Urban Transport in the OIC Megacities
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The role of Lagos as an economic activity centre has attractedmigrants fromother parts of the country
and West Africa. However, this does not go hand in hand with adequate housing for the residents.
Unmanaged urban growth has seen land prices shoot up, pushing many out of the city. As a result,
slum communities have grown rapidly in Lagos which lack basic infrastructural facilities and
characterized by extremely poor environmental conditions. Almost 70% of Lagos’ population
consequently live in slums, makes Lagos one of the poorest of the world’s largest cities. Poverty in
Lagos is deeper and more severe than in the country as a whole, with occupations of the poor mostly
self-employed in street trading and unskilled tasks in the informal sector.
The slums are not properly connected to the road network because the pace of the development of the
primary and secondary road network does not match the pace of the urban growth. In addition, areas
that are not easily accessible cannot develop local activity centres that may substitute to some extent
the traditional activity centres in the Central Business District (CBD). Furthermore, inadequate
regulatory public transport framework affects the poor who are often vulnerable to high cost of
transportation. The poor rely heavily on public transport to access work, health care and educational
facilities. Bus remains the favoured mode of transport for the city’s large poor population. Transport
fares amount to 20% of budget for poor households (World Bank, 2008).
5.1.11. Human dimension
The continued pressure on land has harmed the human dimension of urban planning in Lagos. Slums
were formed that lack of basic urban infrastructure services, such as safe water, storm drainage and
flood prevention, electricity, access roads, public transport, sanitation, and solid waste management.
In those low-income areas, the household density is very high, i.e. 6 – 10 members per household (5 –
8 persons per room) living with minimum social amenities.
In the last decade, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development has undertaken several
initiatives to improve this condition, such as renewal of urban areas, slumupgrading, upgrading urban
facilities, social rehabilitation and economic empowerment.
5.1.12. SWOT Table Lagos
Based on the literature review and desk research of the urban transport conditions and plans of Lagos,
the following SWOT analysis can be summarized below:
Strengths
 Strategic location as the economic hub of
West Africa (great economic potential).
 Extensive waterfronts, water bodies and
port facilities.
 Global recognition as an economic centre.
 Large and diverse population
 High demand for public transport
 Existence of LAMATA as Transport
Authority and its willingness to expand
public transport network.
Weaknesses
 Massive daily traffic congestion
 Inadequate and overburdened transport
infrastructure
 Low recognition of NMT policy
 Poor freight transport planning
 Housing shortage
 Social and economic exclusion
 Increasing poverty rate
 Rapid population growth
 Poor regulations, weak enforcement, and
lack of capacity
 Low gender and urban poor inclusion
 Poor road safety (very high accident rate)
 Poor air quality
Opportunities
 Harbours almost all the headquarters of the
multinational companies in the country.
 Attractive for investments.
 Growing economy.
 High mode share of walking.
Threats
 Uncontrolled urban sprawl due to high rate
of in-migration
 Unsafe urban environment and terrorism