At a time when infrastructure decay has become a major feature of Nigerian cities and house prices and rents are aiming for the roof-tops, living in the low-income and semi-urban areas in a crowded city like Lagos could be a huge challenge.
Each of the three big cities in Nigeria, Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt, has a fair share of squalid areas, but as a commercial and industrial city with a large concentration of people estimated at 20 million, Lagos is ahead with nine identified urban slums defined by squatter settlements.
These settlements are predominantly lacking in basic facilities. The importance of social amenities to mankind cannot be overemphasized as life can be frustrating without facilities needed to ease living conditions, but what obtains in Lagos today makes both life and living very difficult.
Almost everyone considers the availability and functionality of social facilities such as power, good road network, security and water supply, etc, before deciding on where to live, and this is because a strong nexus exists between the quality of public amenities and people’s wellbeing.
To really underscore the poor state of living conditions in Nigeria, the country was ranked 108 out of 111 nations surveyed by The Economist, in their quality of life index basing the ranking on material wellbeing, security, health, social and community activities.
Nigeria’s low rating implies citizens hardly enjoy those facilities meant to make life stress-free, and this is the plight of residents in the low-income and semi-urban areas of Lagos, according to BusinessDay findings.
Bamidele Oseni, a civil servant who resides in Agege, noted that while power supply has improved considerably in his environs, the major challenge is security concerns.
“Security is zero. We had to improvise with gates mounted everywhere with vigilantes who collect monthly payment of N1, 000 per room,” said Oseni.
“The roads are still the same as they were when I was growing up. The difference is in the little poor patching which does not last after spending huge money on the project,” Oseni noted, adding that the paucity of public water supply has prompted landlords to dig boreholes.
Similarly, Daniel Ogunsanya, a private school teacher residing in Ifako Ijaye, told our reporter that power supply has also improved in his area, but security remains a huge challenge.
“Well, our roads are relatively fair. Power is stable up to 20 hours uninterrupted daily supply, but security is poor as there are several cases of hoodlums attack in the neighbourhood,” Ogunsanya said, adding that water was generally supplied by private individuals.
A resident of Abule-Egba, another Lagos suburb, Juliana Adebiyi, posited that power supply has improved in her environs in recent times on the back of favourable weather conditions and strategy deployed by electricity officials to justify the crazy bill charged on customers.
“The power situation has improved but the roads are nothing to write home about. The roads are not passable whenever there is rainfall,” Adebiyi said, adding that her environment was fairly peaceful.
Taofek Kareem, a merchant residing in Akesan, decried the ineptitude of government towards providing necessary facilities in his area, thus making life very difficult for Lagosians living in that part of town.
“I cope by providing the needed amenities personally. The roads are bad especially from Mile 2 to Badagry which I ply daily,” Kareem said. This has significant impact on my income because I spend more on transport fare than other household and personal demands
Speaking further, “There is no government water in my area. Electricity too is terrible. The community is secured but that’s not the effort of any government”
A resident in the Mile 2 area, who identified herself simply as Adeyinka, stated that the Lagos-Badagry Expressway which she plies on daily basis is nothing to write home about. “I spend two to three hours in traffic on the road. It’s even worse when there is downpour,” she said, adding that while security is somehow fair in her area, power supply was yet to see any big improvement.
“We want improvement in poor state of security which is a threat to life and properties and also pipe borne water should be provided for everyone”, Ogunsanya said.
Kareem urged the government to be more responsive to the needs of the people in the suburbs. “My concern is for the authorities to expedite action on the Lagos-Badagry expressway”, he said,pointing out that the deplorable condition of the road was affecting his business.
On his part, Oseni wants the poor road networks connecting Agege and other parts of the city fixed. “I urge the present administration in Lagos to look into this as they have promised to give infrastructure a facelift”
Israel Odubola
