Global Inequity: Nigeria. Then and now in 2020. What you are never told. Look beyond your highrise. September 2020

 https://theconversation.com/lagos-size-and-slums-will-make-stopping-the-spread-of-covid-19-a-tough-task-134723

Lagos’ size and slums will make stopping the spread of COVID-19 a tough task

April 1, 2020 10.41am EDT

Author

1. Taibat Lawanson

   Associate Professor of Urban Planning, University of Lagos

Human vulnerability has come to the fore with the coronavirus practically bringing the world to its knees. National and city governments are taking bold steps for mitigation and containment.

In Nigeria, the federal government has announced some measures including restrictions of movement in Abuja, the federal capital and Lagos, the current epicentre of the virus. Prior to this, the Lagos state government has set in motion a series of activities including shutting down large markets, disinfection of public places, and restrictions on gatherings of more than 25 persons.

What does this mean for a city like Lagos, with over 26 million people?

Lagos poses a set of particular challenges when it comes to making these interventions work. These range from the sheer size of the city – its built up area stretches over 82,684 hectares, with a density of 209 people per hectare.

This is gargantuan when compared to bustling New York which has 25 people per hectare in its built up area of 951,103 hectares. The peri-urban space extends to the neigbouring Ogun state which is also in total lock down because of its proximity to Lagos.

Economic inequalities have consequences for access to health and health seeking behaviour. Over 60% of the residents of Lagos are poor and live in the over 100 slums and informal settlements  scattered across the city. They lack water, sanitation and other basic services. This makes them particularly vulnerable during a health crisis.

And as most residents rely on the informal economy, they are open to deprivation in the face of an economic shutdown.

The actions the government has called for are impossible to meet under these conditions.

Infrastructure deficit

Take self-isolation: how can Nigerians self-isolate in a typical slum setting where one house of ten rooms accommodates over 80 inhabitants sharing two toilets and baths?

Hand-washing: How can the inhabitants of Lagos maintain prescribed hand washing protocols when they have to buy water by the bucket? Only 44% of the state is covered by public water supply and this serves less than 16% of the population.

Access to health care: Nigeria has a fragile health system. The country has 0.8 beds per thousand population. Lagos itself has only one hospital for the treatment of infectious diseases, and is scampering to build makeshift isolation centres for the treatment of coronavirus.

There are 288 primary health centres in Lagos and these would ordinarily have been an important line of first defense and information sharing. But many of them lack the capacity to provide essential health-care services due to poor staffing, inadequate equipment, poor distribution of health workers, poor quality of health-care services, poor condition of infrastructure, and lack of essential drugs.

Livelihoods and survival: the imminent lock down of the city poses a challenge to the 68% of Lagosians who earn a living in the informal sector. How do they stock up on food and other essentials when there is no money?

Most people living in informal settlements are more concerned about survival than what’s been described as a “foreign” disease attacking the rich and the elderly – as most of the cases, so far, have been international travellers and their contacts.

Communication: So far, the major means of communicating COVID-19 related information has been via social media, particularly twitter. The result is that people living in informal settlements are cut off from accurate information flow. Where there is communication through radio and television, poor power supply means that sectors of the city are without cover for many hours.

Transport: keeping a safe distance from people is also a pipe dream given Lagos’s chaotic public transport system. Over 20 million trips are made daily on the Bus Rapid Transit system which have carrying capacity of between 40 and 85 people, and danfo (mini-buses) which are usually 14-18-seaters. This effectively puts those who patronise public transportation (67% of all commuters) at risk of infection. How feasible is it to maintain the 2 meters social distancing recommended in the danfo buses?

The Lagos state government asks bus drivers to operate at 60%. This is unrealistic given that the current system is already overstretched.

An opportunity?

Going forward, Lagos must see the crisis as an opportunity to address glaring gaps in its urban planning – especially at local levels.

For example, the links between public health and urban planning have been ignored up until now. These should be reconsidered, building on citizen led efforts.

Though informal settlements are fraught with urban challenges, they also manifest immense agency, with the poor often harnessing resources, both tangible and intangible, to mitigate the effects of obvious challenges. Community profiling programmes have resulted in street numbering and resident identification, while residents’ associations have built local clinics, installed boreholes and street lights.

Studies in 2013 and 2015 also show that in Lagos, community development efforts can be a huge contributor to better overall health outcomes.

The Bubonic plague of the 1920s opened the pathways for urban planning in Lagos. The interventions at the time resemble the current approaches – the disinfection of public places, removal of patients to the Infectious Disease hospital and a campaign for household hygiene.

The establishment of the Lagos Executive Development Board also pioneered the development of new housing estates to resettle those affected by the Oko Awo clearance.

In the same way, COVID-19 presents an opportunity for Lagos to rethink and redo urban planning and development. To start with, three practical steps can be taken.

The public health and planning interface can be strengthened. This can be done through slum upgrading and the provision of basic services such as waste management, sanitation facilities and water.

