KTH Architecture and

the Built Environment

Master of Science Thesis SoM EX 2007-017

www.infra.kth.se/sp

Rapid Urbanization and Coping Strategies:

The Case of Lagos, Nigeria

Abbas Olukunmi Owoade

Supervisor: Prof. Emer. Dick Urban Vestbro

Examiner: Prof. Gran Cars

Stockholm, June 2007

KTH, Department of Urban Planning and Environment
Division of Urban and Regional Studies
Kungliga Tekniska Hgskolan

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to start by acknowledging the role my supervisor Prof. Dick Urban Vestbro played in
my choice of research topic, also for his useful comments and numerous literatures he gladly
loaned to me. I am very fortunate to have you as my masters thesis supervisor.
I am also indebted to my Wife; Ronke Adedeji and my twin daughters; Samina and Samira
Owoade for understanding my long hours away during this study, I love you dearly.
My colleagues in the Spatial Planning Masters Programme (2005), it was nice meeting you
all. Kodjo Akpey and Makwaya Shija you guys are great. Owolabi Sugar Lawal and Idris at
Linkoping University thank you for your concerns. Emmanuel Doro, Funmi, Mona, Musbau
Bello and Kunle Saheed all students of KTH and Halima Oborien and Hubby Saliu are also
acknowledged.
I acknowledge the management of APPLIKATOR MLERI AB especially Rolf, Martins,
Gran sth and Roger Anderson for their support.
To my friends and Family back home in Nigeria, thank you for your support. I miss you all.

ii

DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to Swedish National Government who has made it possible for many
non Swedish national to get world standard education free of charge.

iii

ABSTRACT
The rate of urbanization in less developed countries and the challenges that come with it has
attracted a lot of research in recent times. Sub-Saharan Africa remains one of the worlds least
urbanized regions but the rate of growth of it large cities and the increasing numbers of large
urban agglomeration has raised question about how and whether it is possible to cope with the
increased concentration of human activities in urban areas. This thesis describe the rate of
urbanization and the problems associated with rapid growth in the city of Lagos, a typical less
developed mega city.

Of particular interest is the rate of rural-urban migration which can be described as a net
contributor to the rapid growth witnessed in Lagos. It is highlighted that some sort of bias
exists in the development of the rural and urban areas in favour of the latter cumulating in the
attractiveness of the cities over the country side. A review of the Post-independence national
development plans of Nigeria has enabled an understanding that even though more resources
have been allocated for the development of the urban areas, the cities have not fared better
stemming from the lack of comprehensive planning approach and a lack of continuity in the
planning process. The methodology employed was qualitative in nature, based largely on the
review of existing literatures. Also, review of government documents in the form of National
development plans pursued by Nigeria since political independence in 1960 to the late 1990s
form a large part of the analysis concerning the trend of urbanization.

Some of the most disturbing problems affecting the city such as lack of adequate housing,
poor transportation and growing unemployment which has led to the expansion of the
informal sector have been discussed and some solutions which have been tried was described.
Solutions such as the rapid bus transit in Curitiba, Brazil was also noted as viable option for
the city of Lagos to cope with the problem of inadequate transportation for millions of daily
commuters. The informal sector activities is also identified as a strong contributor to the
economic base of the city and if properly harness can serve as a major employer of labour
reducing unemployment and poverty and also generating income for the government.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
ABSTRACT

1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM...................................................................................................................... 2
AIM AND OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................. 2
RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................................... 2
DELIMITATION OF STUDY ...................................................................................................................... 2
METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................ 3
STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS................................................................................................................... 3

2. GENERAL BACKGROUND ................................................................................................ 5

URBANIZATION TRENDS IN LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES ......................................... 5
DRIVING FORCES.......................................................................................................................... 9
THE ECONOMY .......................................................................................................................................... 9
GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND DECISIONS.................................................................................. 10
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION INVESTMENT...... 10
LOCAL FACTORS..................................................................................................................................... 10

3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK....................................................................................... 11
THEORY OF URBAN BIAS...................................................................................................................... 11
OVERURBANIZATION ............................................................................................................................ 14
CONCEPTS AND THEORIES IN AFRICAN URBANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
..................................................................................................................................................................... 15

4. URBANIZATION AND SPATIAL GROWTH OF LAGOS.............................................. 16

LAGOS CITY GROWTHS......................................................................................................................... 16
AREA EXPANSION................................................................................................................................... 19

URBAN PLANNING POLICY IN NIGERIA: OVERVIEW OF NATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT PLANS ............................................................................................................. 20
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS..................................................................................................... 20
THE ROLLING PLANS ............................................................................................................................. 22
ROLLING PLAN (1997-1999) ................................................................................................................... 22
NIGERIAS DEVELOPMENT PLANNING ATMOSPHERE .................................................................. 23

SOURCES OF GROWTH ............................................................................................................. 23

RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION TREND .................................................................................................. 24
NATURAL INCREASE.............................................................................................................................. 24

PROBLEMS OF LARGE CITIES; GENERAL AND PECULIAR .......................................... 25

HOUSING ................................................................................................................................................... 26
TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS ........................................................................................................... 27
THE EMPLOYMENT BASE ..................................................................................................................... 29

5. COPING WITH RAPID URBAN GROWTH .................................................................... 31

SLOWING DOWN POPULATION INCREASE ........................................................................ 31
IMPROVING RURAL CONDITIONS....................................................................................................... 31

COPING WITH THE URBAN POPULATION .......................................................................... 33

PROVISION OF URBAN TRANSPORTATION ...................................................................................... 33
IMPROVING THE INFORMAL ECONOMIC SECTOR.......................................................................... 35
NATURE OF THE INFORMAL SECTOR ................................................................................................ 36
PROMOTING THE INFORMAL SECTOR............................................................................................... 36

CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................. 38
REFERENCE .................................................................................................................................. 40

CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION
Urbanization is an increasing proportion of a population living in settlements defined as urban
centres. This usually results from the net movement of people from rural to urban areas,
natural increase (the excess of births over deaths) is only important when it is higher in urban
areas than in rural areas or where natural increase brings a rural settlements population over a
threshold so it becomes reclassified as urban (Satterthwaite 2005). However, the definition of
what qualifies as urban centre is different from one country to another depending on the
population criteria used. From as low as 200 inhabitants in Sweden to as high as 20,000
inhabitants in Nigeria, each nation uses its own criteria for defining urban centres.
Whatever criteria used to define urban centres, Satterthwaite noted that many aspects of urban
change during the period 1950-2000 were unprecedented, including the worlds level of
urbanization, the size of its urban population, number of countries becoming more urbanised,
and the size and numbers of very large cities. Of the 387 million cities (cities with one
million or more inhabitants) in the world by 2000, a large and increasing proportion of them
are in Africa, Asia and Latin America (Pg. 1). Using a higher threshold population of 10
million, there were 23 mega-cities worldwide in 2000 and 18 of these were in the developing
world (Daniels, 2004), though Africa and Asia still remain the least urbanised regions of the
world with 42% and 43% respectively of their population living in urban areas (Satterthwaite,
2005).
The source of the rapid growth of cities in less developed countries has been a major concern
of researches. The two sources mostly referred in literatures have been the continued ruralurban migration and the rate of natural increase. Opinions have differed on the most
contributing source of rapid urbanization in less developed countries, although the majority of
opinion seems to be that while rural-urban migration has been a net contributor to the growth
of urban centres in the 1950s to the 1970s, natural increase can be seen to be contributing
more to urban growth in the past two decades. (This argument is beyond the scope of this
study hence the effort will be to search for the arguments that best explain the situation of the
study area i.e. Lagos)
To understand the rapid growth of less developed cities, the effect of government policies
need to be understood as a major influence on where people migrate to due to the location of
government activities and more germane the type of economic policy pursued.

The question is how less developed cities will cope with rapid growth (of their population)
especially in the area of infrastructural provision such as housing, transportation, energy
consumption, waste management and health care. Environmental concerns also arise as less
developed cities expand (though, this is a huge research topic on its own and will not be
treated in any detail in this study). Measures to control the rate of rural-urban migration,
either by means of improving rural living conditions or by forced eviction from urban centres
have yielded minimal results and have not led to a substantial decrease in the rate of
urbanization. The World Bank admits that no country has been effective in restraining ruralurban migration (Drakakis-Smith 1995, Pg. 660). Hence, those concerned with managing
urban centres are seeking new ways of coping with the increasing population.

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

The rate of rural-urban migration has been viewed as a major source of rapid growth of urban
centres in the less developed countries. To reverse or slow this trend has been a difficult task
for many national governments. What are those options that have been and, or could be tried
to cope with rapid urbanization from two fundamental view points; Slowing down the rate of
urban population either by means of slowing rural-urban migration or slowing the rate of
natural increase which is the difference between birth rate and death rate; and the strategies of
coping with the numerous problems associated with rapidly growing less developed cities in
the area of infrastructures provision, jobs creation, sustaining economic growth and
maintaining a healthy environment.
There exists a lack of adequate knowledge on what drives rapid urbanization in many of SubSaharan Africa cities. This can be argued because it has not been fully understood why rural
people continued to migrate into large cities even as it has been noticed that these cities lack
the employment capabilities of early European and North American cities which recorded
high rates of rapid urbanization. Also, the informal sector of the economy which is understood
to accommodate many early arrivals into these cities and those who have not been able to
secure employment in the formal sector has not been fully understood. It becomes difficult to
regulate and improve because knowledge gap exist in what makes up the informal sector and
how it really operates from country to country.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the study is to understand the rate and sources of urbanization in less
developed countries with specific focus on urban Lagos and to analyse what steps have been
taken to cope with problems associated with the continuous expansion of less developed
cities. Understanding the role of rural-urban migration and that of natural increase in
accounting for the rapid growth of Lagos will be an overriding objective of this study.
The specific objectives of this study are:
a. To describe the rate and source of rapid urbanization in Lagos.
b. To identify general and peculiar effects of rapid urbanization in Lagos.
c. To identify some coping strategies being employed in managing rapid urbanization in
Lagos and in Nigeria.
d. To identify the role of planning to address problems of rapid urbanization.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Following the research objectives, the questions addressed by this study are:
a. What is the most important contributing source of rapid population growth of less
developed cities?
b. What are some of the problems relating to housing, infrastructure provision and the
employment situation in the city of Lagos?
c. What are those strategies that have been applied to cope with rapidly growing cities
and what have they achieved?
d. Do government policies contribute to the continued rapid growth of some cities?

DELIMITATION OF STUDY
The study focuses on the issues of rapid urbanization with specific focus on less developed
cities and particular reference to Lagos. Focus will be on planning and policy issues while

only minimal references will be made to the economy and political issues as this is outside the
authors area of competence. Also, this is not an attempt to provide leak proof solutions to
problems of rapid urbanization but to point out what has been done to understand and address
the issue of rapid urbanization and what can be done.

