Lagos – Anything is possible

The main road to his eight
foot square shack in Ajegunle slum is ankle-high in litter. The open drain down
his alley overflows with black sewage. Fires smoulder below the nearby motorway
bridge; armies of hawkers sell water on the permanently jammed expressway; and
burned-out lorries and cars are dumped on either side of the road.

This is Ajegunle aka ´Jungle City – "jegunle! jegunle! jegunle!" 1
million people live in Jungle City, a place more dense than Mumbai or
Calcutta.  It is a place of unimaginable hardship.  No electricity,
no water, gutters full of sewage and shit, huge anthill sized rubbish heaps
that probably have been there for years full of giant sized rats and who knows
what else. 

According to Ajegunle  poet, musician and activist,  A J
Taga Tola, the only growth industries are " gangs and evangelical
churches which promise a better life. "   

"The reality is that
people must share rooms with 10 others," says AJ. "They have no
rights as tenants. They have no ventilation, so they get ill. The drains do not
work. It is abnormal to have electricity. They can go days, even weeks without
power. Only the rich have water and if the poor get access to any, they must
pay 10 times as much for it. The roofs leak. In the rainy season you cannot
move because of the flooding. Governance has failed us on every level. The
local, the state and the federal governments have all done nothing for us.

According to Lagos State Governor, Dr Tasiwaju Tinubu, by 2010 Lagos will be
the third largest city in the world with a growth rate of 6% per year.
The present population is 15 million and  is expected to reach  a
massive 24 million in the next 5 years.   It is not only Nigerians
from  the  provinces that are  moving to Lagos.  Africans
from all over West Africa come to Lagos not to work but to beg.  No one
knows the beggar population of Lagos, men women children who live under
bridges, on rubbish dumps or  on the edge of giant gutters.  Tinubu
claims Lagos is being held to ransom by the Federal government who have
withheld N200 billion ($160 million)

"We provide 65% of all
the VAT in Nigeria, yet Lagos gets only 15% of it. There is only about $3-400m
(up to £200m) a year to spend on the city. That is for 15 million people -
about $2 per person per year. What can I do for this?" His budget is
dwarfed by other comparable world cities such as Delhi, (population 13.8
million) which has a budget of $2.6bn; and Jakarta (11 million) which has $1bn."

He also blames the West, Tony Blair, Bush et al

But the west is also
responsible…..by insisting its meagre aid to Nigeria goes through central
government….. He says the rhetoric from Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, the Africa
Commission, the World Bank and G8 leaders about helping Africa is in reality
not very helpful. "All the noise from Bush and Blair about democracy and
freedom is not backed by concrete action in developing countries," he
says. "The World Bank? They offer us 200 buses. We need 4,000."

On this I agree with the Governor.   It is only when you see the
reality of Africa’s cities like Lagos where the majority of changes that
have occurred in the past 25 years are
downward ones. Blair and Brown just do
not have a clue about urban jungles like Lagos, how could they, the Nigerian
President doesn’t have a clue or an interest in beginning to improve the city’s
infrastructure and deal with it’s huge social problems.

Four years ago water provision was privatised under the Lagos Water
Corporation.  The managing director Mr Olumuyiwa Coker said 80% of the
water was being stolen.   This is what happens when the World Bank insists
on privatising essential services such as water in developing countries where
the majority cannot afford to pay for
water.   And no one knows what happened to the $170 million World
Bank loan so despite the cries of Nigeria’s finance minister that the
government is dealing with corruption, the reality is corruption is alive and
well and going unchallenged and unpunished. To his credit Mr Coker has come up
with his own model for privatising water, one where the rich will pay more than
the poor

"But [unlike other water
privatisations] I do not expect the price to rise, I do not expect redundancies
and the rich will pay more than the poor. It is our own model," he says.

Despite being constantly ignored by successive politicians, Lagosians are now  beginning to help themselves.  Local activists and community workers have started a range of programmes

A few years ago this community was really dangerous. There was a high risk of stabbings, teenage pregnancies, fights, Aids. A lot of girls died from abortions done by the local chemist. But we started an education programme, set up a community clinic, listened to people and trained them to help themselves. In a few years it has improved a lot here. Anything is possible in Lagos"

Culled from Guardian Writer, John Vidal’s report from Lagos – People wake up angry at being alive in a society like this’  which is part of the Guardian~s focus on Lagos series of reports

John Vidals photo journal of Lagos.  The photos are mainly of Makoko a Lagos  slum built on water.

