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The world we live in is very dynamic in every
ramification. It
Has consequential effect on man’s activities and the environment
in which he lives. The quality of the environment is greatly influenced
by the number and quality of people within the environment. A close look
at the population and its growth rate in Nigeria and Lagos gives an insight
into the enormity of problems and perhaps challenges to anticipate. Figures in Nigeria and from the Nigeria’s national
report to the habitats11 world congress in turkey shows that as from 1946, no
settlement in Nigeria had a population of up to 200, 00 and from available
records, within the period of fifty years, sixty one cities have been produced, when non was
existing as an indicator of high urbanization rate. This become interesting
when one realizes that as at 1921, Nigeria’s urban population was just 5% of
the total. The population rose to 20% in 1970, 38% in 1993 and 40% in 1996
and has been predicted to reach 60% by the year 2010 and 62% by the year2025.
When compared with the national average the growth of Lagos state has been
more alarming.
In 1991 for instance, census figure show that over 90% of the
population in Lagos state were living in urban cent-re as against the
national figure of 36.787%. It has grown from a population of just over230,
00 in 1950 to over1.1million in1963 and over7.0 in 1991. It has been
projected that by2015 Lagos will become the third mega city in the world with
the population of over 24.7million. With this, Lagos will be trailing behind
Tokyo and Bombay. In deed, this rapid growth has implication for land
requirement.
The challenges posed by this
observation to those saddled with the responsibilities of planning and
managing the metropolis is the need to mobilize all available technical and
financial resources to sustain appropriate development of the state. This
will require concerted action targeted at ensuring that the development of
the state meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
the future generation to meet their own needs. The trend of urbanization has
.led to the intensive utilization of another available land and reclamation
of wetlands especially those in the built up areas.
It has even brought into reality gradual but disastrous
encroachment into the lagoon and creeks. The world report on the future
whose vision is livable cities and vibrant civil societies analyze the
current global trends in the field of urban development and proposed guiding
principles for the cities in the 21century as deregulation and rural
overpopulation combined with industrialization, its concomitant De-industrialization
combined with the growth of service sector, the mobility revolution and; the
parallel telecommunication revolution.
Today we can see the great transformation force in the 21st century:
it is the information revolution which is already bringing cities together in
complex global system of interaction and interdependence. The consequence of
these forces is manifested in Lagos, a city that is not only ailing but
chocked up and gasping for breath. For instance report indicate that there is
no plan document[ legal] being used in most state of
the federation, the regional and master plan that are in existence were
prepared some twenty years back and have expired and non have replaced most
of them. In this wise, illegal development are expected to encroach on
agriculture, woodland, forest reserves and wetland Wilbert smith report projected
that to accommodate an additional 10million people; a total of 665km of land
would be needed.
Their report concludes that if none of the wetlands in existence
were reclaimed then about 65% of the available land would be needed for urban
expansion. The situation is getting worse by the day and the reconciliation
of needs and resources in sustainable manner has become a great challenge.
Cities are increasingly engage in competition with one another at
international, national, regional or urban level; competitiveness is most
often discussed in relation to the tradable part of the economy, in
particular manufacturing industry. In the short term, competitiveness depends
on the structure of the economy and on its sectoral specialization as well as
contextual conditions such as the character and effectiveness of institution,
the quality and spread of infrastructure and other factor.
It is also interpreted as situation where some cities mainly”
perform” better than others in so far as the income and employment generates
within their boundaries exceed those of others. This suggest that, the
capacity of a city to compete is shaped by interplay between the attribute of
cities as location and the strength and weakness of the firms and other
economic activities in them.Oyewole Fagbohun, a noted urbanist, indicates
that in Nigerian cities where property cost are higher coupled labour
problem, other things shall be coming at a disadvantage. He reiterated that
the degree of congestion in transport system alone could; conceivably, affect
commitments to timely delivery of products, lack of immediate access to
specialized business serviced right, and makes it more difficult for a firm
to upgrade quality. Attitude to land use planning will bear on the type of
economic activities that is able to flourish.
He submitted that with
this, meeting global competitiveness would remains in mirage unless concerted
effort is taken. He said what are the present outcome of Apapa metropolis is
not far fetched
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