METHODOLOGY
Review of existing literatures in the field of urban studies will be a key method employed for
this study. Also official documents in the form of Nigerias National development plans of the
1960s to the late 1990s will be analyzed for the place of national urban planning in
government planning policies. Population figures will be drawn from several published
sources and these will be interpreted with care as it is mainly estimates and projected figures
that are available for the study area.
The review of existing literatures will form the general guide to the discussion and an attempt
will be made to bring together a range of authors both within and outside planning who have
contributed to our understanding of current urbanization in less developed regions. The
National development plans of Nigeria hoped to be utilised in describing the planning issues
in Nigeria and Lagos.
There exist a number of empirical and theoretical studies on the issues of rapid urbanisation in
the less developed countries and only a few have dealt with the Sub-Saharan Africa in any
details in the past two decades. This gap in research is even much more pronounced in the
West Africa sub-region where Lagos is located. Also, not many studies have been carried out
about strategies that have been tried to cope with rapid urbanization in the large cities of SubSaharan Africa. A lot of reason could be advanced for this lack of research interest in the area
of rapid urbanization in less developed countries, one could be that the problems associated
with rapid urbanization has not been fully comprehended by decision makers even though
urbanization scholars have identified the problem of rapid urbanization since the 1950s and
immediately after political independence in many capital cities.
Another reason could be that the requisite condition needed to accomplish a good research in
the field of urbanization in the form of regular census is lacking in most countries of SubSaharan Africa. It therefore becomes difficult to grasp the true nature and pattern of rapid
urbanization and researchers had to rely on estimates which are most times based on census
held over three decades ago. It is also important to point out that outcomes of census in many
less developed countries might tailored for political reason as they represent a yardstick for
the allocation of resources. It is therefore common for political leaders to inflate census
figures to achieve long term political gains.
As mentioned that a key source of information of this study will be government documents in
the form of National Development plans of Nigeria. Though these documents where easily
available but most of the statistics on which empirical conclusions were based are estimates of
previous census and it is therefore difficult to conclude that they represent the situation when
the plans were drawn. There are also no recent empirical studies carried out on the study area
(if any such research exists, the author has not been able to locate it). It could therefore mean
that the conclusions drawn in this study may not represent the majority of opinion.

STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS

This thesis is made up of five chapters. It starts with an introduction, followed by a
background chapter on rapid urbanization in the less developed countries. Chapter three
3

covers a theoretical framework which includes a revision of theories and concepts related to
rapid urbanization, it causes and implications. Chapter four will be centred on urbanization
trends in the study area. While particular attention will be on the city of Lagos, most recent
National development plans of Nigeria will be reviewed to better understand the rapid growth
of Lagos. Chapter five will discuss some coping strategies under two broad headings: Slowing
down population increase; and Coping with problems of rapid urbanization. Conclusions will
also be presented under this chapter.

CHAPTER TWO

2. GENERAL BACKGROUND
The fact that the world urban population has increased over the centuries is evident
everywhere we turn and that the worlds future is an urban one can be described as a truism.
Hence, less developed countries are also becoming rapidly urban, Torrey (1998) alluded to
this fact when he noted that the rapid urbanization process shown in less developed countries
will continue in the coming years and decades (Torrey 1998 in Barredo et al 2004:66). It is
true that the planets future is an urban one and that the largest and fastest growing cities are
primarily in less developed countries It is expected that over half of the population of Africa
will be urban by 2020 (Rakodi 1997:1). In the year 2000, more than 47% of the worlds
population lives in cities. The actual transition to 50% urban is expected to occur around
2007, while projections show about 56% of global population will be urban by 2020 (Habitat
2001). The worlds urban population today is around 3 billion people (United Nations 2004 in
Satterthwaite 2005) the same size as the worlds total population in 1960, portraying a high
rate of urbanization. Also the average population of the worlds 100 largest cities was over 5
million inhabitants by 1990 compared to 2.1 million in 1950 and less than 200,000 in 1800
(Satterthwaite 2005).
However, the rate of urbanization in the developing world has been viewed as considerably
high (although the rate of growth has fallen short of earlier projections), the number of people
living in cities in the developing world is growing at much a faster rate than in the
industrialized world; the pace sharply distinguishes the process from its historical precursor in
Europe. It took London 110 years (1800-1910) to multiply its population by seven, from
about 1 million to over 7 million; this growth rate has been achieved by some African cities
within a generation, while many Asian cities have increased fourfold in the same period
(Daniels 2004). It therefore follows that the greatest challenge will present itself in Africa
and Asia, where an explosive demographic change is expected in the next quarter century
(Habitat 2001:3).

URBANIZATION TRENDS IN LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

Urbanization is a process involving two phases: one, the movement of people from the rural
to urban places, where they engage in primarily non rural occupations, and secondly, the
change in lifestyle that results from living in cities. The important variables in the first phase
are population density and economic functions and the important variables in the second
phase are sociological, psychological, and behavioural (Brunn, Williams and Zeigler 2003:4).
According to Knox (1994) urbanization is driven by a series of inter-related processes of
change; economic, demographic, political, cultural, technological and social. The overall
result has been a tendency for more and more people to live and work in increasingly larger
towns and cities. From these definitions above and agreement among researchers, there are
certain variables that characterize urbanization. These variables include: demographic
changes, concentration of economic activities within limited geographic space which are
presumably triggered by industrialization, spatial expansion of settlements and changes in
peoples lifestyles.
As a point of departure it is germane to note that the urbanization level for any nation is the
proportion of the national population living in urban centres. So this is greatly influenced by
how the national government defines what is an urban centre (Satterthwaite 2005). In 1950,

there were just three cities in the world with a population of more than 8 million inhabitants,
Tokyo, London and New York (Satterthwaite 2005). By 1990, there were six such cities in the
industrialized world, a number not expected to change before the end of the century and in the
developing world there were 14 such cities. Using a higher threshold population of 10 million,
there were 23 mega-cities worldwide in 2000 and 18 of these were in the developing world
(Daniels, 2004).
There are even mega cities with 20 or even 30 million inhabitants; urban agglomerations of a
size never known before in human history, most of which will be in the less developed
countries (Habitat 2001:3). In rapidly urbanising countries of sub-Saharan Africa, urban
growth rate are expected to continue in the order of 4-7% per year. Already as of 1990, nearly
30% of the African population is urban. The projected urban population for 2000 was 37%
and 42% of African population is expected to be urban by 2010 (Satterthwaite 2005). Many
African cities will double or even triple their urban population in 10-20 years, for instance,
the conurbation around Lagos could boast of 24 million inhabitants by the year 2015 (Kombe
and Kreibich 2000 in Lupala 2002:30)
The UN projects that in 2025, more than 4 billion, or 77 percent of the urban dwellers of the
world, will reside in less developed and developing regions. This figure will represent an
overall increase of 186 percent or 2.6 billion new urbanites in Africa, Asia and Latin America
since 1990 (Todaro 1997, Pg. 3). It has been noted that Sub-Saharan Africa have lots of
problems concerning the degree of urbanization with particular reference to their major or
capital cities where projections of urban population growth remains one of the highest in the
world (Todaro 1997). A number of reasons can be noted for the rapid growth of Sub-Saharan
African cities, for example, Colonialism. This brought about powerful currents of rural-urban
migration; this could be understood as a result of the demand for labour in the colonial
administrative centres both for the purpose of clerical and domestic staffs. Although
movement have been going on in the continent for centuries in response to commercial
opportunities, variations in environmental conditions, political upheavals, and depredations
resulting from the slave trade. But colonial regimes and the economic activities which they
promoted raised the level of migratory activity to much a higher level (Habitat 1996:87).
Satterthwaite concluded that perhaps the most important political influence on urban change
in most nations in Africa and Asia over the past 60 years has been the dissolving of the
European powers colonial empires (Satterthwaite 2005). In Africa, one of the reasons why
urban change was so rapid from the 1950s onwards was because in most nations, it began
from such a small base, as the European colonial powers had kept down urban populations by
imposing restrictions on the rights of their national population to live and work in urban
centres (Satterthwaite 2005), some independent governments have also pursued some kind of
influx control/forced eviction, but these have only succeeded temporarily with totalitarian
government in China, South Africa (under apartheid) Cambodia (under Pol Pot) and recently
in Mugabes Zimbabwe, even China is changing its view towards rapid urbanization by
allowing people to move freely into large cities (Tannerfeldt and Ljung 2006:32) Thus, one
of the reasons why urban populations grew so rapidly just before or after the ending of
colonial rule was the removal or weakening of the colonial apartheid-like controls on
population movements (Potts 1995 in Satterthwaite 2005).
These trends continued with the Africanization of the public service and expansion of
parastatal agencies led to a high rate of new employment creation in urban areas, particularly
in the capital cities and large regional centres immediately after independence (Habitat 1996).
6

Newly independent governments had to build the institutions of governance that nations-state
need and also expand the education system that had been so underdeveloped under colonial
rule. This obviously boosted growth in the urban centres, which were the main political and
administrative centres (Satterthwaite 2005).

Figure 2.1: Map of Africa Showing Sub-Saharan Africa

(http://www.worldmap.org/region.php?region=Sub-Saharan%20Africa)

What the above trends means is that the process of urbanization in most Sub-Saharan African
cities was not preceded by industrialization unlike in the developed world where rapid
urbanization accompanied and was the consequence of Industrialization and economic
development (Brunn, Williams & Zeigler 2003). In essence, less developed countries
urbanization does not seem dependent on industrial or manufacturing employment (Kasarda
and Crenshaw 1991). Rather in less developed countries it occurred partly as the result of
rising and unrealistic expectations of rural people who have flocked to the cities seeking
escape from misery. This march to the cities is unaccompanied until very recently by
significant declines in national population growth has resulted in the explosion of urban
places in the less developed countries (Brunn, Williams & Zeigler 2003). Thus the main
features that characterise urbanization in less developed countries and more specifically the

sub-Saharan Africa, include: sprawling cities beyond the limits and capacity of local
authorities to provide basic infrastructure and social facilities, rapid increase of
unemployment and urban poverty, growth and expansion of informal settlements,
deterioration of existing infrastructures and social services, proliferation of the informal sector
and growth of non-urban activity sectors such as urban farming (Habitat 1996)

Figure 2.2: The relationship 1 between nations level of urbanization and their average per
capita income, 2000/2001
Source: Satterthwaite (2005) *
There has been a lot of research on the relationship between level of urbanization and
economic development. It has been noted that the most powerful nations are also highly
urbanised and the standard of living is highest, this then implies a strong correlation between
per capita income and percentage of population urban (Brunn, Williams & Zeigler 2003). The
fact that about 75% of industrialized countries population are urban supports this hypothesis.
Tannerfeldt and Ljung (2006) have taken a moderate position when they noted that a possible
explanation of this positive relationship is that urbanization facilitates economic growth and
equally plausible that economic development stimulates urbanization. In a nutshell, they
concluded that urbanization could be seen as a consequence of but also as a requirement for
economic development.
However, this does not imply that less developed countries will see corresponding rises in per
capita incomes as their populations grow, unless rates of urbanization are brought more
closely in line with rates of economic growth. Meaning that, a city growth needs to be
planned in line with economic growth for proper functioning (of such city). The point here is
that when any city continues to urbanize rapidly without meaningful economic growth there is
* The author notes that care is needed in interpreting this Figure because different criteria are
used by national governments to define urban areas.

a possibility that this rapid growth will start to act as disincentives. It was indicated by many
contributors in Kasarda and Parnell (1993), that the relationship between urban size,
prosperity and environmental problems is equivocal (unclear and, or able to be understood in
two different ways), its is thus too easy and unhelpful to relate, as Brunn, Williams & Zeigler
(2003) and World Bank (1991) persistently do, urbanization with development and conclude
that the latter substantially results from the productivity of economic activities in expanding
cities. As yet, the nature of the complex relationship between development and urban growth
or, indeed, economic growth is still under discussion, especially as this correlation have not
manifested themselves in most Sub-Saharan African countries with rapid rate of urbanization
(Drakakis-Smith 1995).
This continued rapidity in the growth of cities in the less developed countries has raised
questions of Overurbanization. Overurbanization as a term has been used to describe
countries where the level of urbanization relative to national income is considered to be high
in comparism to other countries (Kasarda & Crenshaw 1991). According to those most critical
of this phenomenon, the structural condition of overurbanization and its growth lead to
saturated urban labour markets, truncated opportunity structures in rural areas, overburdened
public services, distorted sectoral development in national economies, the isolation of large
segments of urban and rural population from the fruits of economic development, and
retarded economic growth due to high cost of urban development (Kasarda & Crenshaw
1991).
It is such problems of rapid urbanization and strategies that have been tried to cope as it
relates to cities in less developed countries that the subsequent chapters of this study will
endeavour to elucidate.

