakeholders in Lagos are working together to make the city better. It is important to build urban development where no one will be left behind.
He acknowledged that in the past the Nigerian government didn’t invest much in research for evidence-based strategies to tackle urbanisation problems, unlike other developed countries.
He said Lagos is working on comprehensive education right from secondary school on how to reduce wastage, adding that the state is committed to addressing the gaps and solving the problems as they arise.
Emerging findings
Professor of Urban Management and Governance at UNILAG, Taibat Lawanson, presented the emerging findings of the Lagos ACRC, focused on city systems: transportation, energy, finance and ICT, and education.
Some of the major findings include the conflicting roles of the state as regulator and service provider; demand and supply deficits in urban infrastructure; migration as an intersecting issue: consequences of displacement; out-of-school children, and the effects of climate change in flooding and food security.
On education, she explained that the Lagos State Development Plan (LSDP) 2052 emphasises four dimensions, with education falling under the human-centric category, as goal nine aims to provide affordable, world-class education, for all residents.
She added that the LSDP on healthcare outlines four strategic dimensions, including healthcare as Goal 10 under the human-centric dimension.
“The vision is to provide affordable and world-class healthcare for all residents and position Lagos as a top medical tourism destination in Africa,” she noted.
Adopting the findings from the research, Ms Mitlin said the consortium has been fortunate to build on networks that existed already in the African contest.
“We have drawn together networks of scholars who already have a close relationship with the government,” she said.
About ACRC
According to Ms Mitlin, the ACRC is a programme of work funded by FCDO, recognising the need to address the challenges of urban development in Africa particularly.
“They launched a research programme, and we were selected to manage the programme and we are trying to build on existing reform methods to understand what is going to move forward the reform frontiers in African cities,” she said.
“The programme was initiated in 2018 before the pandemic, and it has been extended from six to seven years because we were delayed due to the pandemic.”
She added that the consortium has completed the study in 12 cities, emphasising the need for academics to collaborate with the government and communities who are desperate for new options and urban reforms.
“I would also say we have had the opportunity to bring specialists in politics and the urban economy, and there is a recognition that more support needs to be given to provide better jobs and nurture enterprises,” she said.
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