Urban infrastructure: a critique of urban renewal process in Ijora Badia, Lagos

Abstract

Infrastructure deficiencies and crises in the major Third World cities are mostly a result of rapid urbanisation that those countries have earlier experienced. The problems are particularly pronounced in the old, indigenous core areas of the cities, and in the outer spontaneous settlements that accommodate the low-income population. In addition to its health implications, a spatial concentration of low-income population in poor areas of the cities is a possible source of urban crime and urban violence. One is therefore not surprised that the Lagos State Urban Renewal Board, with the assistance of the World Bank, planned to carry out the upgrading of 41 identified low-income settlements in Lagos. Apart from an initial study, the urban renewal process has started in Badia, one of the 41 settlements. This study evaluates the details of the upgrading strategies using primary sources of information collected by a combination of multi-stage and simple random sampling techniques. Inadequate funds, which lead to a narrowing down of the scope of upgrading strategies, are a major finding of the study. Recommendations are made which call for improved internally generated revenues and the implementation of infrastructure upgrading within the context of Nigerian National Urban Policy.