DRIVING FORCES
It is much easier to quote urbanization figures for countries or regions and it is also easy to
record growing cities but it is much more difficult to delineate and understand the underlying
causes of urbanization process. Not so many researches have been carried out on this subject.
Satterthwaite (2005) noted that although urbanization is acknowledged as one of the most
significant changes taking place within low and middle-income nations, there is surprisingly
little detailed study of what causes or influences its scale and nature within each nation.
Following the thoughts of Satterthwaite, some driving forces of developing nation (these
forces might also apply to some developed nations) urbanization will be highlighted.

THE ECONOMY
As noted earlier that a most important cause of urbanization is the net movement of people
from rural to urban areas and this is usually a response to the concentration of new investment
and economic opportunities in particular urban areas (Satterthwaite, 2005). This was typical
of many newly independent countries who aimed at economic development hence rapid
concentration of industrial and manufacturing investment in some selected location. The
proportion of the economy that derived from manufacturing or service industry rather than
agricultural activities; the nature of the economic activities within each sector is also an
important factor, for instance the type of agriculture stimulates or support local urban
development. As noted, the pursuit of the orthodox development strategies of the past few
decades, with emphasis on industrial modernization, technological sophistication, and
metropolitan growth, created a substantial geographic imbalance in economic and
noneconomic opportunities and contributed significantly to the steadily accelerating influx of
9

rural immigrants into urban areas (Todaro 1997). It is also noteworthy that this national
economic factor is also related to the wider world economy (Satterthwaite, 2005) It has been
proven that cities are engines of growth and social development; they have sustained
industrial and commercial development everywhere (World Bank 2000 in Daniels 2004;
Tannerfeldt & Ljung 2006).

GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND DECISIONS

The division of power among the various levels of government can also determine the
direction of growth of a nations urban system. There are tendencies for development
projects, infrastructures and other services to be concentrated around the seat of the national
government. Urban centres also concentrate public services and most secondary and higher
education institution are located in urban areas. Satterthwaite (2005), pointed out that Over
the past 50 years there has been a large growth in the scale and range of public services and
bureaucracies in low and middle-income nations, and these are overwhelmingly concentrated
in urban areas and are part of the reason for increased urbanization, not only related to
education or health but also to Local government staff, the police, the armed forces, post and
telecommunication and the judicial system (Pg. 15).

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION

INVESTMENT
Cities are locational arrangements of specialized people and places specifically designed to
maximize spatial interaction and the interaction between different land uses depends on the
availability of means of mobility and communication (Brunn, Williams & Zeigler 2003). The
concentration of government investments in transportation and communication in particular
areas may lead to their rapid growth, many capital cities in Africa like elsewhere received
large investments in these areas during the colonial period and after independence. Abiodun
(1997) noted about Lagos, as the focus of rail, road, and air transportation, Lagos has a special
advantage over any other city in Nigeria in assembling raw materials and distributing finished
goods. Also, good locations for ports were important for pre-colonial trade with European
powers and post-colonial economic change, whether for import-substitution or for export
promotion (Satterthwaite 2005).

LOCAL FACTORS
The rate of growth of an urban centre can also be influenced by local factors related to each
very particular local context including site, location, natural resource endowment,
demographic structure, existing economy and infrastructure, and the quality and capacity of
public institutions (Satterthwaite 2005). The site and situation of major urban centres in the
developing world with particular reference to Sub-Saharan Africa were dictated partly by the
colonial powers as development were concentrated in areas favourable for trade such as near
seaports or regions with favourable climatic conditions. For example Lagos was favoured to
grow, owing to its physical characteristics as the only natural break for about 2,500 Km along
the West African coast. Hence it possesses the premier seaport in Nigeria. Lagos functioned
as the political and administrative capital of Nigeria from the time the Northern and southern
provinces of Nigeria were amalgamated in 1914, through political independence in 1960, until
the federal capital was moved to Abuja in 1991 (Abiodun 1997).

10

CHAPTER THREE

3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Any attempt to synthesize and apply urban theories to African or less developed cities is to be
interpreted with care. A great challenge has been how to apply theories of urban types
developed in industrialized countries to rapidly urbanizing city in a non-industrialized
country. Whereas in the former countries urban types have been largely influenced, or are
product of conventional planning approaches and principles, in most of the latter countries,
the dominance of informally evolved urban types makes the direct application of these
theories questionable (Kironde 1992).
One of the primary objectives of this study is to identify the major source of growth in a
rapidly urbanizing developing city. Hence a major theoretical review will be the theory of
urban bias by Michael Lipton and it relevance in understanding the causes of the continued
rural-urban migration.
Intricately linked to Urban bias theory is the theory of
Overurbanization and its contextual basis shall be deciphered. The application of received
concepts and theories to understand and tackle Africas rapid urbanization issues will be
described.

THEORY OF URBAN BIAS

Lipton a leading proponent of the urban bias theory argues that many underdeveloped nations
implement investments, tax, pricing, and other policies which disproportionately favour urban
areas. This bias in favour of city areas has created disparity between rural and urban with
respect to consumption, wage and productivity levels (Bradshaw 1987), and such disparities
draw migrants from poorer (rural) areas. It is argued that rural areas received too little
expenditure on education and health care relative to their population size and need, and that
government imposed price distortions favoured urban centres over rural development,
especially in Africa (Corbridge and Jones 2005). The focus here is on rural-urban migration
as a net contributor to high rate of urbanization, widespread agreements exist among scholars
that economic reason is a most important determinant of rural emigrants (Todaro 1997) and
the majority of Third world megacity migrants feel that their lives have improved as a result
of their move (Kasarda and Crenshaw 1991).
The urban bias theory can be a good turning point in understanding the underlying complex
relationship between urban and rural especially with reference to their economic activities
resulting in the preference of one over the other as a place to work and live. Todaro was
emphatic when he noted that a simple yet crucial step in underlining the centrality of the
migration phenomenon is to recognize that any economic and social policy that affects rural
and urban real incomes will influence the migration process directly or indirectly (Todaro
1997:26). Such policies will include: Land tenure arrangements; commodity pricing; credit
allocation; taxation; export promotion; import substitution; the geographic distribution of
social services; the structure, content, and orientation of the educational system; international
technology transfer and the location of new industries (Todaro 1997).
Large urban areas especially in the developing world tend to contribute disproportionately to
their national economies. For instance, Shanghai produces 11.4% of Chinas industrial output
and supplies 18% of the national governments revenue; Lagos provides 50% of Nigerias
manufacturing value-added; while Mexico City generates one third of Mexicos gross
national product (Kasarda and Crenshaw 1991). Such trend is not a coincidence but the pure

11

manifestation of the outcome of government policies either covertly or overtly to concentrate

developmental efforts in a few urban locations for economic reason to the relative neglect of
the rural areas. Also very important is the fact that policy-makers, academic researchers and
political representatives are overwhelmingly educated within urban-based educational
establishments, where prolonged professional conditioning has built biases of perception
deep into many of those concerned with rural development (Bailey, Amanda and Plimmer
2004:3). Looking closely at Lagos, by the late 1950s with the approach of political
independence, Lagos grew in importance as the economic, social, commercial, political,
administrative, and financial hub of Nigeria. The employment generated by these functions
continues to attract both domestic and international migrants to Lagos (Abiodun 1997). By
1978, the metropolitan area accounted for 40% of the external trade of Nigeria, containing
40% of the national skilled population. 53% of all manufacturing employment in Nigeria is
located in Lagos, as at December 1985, 1227 industrial establishments were identified in
Lagos, constituting more than 31% of the national total (Abiodun 1997).
The trend above could be linked to the national governments import substitution policy of the
1960s which favoured Lagos with its pre-eminent seaport and the construction of the first sets
of industrial estates to tackle the problems of lack of infrastructural facilities in the country
(Abiodun 1997). The government encouraged this development through incentives such as
income tax relief, exemptions from the payment of customs on raw materials or machinery
used in manufacturing, the so called approved users scheme, the provision of accelerated
depreciation of capital assets, and a special duty placed on imported manufactured goods
which competed with locally manufactured goods. These measures tended to concentrate
industry in Lagos, as it garnered 40% of total industrial employment and over 50% of the
industrial wages and salaries of Nigeria (Taylor 1988) This therefore set Lagos on a high
pedestal not only as a competitor against rural areas but also against other cities of the same
size.
Urban bias focuses on government fiscal (and other) policies that disproportionately benefit
urban areas relative to rural areas, producing rural-urban income inequality and /or disparities
in rural-urban standards of living (Bradshaw, 1987 in London and Smith 1988). In urban
areas, the dual structure of the urban labour market determines urban incomes; this dualistic
analysis has recently been specifically applied to the urban economy which has been
decomposed into formal and informal sector (Todaro 1997). Because of institutional factors
such as minimum wage legislations, workers in the large-scale or modern sector generally
receives a wage rate higher than that dictated by market forces, while workers in the smallscale sector receive a competitively determined wage rate (Byerlee 1974).
But in rural areas, both average and marginal productivity of labour are determined by many
variables including complementary factors of production, particularly land, and government
policies such as taxes. This has resulted in the highly selective nature of rural-urban migration
with respect to education which indicates that migration involves not only transfer of labour
but also a considerable transfer of capital from rural to urban areas (Byerlee 1974) thus
strengthening the urban bias. The average African migrant is young and most likely to be
secondary school-leavers; Caldwell estimated that the highest propensity to migrate in Ghana
occurs in the 15-19 year age category; also Callaway estimated that three-quarters of the
migrants to Ibadan (Nigeria) are school-leavers between 15 and 25 years of age (Byerlee
1974).

12

Lipton objected to urban bias on the grounds of equity and efficiency and he argued that these
government policies harmed the formation of human capital in rural areas (the development
of better educated and more healthy rural workers), led to the draining away of such talents
and wealth as could be accumulated in the countryside (the rural skills drain of educated
younger workers), and represented poor value for money. Urban bias thus led to
substantially worse rural than urban outcomes in most less developed countries (Lipton
2005).
Lipton went a step further to substantiate his claim of the existence of urban bias with the
term Price twists. The idea of a price twist refers to two things: to the notion that the price
of goods and services departs significantly from the price it would command under free
market conditions; and to the notion that distortions are imposed or induced by the state or an
agency acting on its behalf (Corbridge & Jones 2005). The urban bias theory holds that in less
developed countries price twists occurs in two ways: first, is to overvalue the currency of the
country which lowers the price of foreign imports which might be to allow a measure of
import-substitution (the price of plant and machinery is reduced) (Lipton 2005). Nigeria
pursued an import-substitution economic policy in the 1960s and 1970s which also coincide
with the rise in rural-urban migration (Nigeria National Development Plan 1966).
Overvaluation of a countries currency also lowers the price to farmers of crops they want to
sell abroad (Corbridge & Jones 2005)
Secondly, price twists can take the form of using the power of the state to buy up most of a
countrys food crops; the aim is to make sure that urban dwellers have cheap food. The
method involves the state acting as a single purchaser, hence farmers are forced to sell in
uncompetitive markets and are victims of prices that are twisted against them (Lipton 2005).
The urban bias theory has received some criticism. A germane critic was that it failed to
understand the historical obligation of the countryside to create an economic surplus for the
urban-industrial sector (Corbridge & Jones 2005). Such surpluses are necessary for cities to
act as engines of growth following the agreements by researchers that the city represent the
most relevant unit of economic production in the 21st century. As stated earlier that the most
developed economies of the world are the most urbanized areas of the world and highly
urbanized countries rank high on the scale of technology that combine indices of
transportation, communication, energy production and consumption, per capital income and
foreign trade.
It has also been emphasized that there is nothing inherently biased about what Lipton and
other proponents of the urban bias theory called bias in that these urban-based secondary
schools, hospitals and many government services are mostly in small market towns and
administrative centres, and serve both rural and urban populations. For instance, the most cost
effective way of providing both rural and urban populations with access to health care is to
have primary health care centres in most villages and urban neighbourhood within a hierarchy
of health centres where the most specialized services are in district capitals and larger cities,
and these act as referral centres to which are sent cases that the primary health care centre or
small district hospital cannot manage (Satterthwaite 2005). This can of purported linkages
between rural areas and urban areas can best be described as an ideal situation but the real
situation is one where even the transportation and communication linkages between these
hierarchy of health care centre is either in deplorable condition or non-existent. Hence, health
care provision is still skewed in favour of the people in urban areas and on average, indicators
show that people are better off in urban areas (though same can not be said of the urban poor
whose health conditions may be worse than for the rural poor). (Rakodi & Lloyd-Jones 2002)