The main road to his eight foot square shack in Ajegunle slum is ankle-high in litter. The open drain down his alley overflows with black sewage. Fires smoulder below the nearby motorway bridge; armies of hawkers sell water on the permanently jammed expressway; and burned-out lorries and cars are dumped on either side of the road.This is Ajegunle aka ´Jungle City - "jegunle! jegunle! jegunle!" 1 million people live in Jungle City, a place more dense than Mumbai or Calcutta.  It is a place of unimaginable hardship.  No electricity, no water, gutters full of sewage and shit, huge anthill sized rubbish heaps that probably have been there for years full of giant sized rats and who knows what else.  According to Ajegunle  poet, musician and activist,  A J Taga Tola, the only growth industries are " gangs and evangelical churches which promise a better life. "    "The reality is that people must share rooms with 10 others," says AJ. "They have no rights as tenants. They have no ventilation, so they get ill. The drains do not work. It is abnormal to have electricity. They can go days, even weeks without power. Only the rich have water and if the poor get access to any, they must pay 10 times as much for it. The roofs leak. In the rainy season you cannot move because of the flooding. Governance has failed us on every level. The local, the state and the federal governments have all done nothing for us. According to Lagos State Governor, Dr Tasiwaju Tinubu, by 2010 Lagos will be the third largest city in the world with a growth rate of 6% per year. The present population is 15 million and  is expected to reach  a massive 24 million in the next 5 years.   It is not only Nigerians from  the  provinces that are  moving to Lagos.  Africans from all over West Africa come to Lagos not to work but to beg.  No one knows the beggar population of Lagos, men women children who live under bridges, on rubbish dumps or  on the edge of giant gutters.  Tinubu claims Lagos is being held to ransom by the Federal government who have withheld N200 billion ($160 million) "We provide 65% of all the VAT in Nigeria, yet Lagos gets only 15% of it. There is only about $3-400m (up to £200m) a year to spend on the city. That is for 15 million people - about $2 per person per year. What can I do for this?" His budget is dwarfed by other comparable world cities such as Delhi, (population 13.8 million) which has a budget of $2.6bn; and Jakarta (11 million) which has $1bn." He also blames the West, Tony Blair, Bush et al But the west is also responsible.....by insisting its meagre aid to Nigeria goes through central government..... He says the rhetoric from Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, the Africa Commission, the World Bank and G8 leaders about helping Africa is in reality not very helpful. "All the noise from Bush and Blair about democracy and freedom is not backed by concrete action in developing countries," he says. "The World Bank? They offer us 200 buses. We need 4,000." On this I agree with the Governor.   It is only when you see the reality of Africa's cities like Lagos where the majority of changes that have occurred in the past 25 years are downward ones. Blair and Brown just do not have a clue about urban jungles like Lagos, how could they, the Nigerian President doesn’t have a clue or an interest in beginning to improve the city's infrastructure and deal with it's huge social problems. Four years ago water provision was privatised under the Lagos Water Corporation.  The managing director Mr Olumuyiwa Coker said 80% of the water was being stolen.   This is what happens when the World Bank insists on privatising essential services such as water in developing countries where the majority cannot afford to pay for water.   And no one knows what happened to the $170 million World Bank loan so despite the cries of Nigeria's finance minister that the government is dealing with corruption, the reality is corruption is alive and well and going unchallenged and unpunished. To his credit Mr Coker has come up with his own model for privatising water, one where the rich will pay more than the poor "But [unlike other water privatisations] I do not expect the price to rise, I do not expect redundancies and the rich will pay more than the poor. It is our own model," he says. Despite being constantly ignored by successive politicians, Lagosians are now  beginning to help themselves.  Local activists and community workers have started a range of programmesA few years ago this community was really dangerous. There was a high risk of stabbings, teenage pregnancies, fights, Aids. A lot of girls died from abortions done by the local chemist. But we started an education programme, set up a community clinic, listened to people and trained them to help themselves. In a few years it has improved a lot here. Anything is possible in Lagos" Culled from Guardian Writer, John Vidal's report from Lagos - People wake up angry at being alive in a society like this'  which is part of the Guardian~s focus on Lagos series of reports John Vidals photo journal of Lagos.  The photos are mainly of Makoko a Lagos  slum built on water.

Tagged as: Nigeria