The adoption of a humane and inclusive approach to urban (re)development. Authorities need to recognise the agency of the poor by adopting bottom up participatory planning approaches in which residents contribute fully in the development of their communities.

Global Inequity: Ghana. Then and now in 2020. What you are never told. Look beyond your highrise. September 2020

 https://www.africahousingnews.com/2018/11/27/how-slums-in-accra-are-easing-the-citys-urban-housing-crisis/

How Slums In Accra Are Easing The City’s Urban Housing Crisis

 by flora Anne

 

 November 27, 2018

Informal settlements continue to remain a significant component of many cities in the developing world. UN Habitat describes them as lacking security of tenure, not having durable housing and short of basic services. Globally, almost one billion people are hosted in informal settlements. This is expected to increase to 1.5 billion by 2020.

In sub-Saharan Africa, about 60% of all urban residents reside in slums and their level of deprivation is considered to be comparatively severe In view of the recent urbanisation trends on the continent, much of the projected urban population growth is expected to be absorbed by slums.

In spite of this reality, slum dwellers continue to be marginalised, brutalised by the state and forcefully evicted.

They are also frequent victims of demolitions and displacements. However, slums are critical for the future well-being of many urban residents across the continent because they provide a refuge.

This is true in Accra where close to half of the city’s population live in informal settlements.

In this article, we shed light on the broader dynamics of urban housing, and the rental regime that has pushed many people into the informal settlements. We argue that slums are more than just marginalised spaces of abject poverty and neglect.

Accra’s housing crisis

Housing in Accra is something of a paradox: a boom in supply for the wealthy, and scarcity for those at the lower ends of the income strata.

According to the Ghana Housing Profille, 60% of all urban households in Ghana occupy single rooms. Only 25% of households own a house. The remainder either rent or live rent-free in a family house. Urban housing is also regarded as very expensive.

Because of a lack of affordable, decent and secure shelter for the low-income population it’s generally accepted that there’s a housing crisis in the Ghanaian capital. This crisis was instigated by the withdrawal of the state as an active provider of housing.

The state withdrew following the adoption of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s structural adjustment programmes introduced in the 1980s. At that point market –led policy became the mainstay in housing provision. The private rental housing market was commercialised resulting in a boom in profit –driven housing production that targeted high-income residents.

Exclusive apartments, gated communities and high-end residential units mushroomed across the poorly controlled housing landscape.

Thanks to rising land prices, a decline in the access to land, and a lack of access to housing finance, many low-income and lower-middle class workers are pushed out of the housing market.

This has pushed most of them  to rely on the informal rental sector. There, landlords exploit the vulnerability of their tenants often demanding several years of rent in advance.

Can upgrading slums help solve the crisis?

About 45% of Accra residents live in some form of slum housing. These areas are overcrowded, have limited access to piped water and poor sanitation facilities. But this is only part of the picture. Slum housing means more to local residents than the stereotypical depictions of deprivation and poverty.

Urban slums like Old Fadama allow many people to escape the near homelessness that Accra’s housing crises creates.
Old Fadama is the largest informal settlement in the city of Accra. In media and political circles it is often cast as dystopian. But for many it’s the one of the few places they can be assured of access to cheap and alternative housing while still remaining close to core services in the city of Accra.

This informal settlement sits on public land that was initially acquired by the Government of Ghana for the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project. The project was abandoned and the land remained undeveloped until the 1980s when the informal settlement began.

Since then the population has grown substantially. Between 2004 and 2007, for instance, the population doubled from 24,000 to 48,000. The most recent data suggests that nearly 80 000 people now live in the area.

This exponential growth can be attributed to the fact that Old Fadama provides cheap, centrally located housing. Moreover, not all housing is substandard. Relatively better-quality houses can be found in unplanned areas at more affordable prices than other areas in Accra.
This is borne out by the fact that Old Fadama doesn’t only house the informal poor.
A recent study suggested that about 15% are formal sector employees.

Old Fadama is an entry point to basic housing  for those in both low-paid formal and informal employment. For many in this slum, access to cheap housing in the city’s economic heartland has made it possible to capitalise on their capabilities, and enabled them to try and move out of poverty

Policy and project experimentation

There’s an urgent need for targeted interventions around slum housing in Accra. Fortunately, the 2015 National Housing Policy, and the newly established Ministry for Inner City and Zongo Development, are good starting points. Both emphasise support for the urban poor and low-income housing.

Additionally, civil society groups are experimenting with collective self-help housing– such as the Amui Dzor Housing and Infrastructure Project. implemented by the Ghana federation of the urban poor in collaboration with the government and UN Habitat– for low-income groups. In view of this, we suggest that there is a need to combine policy support with project experimentation for house improvement in urban slums.

This should be considered as part of a housing programme that involves state leadership in providing ‘real’ affordable housing. There is also a need to provide funds for social housing, enforce regulation of the rental market, and support the informal housing sector. This would add up to a solid commitment towards every citizen’s right to decent, secure and affordable housing.

Source:The Conversation Africa