13

More recently, urban studies scholars have shifted the argument that even though urban bias
might have been present in the 1960s and 1970s, recent policy instruments can be seen to be
changing the trend. Many of the policy reforms associated with structural adjustment were
designed to eliminate perceived urban biases in policy and resources allocation. As a result,
any remaining urban bias in wages and policies has now virtually disappeared (Rakodi and
Lloyd-Jones 2002). The process of structural adjustment is helping to raise rural foodstuff and
export crop prices, reverse widespread overstaffing of public sector enterprises, and curtail
inappropriate productive investments in parastatal ventures (Becker, Hamer & Morrison
1994).
These trends implies that the perceived urban biases have continually been reduced or
eliminated, however this has not been extensively researched and more needs to be done in
that direction.

OVERURBANIZATION
The degree of urbanization of any nation can be counter-productive to its economy, when
there is a mismatch between degree of urbanization and economic development we have what
can be referred to overurbanization. Overurbanization has been viewed as the tendency in less
developed countries for urbanization to outstrip either industrial or overall economic
development (Kasarda & Crenshaw, 1991). Overurbanization can be operationalized in a
number of ways; most common is the use of urban-to-industrial ratios (Kasarda and Crenshaw
1991). This ratio is quite low for many cities in Africa because the cities growth was not a
response to industrial or manufacturing employment surplus but for purpose of escape from
rural poverty (Todaro 1997). Though figures on the exact urban-to-industrial ratio is scanty,
however, with over 50% of the urban population of Lagos engaged in informal sector
activities and between 20-70% for many less developed cities (Todaro 1997). Estimates in the
mid 1970s suggest that in the typical African country the informal sector employs 60% of the
urban labour force (Habitat 2001), these are indications of a low urban-to-industrial ratio.
Another way of operationalizing overurbanization is as a residualized measure obtained by
regressing the level of urbanization on the level of development (Kasarda and Crenshaw
1991). This is notable in countries where the level of urbanization relative to national income
is considered to be high in comparism to other countries. In such situation that a significant
proportion of investment goes to the urban centre, depriving other sectors of the economy
adequate attention in terms of investment. Gugler (1982) used Liptons notion of urban bias to
reformulate the overurbanization thesis, he contended that urban bias and its accompanying
rural exploitation are critical to understanding underdevelopment in many less developed
cities (London & Smith 1988). It is also argued that economic growth or stability of a country
may be compromised by high levels of government investment in urban infrastructure thereby
turning the urban centres to parasites in the process of economic development, in a crossnational analysis, Timberlake and Kentor (1983) supported the proposition that the degree of
overurbanization and changes therein inhibit economic growth (London & Smith 1988).
The bases for measuring overurbanization have been questioned by researchers. Regardless of
its operational definition, the concept remains arbitrary. It assumes that some optimal balance
exist between the level of urbanization and economic or sectoral development, a relationship
between industrialization and urbanization that is somewhat ambiguous even in the historical
experiences of western Europe (Sovani 1964 in Kasarda and Cresha, 1991). It was also argued
that both overurbanization and economic stagnation result from dependent status in the worldeconomy, and therefore, it is misleading to conceptualise stagnation as the outcome of only
demographic inequalities (London & Smith 1988)
14

CONCEPTS AND THEORIES

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

IN

AFRICAN

URBANIZATION

AND

The need to define and develop local and indigenous solution to African and less developed
cities problems is more compelling now than ever in light of the rate of urban growth and the
possibilities of various received or inherited solutions to tackle urbanization problems in
less developed countries. Kironde (1992) emphasised the need to develop concepts and
theories which reflect local circumstances to define and solve Africas urban problems. As
much as it is desirable to follow and copy international standards, imported notions
unsuited to many African conditions where cultural and climatic conditions are different need
to be redefined especially in such urban issues as overcrowding and ventilation, lighting
standards, public sewer, urban agriculture and so on.
Writings on Africa housing problems pointed out that official housing standards adopted in
African cities are largely elitist, unrelated to social and economic realities, imitative of
European or North American standards, indifferent to local experience and irrelevant to local
culture. Hence, the standard of issuing building plan approvals need to be looked into. The
kind of building plans that are required and the process that they have to go through are so
unrealistic and several years can elapse before building plans are approved, thus supply can
not keep up with demand. Also, most people build without permits resulting in loss of
revenue for government and a say in, and knowledge of developments going on within their
jurisdiction (Kironde 1992).
Todaro (1997) noted that although population growth and accelerated rural-to-urban
migration are chiefly responsible for the expansion of shantytowns, part of the blame rests
with less developed countries governments. Their misguided policies regarding urban
planning and their outmoded building codes often mean that 80 to 90% of new urban housing
is illegal for example, colonial-era building codes in Nairobi makes building a house
according to official standards for less than US$3,500 impossible.
The redefinition of the acceptable standards to suit available local resources and take into
account cultural difference will go a long way in putting urban problems in Africa in the right
perspective. As Okpala (1987) in Kironde (1992) warns that if problems are defined with
inappropriate concepts and theories, unrealistic and, therefore ineffective policy solution can
result in the compounding of the very problems for which resolution is being sought.
Kironde (1992) concludes that there is need to abandon what has been called Eurocentric
value judgement in defining and solving Africas urban problems. New solutions must be
bred, learning from what the urbanites are doing (and can do) for themselves to solve various
problems, and to see whether there is room for improvement. The aim and yardstick for
evaluation of performance and for accepting phenomena must not be exogenously determined
standards, goals or attitudes, but local ones which are within the capacity of both the local
authorities and the urban citizens to initiate, to maintain and to improve upon (Kironde 1992).

15

CHAPTER FOUR

4. URBANIZATION AND SPATIAL GROWTH OF LAGOS

Focus will now be turned to the city of Lagos to enable a deeper insight into the urbanization
trend in a Sub-Saharan African city. Of particular interest will be the pattern of growth over
time both in terms of demography and also in land area. Urban planning policies of Nigeria
will be of importance in understanding government contribution to the rapid growth of Lagos;
this will be achieved by taking a look at National development plans since political
independence in 1960.
The major source of growth of the city of Lagos is also of interest here as well as problems
plaguing the city.

Figure 4.1: Ikoyi Bay, Lagos.

http://www.world66.com/africa/nigeria/lagos/lib/gallery/showimage?pic=africa/nigeria/lagos/
ikoyi_bay_lagos

LAGOS CITY GROWTHS

With 13.4 million inhabitants in 2000 and 23.2 million inhabitants projected for 2015, Lagos
qualifies as Sub-Saharan Africas most populous city and one of the worlds megacities
(Brunn, Williams & Zeigler 2003). The Nigerian urban system can be arranged in a hierarchy
of many levels depending on the purpose of classification, Lagos stands at the top as a
national metropolis. The city precedes and dominates all other cities with it higher degree of
interaction with various world metropolitan centres (Onibokun, 1990)
There is no common agreement on the population of Lagos and all figures used are based on
estimates. The last accepted population census of Nigeria in 1963 puts Lagos population at
665,000 inhabitants. The provisional results of the rejected 1991 population census gave
16

Lagos metropolis a population of 5.3 million inhabitants (Abiodun, 1997). Hence Rakodi
concludes that in Africa, we have to study urbanisation in the absence of reliable and up-todate demographic information and in the face of enormous gaps in the research that have
been carried out (Rakodi, 1997). Abiodun (1997) adds that the absence of uncontroversial
population figures makes a comparative demographic discussion of urban centres in Nigeria
difficult.

Figure 4.2: Map of Lagos. (www.lagosstate.gov.ng/LASEEDS%20DOCUMENT.pdf)

The population figure of Lagos has been presented by different writers differently depending
on the source and on what figures estimates and projections were made. Some of the figures
include:
Table 4.1: Different estimates for the population of Lagos
Population estimates (Millions)
Source
1995 2000 2010 2015
Todaro (1997)
10.3
24.4
Brunn, Williams & Zeigler (2003)
13.4
23.2
Daniels (2004)
20.2
Satterthwaite (2005)
8.6
It is therefore a truism that the exact population of Lagos remains unknown but there is
evidence that the city has grown both in population and area.
Pre-colonial Lagos originated as a fishing and farming settlement in the 17th century. Owing
to its physical characteristics as the only natural break for about 2,500 km along the West
African coast, it became an important slave-exporting port in the eighteenth century. With the
advent of British colonial rule in west Africa, Lagos was among the pre-colonial cities that
was favoured by the prevailing political and economic order, In essence, two major factors
were responsible for shaping urban structures of Nigeria during the colonial era, these are:
17

Development of transportation networks particularly roads and rail network and monetisation
of the economy which made urban centres become centres of trade articulation for purposes
of exporting agricultural and mineral resources and importing of manufactured goods
(Abiodun 1997). With a population of about 25,000 in 1866 (Ayeni 1981 in Abiodun 1997),
Lagos was one of the smaller settlements in Nigeria. The end of the slave trading also caused
a temporary decline in the population of the settlement, growth of which was resumed only
with its cession to the British as a colony in 1861 and the population reached 40,000 in 1901
and 74,000 in 1911 and by 1963 it had reached 665,000 (Abiodun 1997).

Figure 4.4: Makoko, a slum of houses on stilts in central Lagos.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=60811
Lagos became a Federal capital in 1953, a position which it held until the seat of government
formally moved to Abuja in December 1991. Due to political agitation, a separate Lagos state
was created in 1967 with Ikeja (one of the major nucleus) as the political headquarters
(Abiodun, 1997). After political independence in 1960, Lagos grew in importance as the
economic, social, commercial, political, administrative, and financial hub of Nigeria and the
growth of the city was a continuation and intensification of what happened during the closing
years of colonial rule. As Satterthwaite (2005) noted that with the removal or weakening of
the colonial apartheid-like controls on population movement into the cities, the rate of ruralurban migration rapidly increased and Lagos was one of the receiving cities in Nigeria.
The population of Lagos over the years has been based on estimates and projections and for
political reasons (which are outside the scope of this study) there is no consensus on the
population of Lagos since the accepted National census of 1963. To illustrate further, this is
an excerpt from an article in a leading Nigeria daily newspaper; Vanguard, captioned: Lagos,
census and population politics
Perhaps the fate of Lagos best illustrates the absurdity of the figures. In 1979 when Nigeria
had 19 states, the population of Lagos was projected to be one of the least in the country, put
at 1.45 million. The voters registration exercise simply followed suit with Lagos returning a
low figure of 1.82 million. Ogun was credited with 1.55 million inhabitants and it had 1.66
million registered voters. On its own, this is ridiculous. It showed that the states had more
voters than the populations projected on the basis of the accepted 1963 census, it is more
ridiculous that the population of Lagos was lower than cross Rivers, Bornos or Oguns
states. The projected population on which basic allocations were made to states indicated that
Lagos had less than one third the Oyo states population put then at 5.2 million.
18

(Bolade Omonijo is Deputy Political Editor) www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/politics

21st March, 2006
This kind of picture means that any estimate or projection of population for the whole of
Nigeria and Lagos in particular has to be interpreted with care, as Satterthwaite (2005) noted
that the lack of recent census data is particularly notable in Sub-Saharan Africa, in part
because censuses are seen as expensive, and international donors have been reluctant to
support them. There are also obvious problems with manipulation of census data to serve the
interests of the groups in power.

Figure 4.5: Lagos Bar Beach with traders hawking wares: Typical Informal sector activity in
the city of Lagos
(www.lagosstate.gov.ng/LASEEDS%20DOCUMENT.pdf)

AREA EXPANSION
Urban areas boundaries are not easily traceable: they may be administrative, geographical or
economical and they are not static due to the continuous expansion of human activities and
also because decision makers can easily expand or reduce the extent of city boundaries with
boundary adjustment policies (Barredo et al 2004). In particular, the availability of spatial
information for cities in developing countries is poor or non-existent, in many cases the
spatial data are in the form of unscaled sketches and where maps do exist they are often
outdated or classified as restricted information and access is difficult if not impossible
(Barredo et al 2004).
From several fishing and farming settlements, by 1963 Lagos covered an area of about 70
Km2 and by 1997 it has engulfed neighbouring towns and villages and Lagos encompasses
about 1,068 (Km2), of which 209 Km2 is covered by water and unreclaimed mangrove
swamps (Abiodun 1997)

19

URBAN PLANNING POLICY IN NIGERIA: OVERVIEW OF NATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT PLANS
The history of regional planning in Nigeria dates back to 1946 when the colonial government
submitted a Ten-Year plan of development and welfare for Nigeria (Ayeni & Mabogunje
1982 in Ayeni 1997). This plan consisting mainly a list of projects considered desirable for
the smooth functioning of the colonial administration, were neither coordinated nor related to
the over all development of the country. After political independence in October 1960,
Nigeria became a federation in which the three regional governments were semi-autonomous
in many things, including development and economic planning (Ayeni 1997).

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS

Post colonial planning in Nigeria began with the 1st National development plan (1962-1968)
which was formulated after independence to set the pace for national development, the plan
evolved under the setting of 3 regions and the Federal capital; Lagos. The plan was essentially
sectoral and emphasis was on different sectors of the economy, the plan was basically towards
economic development and the effort was to accelerate the countrys GDP by 9% per annum,
the main characteristics of the plan was the reliance on monetary and fiscal policies to
generate the appropriate stream of total spending so as to ensure a steady growth with full
employment and no inflation (Ayeni & Mabogunje 1982, Filani 1981 in Ayeni 1997).
There was little mention of regional or spatial planning; the plan was a coalition and an
assemblage of different plans that the four different governments intended to pursue (Ayeni
1997). The only exception was the programme for the development of the Niger Delta area
which was meant to investigate the fears of the minorities and also investigate the
development potentials of the Niger Delta region (Federal Government of Nigeria 1962)
The 2nd National development plan (1970-1974) was coordinated by a joint planning board
and the 12 states existing then. The plan like it predecessor was also sectoral emphasizing the
growth of the GDP. However, the plan noted the need to introduce some level of equality and
egalitarianism into the planning process and it defined five principal goals for national
development planning in Nigeria, they are: the creation of Nigeria as a united, strong and self
reliant nation; a great and dynamic economy; a just and egalitarian society; a land of bright
and full opportunities for all citizens; and a free and democratic society (Federal Government
of Nigeria 1970). But it never went beyond such pronouncement and the plan continues to
pursue economic growth and neglecting the spatial distribution of developmental efforts. This
plan coincided with the period of the nations oil boom resulting in the large exodus of rural
inhabitants to the cities in search of better jobs (http://www.photius.com/countries/nigeria).
The 3rd National development plan (1975-1980) was drawn up by a group of professional
planners in the central planning office, due to dissatisfaction with the manner with which
previous plans were drawn up, lots of consultations were made with various government
departments (ministries) and the private sector was also encouraged to participate in the
development process. This was the first plan that included the component of regional planning
because there was much emphasis on planning towns and rural development; hence master
plans for cities in each of the states emerged (Federal Government of Nigeria 1975).
The 3rd plan had some important planning machinery, including: the Local government
reforms which paved way for a 3rd tier of government as an important planning unit; and the
creation of River basins development authorities (11 of them were created) to harness and
manage the countries water resources for agricultural purposes, provision of feeder roads to

20

open up rural areas, create pilot agricultural projects to introduce new farming techniques and
set up agro-based industries (Federal Government of Nigeria 1975).
The 4th National development plan (1981-1985) was a follow up of the 3rd plan as it was
coordinated by the same organ and the two bear a lot of resemblance in the planning
procedure. It was intended to lay a solid foundation for the long term economic and social
development of Nigeria, emphasizing urban, rural and environmental development. In the
area of regional planning, housing estates were established in towns and the local government
was strengthened as a planning unit (Federal Government of Nigeria 1981).
There was some emphasis on rural development and the states set up agricultural
development programmes and provision of roads and storage facilities were highlighted, the
plan pointed out government awareness of the fact that the solution of most of the problems in
the urban centres lie to a considerable extent in the development of the rural areas and noted
that government have continued to rely on agriculture and community development based
programmes for transforming the rural areas of the country through such measures as:
subsidies on fertilizer supply and improved seedlings; credit and guaranteed prices for
agricultural output and direct efforts at providing basic facilities as roads, dispensaries and
clinics, pipe-borne water and electricity (Federal Government of Nigeria 1981).
The plan noted that past attempts to improve the urban situation has only succeeded in
creating pockets of the built-up areas that have met modern standards which have taken the
form of Government Reservation Areas (G.R.A) or new layouts as development of new
towns. The plan pointed out four main problems in the area of town and country planning
as:

Ineffective planning and administrative machinery especially in the area of physical

planning, the provision of basic utilities and facilities, and the environmental control
of urban centres. Also noted was the inadequacy of building statutory regulations and
legal sanctions to induce discipline and order in the pattern of human settlements.

Poor maintenance which is seen as a direct result of lack of effective administrative

machinery and manifests itself in the form of bad roads, clogged drains, uncleared
refuse dumps and unsightly public buildings including schools and hospitals.

Shortage of funds which results in inadequate financing resulting from budget cut
backs and the inability of the governments to organize cost recovery on services
rendered.

Shortage of manpower especially technical as well as administrative. The shortage is

more serious at the local government level.
((Federal Government of Nigeria 1981:348)

The major objective of the 4th national development plan in the area of urban planning was to
progressively improve the quality of life in our urban centres through the improved physical
planning aimed at ensuring orderly and well serviced settlement patterns. The plan noted
that an obvious requirement for achieving this objective is the creation of adequate urban
management machinery within the framework of the existing state and local government
administration (Federal Government of Nigeria 1981).
The 5th National development plan (1988-1992) was delayed due to toppling of the then
civilian government by a military government in 1983. The plan Continued emphases on the
21

structural adjustment programmes (SAP), the fifth plan's objectives were to devalue the naira,
remove import licenses, reduce tariffs, open the economy to foreign trade, promote nonoil
exports through incentives, and achieve national self-sufficiency in food production
(http://www.photius.com/countries/nigeria).

THE ROLLING PLANS

In late 1989, the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida abandoned the
concept of a fixed five-year plan. Instead, a three-year "rolling plan" was introduced in the
context of more comprehensive fifteen to twenty-year plans. A rolling plan, considered more
suitable for an economy facing uncertainty and rapid change, is revised at the end of each
year, at which point estimates, targets, and projects are added for an additional year. Thus,
planners would revise the 1990-92 three year rolling plan at the end of 1990, issuing a new
plan for 1991-93. In effect, a plan is renewed at the end of each year, but the number of years
remains the same as the plan rolls forward. In Nigeria, the objectives of the rolling plan were
to reduce inflation and exchange rate instability, maintain infrastructure, achieve agricultural
self-sufficiency, and reduce the burden of structural adjustment on the most vulnerable social
groups (http://www.photius.com).
There were six rolling plans in total, 1990-1992; 1991-1993; 1993-1995; 1994-1996; 19961998 and 1997-1999. All the rolling plans were similar in content and some are repetition of
the successive plan except that the planned monetary allocations are changed. Hence, only the
last of the rolling plans (1997-1999) will be discussed in some details.

ROLLING PLAN (1997-1999)

The plan dealt with the issue of Urban and Regional Planning under Chapter 30. It noted
that the urban environment of developing countries exhibit diverse regional differences and
problems and the realization of their dimension in itself constitute the starting point in the
process of socio-economic development. The plan pointed that Nigeria like other developing
countries are confronted with numerous and rapidly overwhelming socio-economic problems
resulting from the rapid rate of urbanization and population growth. Some of the problems
included high rate of urban unemployment, gross inadequacy of basic social services such as
decent housing, potable water supply, constant power supply, good road network, efficient
waste management system and recreational facilities. Also where the facilities are available,
the pressure on them is usually so much that they render them inefficient.
The problems of the urban and regional planning sector were listed as:
Ineffective planning and administrative machinery;
A very weak base for financing urban infrastructure;
Paucity of data for urban planning and management;
Poor revenue generation and management capacity in the existing system;
Inadequate manpower for managing urban systems and
Lack of funds for states to implement projects in this sector.
(Federal Government of Nigeria 1997:252)
The plan main objective in the area of urban and regional planning was to develop a
dynamic and sustainable system of urban settlements which will foster economic growth,
promote efficient urban settlements and ensure improved standard of living and well-being
for all Nigerians (pp. 252). The plan also stated some measures it will use to pursue these
22

objectives such as promoting efficient urban development and management institutions at all
levels of government with clearly defined functions and measures to ensure accountability.
The strengthening of the capacity of urban centres to manage economic growth, social
development and the alleviation of poverty was also stressed.
Three main strategies that the plan wish to employ was: the establishment of a coordinated
institutional framework at the three tiers of government (the Federal, States and Local
Government) to address urban problems; the modification of the Land-use Decree to allow for
easier access to Land while cadastral and topographical maps and master plans for urban
development will be produced by the federal government to ease development of housing
estates, construction of drainages and provision of other social services like water and
electricity and the final strategy will be to address the causes of urban problems for instance
checking rural-urban migration by the physical development of the rural areas.

NIGERIAS DEVELOPMENT PLANNING ATMOSPHERE

Development planning in Nigeria has not been a smooth sailing process and one can not get
the true picture without having a knowledge of the government structure and the political
atmosphere that prevail during the planning period. It suffices to say that Nigeria have been
governed by a mixture of both civilian (democratic) and military government since
independence and the list of plans mentioned have not been without breaks and major
discontinum as the countrys leadership changes hands sometimes amid great tension and
serious deviation in the focus and direction of development efforts.
It is also noteworthy that the creations of states and local government areas have been
perceived as important planning tools in Nigeria. Either as a form of administrative
decentralization (Okpala 1987 in Ayeni 1997) or as jurisdictional partitioning, Ayeni (1997)
noted:
the process of state creation are also strategies of regional planning to pursue the objectives
of equity and political stability, the creation of states and local governments in the country
became major agents of regional development process beginning in 1967 when twelve states
were created, the number increased to 19 in 1976 and rose to 21 with creation of two states in
1987. State creation exercises carried out in 1991 and 1996 respectively increased the
number to 30 and 36. With the increase in the numbers of states, the numbers of Local
government areas has also increased, from a uniform local government system structure in
1976 with 300 local government areas the number increased to 453 in 1987 and 500 in 1991.
In 1996, the number of local government areas was increased to 774 which are still in
existence (pp. 28)
An important feature of these numerous states and local government creation exercise is that
they all took place under military regimes and they were not product of democratic process
but product of executive fiat, however, these jurisdictional partitioning have been important
milestone in the regional planning and development of Nigerian cities.

SOURCES OF GROWTH
To better understand and cope with the rate of growth of any city, the source of the growth
need to be clearly understood. Satterthwaite (2005) pointed out that population growth of a
city is usually measured by its annual average population growth rate, but for a city or
country, the absolute change in population each year is also important. For Lagos, a large
number of people are added to the citys population almost on daily basis. Between 195023

2000, Lagos had an estimated annual average growth rate of 7.0% (Satterthwaite 2005) and an
average annual population increment of 168,000 inhabitants (Satterthwaite 2005), meaning an
average of 460 people is added to the citys population everyday. Between 1952 and 1963 the
population of the municipality of Lagos grew at an average rate of over 10%, such growth
rates derive from a combination of two factors: Natural increase due to balance of births over
death; and net internal migration from rural areas. Lagos is estimated to be receiving about
100,000 migrants annually (Onibokun 1990).
Understanding the source of these increment is a first step in coping with the rapid growth, for
instance different strategies will be required if natural increase contribute more to the growth
of the city than rural-urban migration or vies versa. It is the nature of growth and the
concomitant problems that will now be the focus.

RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION TREND

People move into cities in large numbers because they can make money and get jobs by their
own perception, hence that a major reason for the continued rural-urban migration is
economic is true. The Push-Pull factor has been used to explain the rate of migration. These
simply mean the pull of the cities and the push of the rural areas. Migrants find the cities more
conducive because they believe it is where everything happen where life is exciting and
their mental image or perception portrays the city as symbols of comfortable houses,
electricity, good and modern automobiles as well as latest fashion, this is mostly common
among the youths who form a larger proportion of migrants (Todaro 1997). Most migrants
rely on personal contacts occurring within what anthropologists call a spatially extended
social field of kin, tribe or community links that usually provide early accommodation and
assist in obtaining work (Drakakis-Smith 2000). This kind of network makes migrant not to
feel the initial problems associated with moving to a new environment.
Africa is the only continent where rural-urban migration has not been replaced by natural
population increase as the principal source of urban population growth (Bernstein 1995 in
Barredo et al 2004). Earlier studies on Lagos confirmed that urban population growth is much
more as a result of rural-urban migration than through births (Onibokun 1990). However there
is a dearth of researches on the most contributing source of growth for Lagos and it becomes
difficult to say what the trend is almost four decades after. Lagos was a major destination
point of rural migrants (also migrants from smaller towns) due to its importance in the politics
and economy of Nigeria. Abiodun (1997) noted that by the late 1950s, with the approach of
political independence, Lagos grew in importance as the economic, social, commercial,
political, administrative, and financial hub of Nigeria.

NATURAL INCREASE
While most of the less developed world has undergone a process of demographic transition,
from regimes of high fertility and high mortality to one of low fertility and low mortality, this
process has stalled or progressed exceedingly slowly in Africa. As in most of the developing
world, mortality declined sharply in Africa with the introduction of modern public health
practices and health technologies after World War II (Bloom & Sachs 1998). A general reason
(applying to both urban and rural areas) why fertility in most part of Africa still remain high is
the need to maximize household income which ensures that most family members must work,
engaging in a variety of casual, part-time or informal sector jobs (Drakakis-Smith 2000).
According to Bloom and Sachs (1998), high fertility in Africa reflects a variety of factors,
which includes: rural African children (even urban children) continued to be viewed as the
24

current generations main source of old age insurance; high fertility is reinforced by
sociocultural institutions and practices that create incentives for large family sizes in an
environment prune to infectious diseases; and the common practice of children being raised in
households headed by someone other than their parents reduces the costs of raising children,
Bledsoe (1994) reported that in West Africa as many as one-third of all children live with
people other than their parents (Bloom & Sachs 1998).
With the encouragement and adoption of family planning programmes by many government
in less-developed countries there is likely to be a decline in fertility rate, but there has been a
very slow rate of adoption of such family planning through contraceptive usually on religious
or socio-cultural basis. Also, family planning programmes are most effectively deployed in
cities and the countryside still constitute a major fertility problem, even in the cities it is the
middle-income, upwardly mobile families who readily accept family planning methods while
the same can not be said of the urban poor (Drakakis-Smith 2000).
The thinking could be the fact that most of the excess births in the rural areas form the bulk
of migrants into the cities and they also increase the rate of natural increase when they arrive
in the city since they are usually youths and of child bearing age. Satterthwaite (2005)
concluded that Where the rate of natural increase is higher in urban areas, it is often the
result of high proportions of rural-to-urban migrants being of child-bearing age, and their
movement to urban centre changes urban centres rate of natural increase (pg. 2). Onibokun
(1990) also noted that one of the problems of rapid urbanization in Nigeria is the resultant
Age-Sex distribution of the urban population. 70% of the population is under 30 years, there
is need to cater for them and lots of investment and infrastructure (pp. 17).
Tannerfeldt and Ljung (2006) noted that Natural increase contributes more than migration to
the growing populations in urban centres, but rural-urban migration is an important factor for
less urbanized countries and migrants often come from other smaller urban centres (pp. 27).
Also, Barredo et al (2004) conclude that one of the causes of the enormous increase in
population and in built areas in Lagos is rural to urban migration (pp. 70).
The approximate percentage of how much rural-urban migration or natural increase contribute
to the growth of Lagos has not been extensively researched, however, from some evidence in
literatures one can say that they both contribute equally to the rapid growth of Lagos.

PROBLEMS OF LARGE CITIES; GENERAL AND PECULIAR

Urbanization is a fundamental transformation of society, with far reaching economic, social,
cultural and political consequences. To manage rapid urban growth is a major challenge,
especially for poor countries with a weak institutional framework (Tannerfeldt and Ljung
2006). Immediately after political independence Lagos like many African capital cities
changed in at least four major areas namely: size, spatial organization or morphology,
qualities and distribution of public services and employment base. Size of the city grew with
the establishment of local administrative institutions and economic activities leading to
increase in the rate of rural-urban migration followed by natural increase and the city
expanded to accommodate the increased population, leading to the creation of more nucleus
around the metropolis and even expanding into adjoining hitherto urban periphery such as
Agege, Ojodu, Ojoo and Ketu. With this continuous expansion the city could not cope with
the rising demand for such urban services and infrastructures as roads, the sewage system,
water supply, schools and medical services. This inability to cope can be attributed to a lack
of political will on the part decision makers.
25

The Africanization of public services and expansion of government agencies immediately

after independence led to a high rate of new employment creation especially in the capital
cities coupled with the increase in the manufacturing sector of the economy leading to wage
increment in the urban centres and more people migrated to the city. However, this formal job
creation was soon surpassed by the number of job seekers, the informal sector activities
therefore provided an alternative.
The problems plaguing less developed cities are numerous and can not be discussed in details,
therefore the attempt will be to select a few and elaborate on them. Housing problems,
transportation issues and the employment base i.e. informal sector activities will be the focus.

HOUSING
Housing, one of the essentials of life is a serious problem in rapidly growing less developed
countries and this does not only relate to the provision of houses but also the basic
infrastructure of a neighbourhood as well as schools, clinics, recreation facilities and other
amenities (Tannerfeldt and Ljung 2006). In the city of Lagos over 90% of the housing stock is
provided by the private sector and individual effort, therefore the considerable gap between
demand and supply has found expression in the astronomical cost of rented dwellings leading
to overcrowding, growth of slums and rise in the number of substandard housing (Abiodun
1997).
The government of Nigeria has intervened at different times to solve housing problems with
particular focus on Lagos (this is due largely to the citys position as the nations capital until
1991) with physical provision of housing units as well as establishment of site and service
programmes to make available serviced plots of lands to individual to build their own houses
(Federal Government of Nigeria 1975). It has been concluded that these schemes achieved
only limited success as it only added about 6,000 housing units to the housing stock under the
1975-1980 and 1981-1985 plan periods. Also the federal government housing programme for
Lagos, which was launched in 1994 under the National Housing Scheme has stalled, amongst
other reasons because of high cost of building materials (Abiodun 1997).
In Lagos, like elsewhere in Nigeria the access to privately owned land through customary
channels or purchase has made it possible for a relatively large stock of owner-occupied
housing to be built and squatting is limited and over 60% of residents are tenants, some in
tenements constructed by absentee landlords, but the majority in houses occupied by
landlords of modest means (Abiodun 1997). This kind of tenement arrangement bring about a
lack of a secure tenure which may be a result of the original arrangement of land acquisition
by the landlord and in many cases can lead to forced eviction (Tannerfeldt and Ljung 2006).
The issue of land acquisition is complex because serviced land for new housing is rarely
available or affordable for the poor. Often they have no choice but to settle wherever there is
vacant land on the outskirt of town where there is no infrastructure, and transport to town is
cumbersome and costly. Alternatively, in order to live closer to job opportunities, the poor
may occupy more centrally located pieces of land left over because they are not suitable for
housing either along rail roads, under high tension electric cable or ravines or marshy land
(Tannerfeldt and Ljung 2006). As noted by Abiodun (1997) that currently, no more
distributable land is available within Lagos metropolis through the Land Use and Allocation
Committee and land for development is obtained primarily through the private sector. While
large landowners may in some cases rent land for the construction of temporary housing while
26

they wait for its value to increase, as described for Olaleye-Iponri area of Lagos (Abiodun
1997), this will have serious long term implication for the lack of tenure for tenants of such
houses as mentioned earlier. A peculiar land problem in Lagos is the sale of the same plot to
more than one buyer owing to a lack of a comprehensive land register and sometimes conflict
over rights of ownership between the state and private individuals or family groups or
between members of families.
Tannerfeldt and Ljung (2006) noted that different types of action are required for
improvement of housing (a private good) and infrastructure (a public good). The public
sector has a responsibility to provide basic infrastructures; while housing is a matter of
enabling people to help themselves improve their condition (Tannerfeldt and Ljung
2006:53).
Lending to build houses is also cumbersome as financial institutions such as banks play only a
limited role in meeting the housing needs of the urban poor or even of the middle class. Even
the formal housing finance lenders prefer clients with a steady income and properties with
registered titles. And a majority of urban dwellers are employed in the informal sector where
their incomes are not documented, and they may not be able to show evidence of income or
formal title (Tannerfeldt and Ljung 2006).
The housing situation in many less developed cities has not improved with the rapid growth
and a greater percentage now live in high density, overcrowding, and multi-family occupancy
which is characteristic of Lagos and have intensified in recent years (Peil 1991 in Abiodun
1997). Todaro (1997) also noted that ..the prolific growth of huge slums and shantytowns.
From the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and the pueblos jovenes of Lima to the bustees of Calcutta
and the bidonvilles of Dakar, such make-shift communities have been doubling in size every
five to ten years. Today slum settlements represent more than one-third of the urban
population in all developing countries; in many cases they account for 60% or more of the
urban total (Todaro 1997:7). Payne & Majale (2004) defined a slum as a contiguous
settlement where the inhabitants are characterized as having inadequate housing and basic
services. A slum is often not recognized and addressed by the public authorities as an integral
or equal part of the city (Box 1.1:11)
Most government response of demolishing such slums and shantytowns have achieved only
modest results as the settlers either move to other slums or sometimes even go to start a new
one. The slum of Maroko on the eyebrow Victoria Island in Lagos was demolished without
any arrangement to resettle the squatters who merely moved on to other already overcrowded
neighbourhood (Abiodun 1997).

TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS
The concern will be on road transportation as this is the most important transport system in
the city of Lagos. The problem of the road transport sector of Lagos is enormous and can not
be treated in sufficient details and only some kind of highlight will be possible. Abiodun
(1997) noted that up to 1981, there was no urban transportation plan for the whole of Lagos
metropolitan area. What often happens was that road networks were laid out in specific areas
as they became incorporated into the built-up area of the city. Lagos is a very complex city
due to how the city has been allowed to developed in more or less unregulated manner (for
instance, one can not see any radial nor linear pattern), so it has been a continuous nightmare
for the city managers to fashion out a proper transport plan to ensure people commute freely
in a convenient manner.

27

On road network, it will be an understatement to say that the amount of network is inadequate
and the spatial demand for vehicles in terms of roads and parking facilities virtually exceeds
the available transport space and this limited road capacity is still reduced by the frequency of
parked vehicles sometimes on both sides of the road, poor accessibility space especially in the
older and indigenous areas of the metropolis cost substantial delay in commuting. Poor
conditions of the roads due to poor construction and lack of proper maintenance makes the
roads unmotorable. Lack of efficient public transport has given room for proliferation by
informal sector operators who uses various shapes and types of vehicles with questionable
quality to operate the unconventional, unregulated, and unregistered services called KabuKabu (Abiodun 1997). There are also the mini buses known as Danfo and the truck-like giant
buses popularly called Molue which carry millions of passengers around the metropolis on a
daily basis.
Abiodun (1997) noted that the problems of providing efficient transportation system in
metropolitan Lagos are threefold: institutional problems; the inherent physical characteristics
of Lagos and social problems. These will now form the basis of the discussion.

Figure 4.6: A typical motor park in Lagos (Note the chaotic pattern).
(www.lagosstate.gov.ng/LASEEDS%20DOCUMENT.pdf
Institutional problems include the multiplicity of agencies that oversees transport issues in the
country as a whole. There are about six different public agencies responsible for the supply of
transport facilities and provision of transport services in Lagos. They include the Federal
Ministry of Transport, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and Lagos City Transport
Services. Also the road networks in the metropolis fall into four categories namely: Federal,
State, Local government and some times private roads meaning different bodies responsible
for maintaining the entire road network in the metropolis. Good cooperation and coordination
is lacking among the various agencies responsible for transport planning, these lack of
coordination between federal, state and local government council networks results in the
existence of sharp breaks in road quality and maintenance standard (Abiodun 1997).
As noted earlier that about 20% of the land area of Lagos is swampy terrain and the inherent
physical characteristics of many areas constitute an important challenge for efficient
28

transportation networks. Abiodun (1997) noted that this natural problem is compounded by
the inability of the responsible agencies to provide efficient drainage system to abate the
seasonal flooding which is common place in Lagos. There is also the technical problem of
building roads of high standard which can stand the test of the high tropical temperature and
last long to avoid the high cost of frequent repairs. This problem can be interpreted as not
awarding road contracts to competent engineering firms or as a matter of supervising agency
not been competent or complacence in the discharge of their duties.
Human behaviour and problems of management and control constitute social problems
plaguing road transportation in Lagos. The irresponsible and indisciplined behaviour of
drivers, both private and public make road transport unattractive. The observerance of traffic
laws and regulation is lacking and traffic control systems are inadequate. Abiodun (1997)
concluded that there is generally a low standard of traffic discipline on the part of motorists.
This is aggravated by the extremely low standard of traffic control at strategic four-way
intersections. In addition, traffic safety measures are poor especially with respect to cyclists
and pedestrians, particularly children (Abiodun 1997:13).
All these problems cumulate to cause perennial problem of traffic congestion increasing
transport time and causing delay in the course of daily activities of city dwellers and exerting
more hardship on commuters.

THE EMPLOYMENT BASE

Since the rapid growth of many less developed cities (mostly immediately after
independence), there has been a continuous flow of able-bodied men and women into the
cities in search of better paid jobs but this supply has exceeded demand. The result has been
extreme high rates of unemployment and underemployment in urban areas (Todaro 1997).
But with the expansion of informal sector activities the urban poor (and even medium income
earners) have found solace in the informal economy or sector which Tannerfeldt and Ljung
(2006) referred to as the economy of the poor (pg. 48).
For the city of Lagos, unemployment continues to be one of the greatest challenges and there
are no current official figures available but over 70% of the unemployed are in the age group
of 18-29 (Abiodun 1997).
In a country like Nigeria without social security systems, open unemployment is confined to
those without any means of support and this aggravate the associated level of urban poverty
(Abiodun 1997). The prevailing situation has led to expansion of the informal sector activities
which now employ over 50% of the labour force in Lagos. Todaro (1997) put the estimated
percentage of the urban labour force of Lagos engaged in the informal sector at 50% in
1981(pg. 14).
Clarifying what constitute informal sector activities Tannerfeldt and Ljung (2006) dismisses
the use of registered business as Formal and anything not registered as Informal on the
basis that it does not help when it comes to analysing the nature of the economic activities
from which the poor earn their livelihood, instead they apply the term informal sector to
micro-scale business activities whether registered or not.

29

Figure 4.7: A young girl selling pepper and tomatoes on the street of Lagos.
(www.boston.comnewsworldafricagallery0207_nigeriapg=5)
With the paralleling and surpassing of formal job creation both in public and private sector
and the supply of labour coming especially from rural areas or smaller towns, alternative
opportunities were discovered in the informal sector activities which are small scale less
remunerative activities such: Carpentry and furniture making, Tailoring, Vehicle mechanic,
Metal good fabrication, Restaurants, Apparel manufacturing and other small activities
employing 1 to 10 people in most cases and usually a one man business. With the saturation
of employment in the formal sector of the economy, the informal sector usually absorbs early
migrants into the cities.

30

CHAPTER FIVE

5. COPING WITH RAPID URBAN GROWTH

In general, it is presently recognised that in order to respond to the idea of sustainability,
urban areas have to maintain an internal equilibrium between economic activity, population
growth, infrastructures and services, pollution, waste, noise etc in such a way that the urban
system and its dynamics evolve internally in harmony, limiting as much as possible, impacts
on the natural environment (Barredo et al 2004). This chapter will endeavour to highlight
some solutions to the problems elucidated in chapter four; drawing on strategies popularised
in literature and highlight some strategies that have been tried in some fast growing less
developed cities. This will be achieved under two broad headings; Slowing down population
increase by improving rural condition and Coping with the urban population through
infrastructure provision (emphasising transportation) and improving the informal sector of the
economy.

SLOWING DOWN POPULATION INCREASE

Many less developed countries have come to understand that the rapid growth of their major
cities are now becoming major disincentives and the cities have ceased to function in a
desired manner especially where they are national capital (like Lagos before 1991) or major
economic centre. Various strategies have been tried, some of which include influx control or
forced eviction which has only succeeded partially with totalitarian regimes (as mentioned
earlier in this work, see chapter two). The moving of national capital is also a strategy. In the
case of Lagos, the federal capital was moved to a more central location in Abuja in 1991 to
among other reason divert some population from Lagos. The strategy that will be elucidated
here is that of improving rural conditions in such that rural areas become attractive to live in
and ultimately slow down the rate of rural-urban migration.

IMPROVING RURAL CONDITIONS

It has been noted that increased economic pressure on the rural household does not always
result in urban migration within the country concerned. As it has been observed, not
everyone needs to migrate, not everyone wants to migrate and not everyone is able to
migrate However, despite these observations, by far the most common response to rural
poverty is internal migration in towns and cities (Drakakis-Smith 2000:59)
The need to plan and improve the rural areas of less developed countries can be viewed from
two aspects, to develop and plan the rural resources and to reduce the difference between
urban and rural areas. As noted by Drakakis-Smith (2000) that the most responses to rural
out-migration must be those that directly address poverty and underdevelopment in the
countryside itself. Such responses have been in the form of infrastructural provision,
generation of non-farm employment which is always perceived as expensive or associated
with socialist co-operative movements and does not appeal to many poverty-stricken capitalist
governments (Drakakis-Smith 2000:70).
In Nigeria with the identification of the backwardness of the rural areas as a major cause of
the high rate of rural-urban migration, the need to plan the rural became pertinent leading to
establishment of several non-integrated rural development schemes including Agricultural
projects in the Northern Province and the Farm settlement schemes of the Western and
31

Eastern regions. These schemes were not integrated in the sense that they were geared
towards developing particular sector of the economy in designated areas of the country, this
do not take into consideration interaction between the different facet of the rural economy.
There were also various integrated rural development schemes such as: Operation Feed the
Nation (OFN); National Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP) and the
Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) (Olayiwola and Adeleye 2005).
DFRRI was one of the most successful efforts at improving the rural condition and the
objectives and some success will be discussed.
The Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure was established in 1985 through
Decree number four of 1987 with the core programme of promoting productive activities. It
also recognized the provision of rural infrastructure such as feeder roads, water, electricity
and housing as essentials for the enhancement of the quality of life in the rural areas
(Olayiwola and Adeleye 2005). The objectives of the directorate includes: to identify, support
and evolve local community organization to sustain rural development; identify the different
areas of high production potentials for different crops in the country; formulate and support
the activities of the rural areas; provide and support a national water supply scheme such as
boreholes; encourage the contributions of the local communities to the development efforts;
support the development of information gathering by rural communities especially helping to
develop their culture; and encourage any other activity that was likely to heighten rural
activities and rural production.
Despite these laudable objectives towards the development of the rural areas, only modest
achievement was recorded. In the first phase of the directorates programmes, of the 90,000
km of rural roads planned only 30,000km was constructed between 1986 and 1988, and this
really helped in opening up the rural areas though this could only be achieved because the
directorate recognized that unless there is access to the rural communities, all other
infrastructures such as electricity, water and farm inputs cannot reach the rural people
(Olayiwola and Adeleye 2005).
The directorate also made use of the states and local government as agents to implement the
projects, the funds for the programme are made available directly to each state government
who then sees to the disbursement of the funds to the local governments and for the purpose
the local governments were constituted into rural development committees including local
government officials and the rural communities (Olayiwola and Adeleye 2005).
The Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure though not the product of a
democratic government can be singled out as scheme which has had tremendous impact on
the rural areas of Nigeria especially in the area of infrastructural provision. It actually opened
up a lot of hitherto inaccessible villages and brought electricity and potable water to many
more. These improved the economy of the rural people and the general livability of the rural
areas but with the change in government and cancellation of the scheme, the rural
communities find it difficult to maintain the infrastructure and most of them are no longer
functioning.
Olayiwola and Adeleye (2005) highlighted some of the problems and challenges of rural
infrastructure provision in Nigeria as; the use of only development plans as instrument for
programming resource allocations for different sector of the economy with some objective
indices for rural infrastructural provision and not taking note of the peculiar needs of different
rural areas of the country. Secondly, other means of encouraging rural infrastructural
32

provision were not given adequate attention. Also most of the government rural infrastructural
programmes were embarked on without effective programme of action and appropriate
institutional arrangement for their execution and the lack of spatial focus in rural development
planning resulting from the scattered nature of the rural settlement pattern of Nigerian
villages. All these and other problems such as lack of data about rural areas have conspired to
continue to set the rural areas back and those who are willing and able have migrated to
nearby cities to pursue their economic ambition.

COPING WITH THE URBAN POPULATION

The provision of basic infrastructure and services is a sine qua non to the desired and proper
functioning of any large city whether in more developed or less developed country.
Satterthwaite (2005) noted that
The problems that arise from rapid growth are not inherent to cities or to rapid urban
growth. Nor are these problems the result of a lack of knowledge of how to address them, or
of a lack of precedents that show how to do so although many city and municipal
governments may lack trained personal with this knowledge. The knowledge of how to install
and maintain the infrastructure and services that underpin good quality city environments has
developed over the last 150 years (Satterthwaite 2005:33).
Though there are a number of important infrastructures or services that make a city function
adequately yet it can not be said that any one is most important. To enable a better
understanding of the transport situation, focus will be on transport provision. People need to
move to economic activities or the economic activities also have to move to the people, the
economic advantage of urban centres depends on communication (Tannerfeldt and Ljung
2006).

PROVISION OF URBAN TRANSPORTATION

Some of the problems of transportation in less developed cities have been highlighted with
focus on Lagos and the road transport sector will be the turning point in search of solution.
The importance of the road transport sector in any city can not be over emphasised as it
represent the principal mode for transport of goods and people in urban centres (although
other systems also exist). For instance, more than 95 per cent of the commuting needs of
people in Nigerias major urban centres are met by road transport. The remaining less than 5
per cent of needs were met either by water transport in a few cities such as Lagos, Calabar and
Port-Harcourt or by rail in Lagos and Port-Harcourt (Filani and Abumere 1993). In Lagos,
public transport services depended mainly on taxis with an average daily operation of about
21,000, the Danfos with about 2,500 daily and the Molues/Bolekajas with daily output of
close to 2,500 (Filani and Abumere 1993). Also, planning decisions and investment in the
road network are extremely important since they will direct the development of a city for
generations to come (Tannerfeldt and Ljung 2006).
For the city of Lagos, Abiodun (1997) noted that up till 1981, there was no urban
transportation plan for the whole of Lagos metropolitan area. The introduction of the Federal
Urban Mass Transit Programme (FUMTP) in 1988 to ease the problem of the road transport
sector through the provision of mass-transit buses on soft loan bases to states agencies, private
operators and corporate organisations (though there was some emphasis on rail-based projects
and water-based projects). The programme also provides guidelines to state companies,
organizes periodic seminars and workshops for them in order to improve their operational
33

performances and efficiency. Lagos like other states in Nigeria also established transport
Company known as Lagos State Transport Corporation (LSTC) even before the FUMTP
(Filani and Abumere 1993).
The scheme did not achieve its set objectives as benefiting corporate and private individuals
defaulted in the repayment of their loans resulting in the inability of the scheme to revolve the
credit facilities. This has led to the dissolution of the scheme.
For a congested city like Lagos, the Bus Rapid system can be pursued. This system has
been implemented in Curitiba, Brazil which is probably the most well known best practice
in urban transport (Tannerfeldt and Ljung 2006).

Figure 5.1: A bus-stop in Curitiba, Brazil. (http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4660)

Curitiba started to develop an organized public transport system based on buses on dedicated
bus-ways in the 1970s, when the city found that it could not afford an urban rail system. In
existing central areas, part of the road and street capacity was redistributed from cars to
buses, while in the new areas separate bus-ways were built from the beginning. Buses in
Curitiba move people from place to place as quickly as the New York subways, but at a
fraction of the cost. The network is centrally organized and planned as one coherent and
integrated system not as a series of competing routes. There are express routes and nodes
for changing to trunk routes and distribution routes. In the famous tube stations, passengers
have already paid for the trip and board the buses very rapidly. Route packages are operated
by private bus companies and the whole system runs without subsidie. (Tannerfeldt and Ljung
2006:101).
The Curitiba experience best describes what is needed in such rapidly growing cities as Lagos
with inadequate funds to invest in urban rail system (though there is a renewed call for the
construction of Light rail in Lagos, but this is still at planning stage). There has been a series
of proposals to introduce such rapid bus system in Lagos but not much has been achieved. As
noted by Tannerfeldt and Ljung (2006) a workable bus rapid system can only be pursued over
a long period of time and this will require continuity in political power. Otherwise a break in
planning policies (which characterised Nigeria planning efforts since independence) will lead
to the failure of any such long term transport plan.

34

Figure 5.2: Dedicated lanes for the Bus rapid transit.

http://www.naparstek.com/uploaded_images/BRT-718460.jpg

IMPROVING THE INFORMAL ECONOMIC SECTOR

The important role of the informal sector in the economic development of less developed
countries has been recognized since the 1970s not only as providing a coping mechanisms for
the poor themselves, for housing, food and jobs, but also the positive role it played in
sustaining the formal activities of the urban economy and society, for example, the puttingout of operations for many factories or domestic service to the wealthy. It has been suggested
that the links that exist between the formal and informal sector is more beneficial to the
former (Drakakis-Smith 2000:125).
The bulk of new entrants into the urban labour force seem to create their own employment or
to work for small-scale, family-owned enterprises (Todaro 1997), Drakakis-Smith (2000)
identified four subsectors of informality, namely:
Subsistence as the name suggests is mainly for sustaining the familys consumption and
includes urban agriculture which even some middle class citizen partake in reduce spending
on food.
Small scale producers and retailers this will include such activities as restaurants operations
or road side food sellers but street traders and hawkers are dominant in this category.

35

Petty capitalists small scale production firms which are in most cases not registered and do
not conform to factory safety or labour regulations. They range from home based enterprises
producing such items as polyethylene materials, packaged snacks and apparel.
Criminal this category includes such undesirable and unacceptable activities as drug trading
or prostitution.
These subsectors are present in the urban areas of Nigeria and very visible on the streets of
Lagos, though this has not been a subject of empirical studies.

NATURE OF THE INFORMAL SECTOR

The informal sector consist of an array of income generating activities which in many cases
are unorganized, unregulated, and mostly legal but unregistered (Todaro 1997). The
International Labour Organization in a report on Kenya concluded that the informal sector is
characterized by its ease of entry, reliance on indigenous resources, family ownership of
enterprises, small scale of operations, labour intensive and adapted technology, skills
acquired outside of the formal school system and unregulated and competitive markets (ILO
1972 in Hansen and Vaa 2004:10), but Hansen and Vaa (2004) observed the near universal
nature of the informal sector and characterized it on the central feature of their extralegality noting the presence of informal sector activities in many regions and countries at
different levels of economic development (Hansen and Vaa 2004).
There exist a high level of involvement of most family members in many informal activities
(especially when such activities is based in the home) usually without monetary compensation
but seen as their own contribution to the familys survival. Children are often an important
income earner in their family and are often not conceptualized as children, in the western
sense, by poor families, but as small adults with responsibilities and obligations towards the
household (Drakakis-Smith 2000). Also, poor women have found solace in the informal
sector to feed their families especially when they have not acquired any formal education or
skills (Tannerfeldt and Ljung 2006). The informal sector is always not about income
generation, but the provision of many essential services and commodities have been made
available at a very cheap rate to low and middle-income household through the efforts of the
informal sector.
The informal sector has also been identified as a creator of human capital training an array of
manpower at a far cheaper cost than formal institutions can do and these human capital are
able to generate surplus even in the face of economic downturns. Also the sector is more
likely to easily adapt new technologies and even in some cases duplicating modern
technology at very low cost and making use of local resources in their activities as well as
their manufacturing materials (Todaro 1997).

PROMOTING THE INFORMAL SECTOR

Drakakis-Smith (2000) noted that policies supporting informal sector activities have mixed
motives; while some are intended to ease the frustration of the urban poor at relatively low
cost, others were genuinely aimed at helping the poor help themselves. Considering the
percentage contribution of the informal sector to the economy of most less developed
countries, put at around 50 per cent of the urban work force for most less developed cities
(Todaro 1997, Hansen and Vaa 2004, Tannerfeldt and Ljung 2006), the need for government
to provide all needed assistant to ensure that the positive aspects of the sectors activities are
encouraged and supported can provide a long term solution to the problems of urban low and
middle-income earners and also solve the problem of unemployment and urban poverty.
36

Following the thinking of Todaro (1997), some ways of promoting the informal sector can be
highlighted. The provision of training can be facilitated by the government with focus on
those areas that are most beneficial to the urban economy and at the end of such training; the
trainees can be assisted to set up their own business promoting the establishment of legal
activities and serving as an income source for government in the form of taxes. One of such
training programmes initiated after the post Structural Adjustment Programme in Nigeria is
the National Directorate for Employment and the Industrial incubator scheme in Lagos
(Abiodun 1997). These schemes have trained and reoriented a lot of youths and school leavers
who are now ready to start their own business or take up employment in the informal sector.

Figure 5.3: Self employed artist and painters.

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/sectors/informal/patris/patristrg.htm
Lack of capital has also hindered the startup of informal businesses or the expansion and more
profitable running of the existing business. Todaro (1997) contends that the provision of
credit would permit many informal sector enterprises to expand, produce more profit, and
generate more income and employment. By their nature, most informal sector activities do not
qualify for loans from banks and credit institutions due to the unregistered nature of their
business, also in many cases they do not own properties which can be used as collateral.
Abiodun (1997) noted the creation of the Peoples Bank of Nigeria as a source of capital for
the rural people as well as the urban poor. The People's Bank (PB) was set up in 1989 to meet
the credit needs of the rural and urban poor, artisans, farmers, petty traders, vehicle
mechanics, etc. However, because it is supply-led and heavily dependent on subventions from
the Federal Government for its operations, the recovery of loans has not been very efficient
and it is facing problems of recapitalization due to heavy overheads that outstrip earnings
(Yunusa 1998). Due to inefficiency in the loan recovery strategies the bank has been closed,
but before it closure it was able to achieve some success in promoting the informal sector.
37

CONCLUSIONS
The rapid growth of urban centres in many less developed countries and their concomitant
problems are becoming more glaring. It is a fact that Sub-Saharan Africa remains one of the
least urbanized regions in the world but the rate of urbanization in the last three decades have
attracted the attention of urban scholars, planners, environmentalists and international
organizations. The fact that such transformation is taking place in the absence of economic
power and the required prerequisite (with reference to industrialization) is also apparent.
The rapid rate of urbanization identified in less developed cities has been a product of a high
rate of rural-urban migration and slowly declining rate of natural increase. While rural people
moved to the cities in anticipation for a better life, the rate of natural increase is still
considerably high because more children means more hands to help, although this also means
more mouth to feed and cater for.
The continuous attraction of population by capital cities can be described as a manifestation
of government planning strategies which have seem to concentrate developmental efforts in
these cities especially in the periods immediately after their political independence when they
aimed to pursue economic growth. These biases towards the urban centres have led to
underdevelopment of the rural areas making the cities more appealing to young school leavers
and the able-bodied. Also the urban areas have not fared as desired due to the reliance on
imported theories and concepts in the development efforts. Not all imported development
theories are unsuitable for less developed countries but the implementation by the local
authorities is also a problem. Various national development plans formulated and executed by
the national government have yielded only little results due to institutional and technical
problems. The continuous disruptions of the development plans through the lack of smooth
transition between governments can also be noticed as stumbling blocks to their effective
execution.
Several rural development efforts have not succeeded in transforming the rural areas and
curbing the flow of people from the rural areas into the cities for reasons such as lack of
continuity in the programmes which is a result of a lack of continuity in the government
structure. Also, most of the programmes did not take cognizance of the different needs of
different rural areas and planning and execution where done from above even though the local
governments were the implementing agents. The system has always been to plan for the rural
people rather than to plan with them.
Problems of rapid urbanization have increased and become more glaring as the cities expand
and many attempts to curb these problems have not achieved the desired results. Housing
continued to be supplied through informal self-help landlords and a majority of tenants live in
homes with unsecured tenure while many holders find home in slums and shantytowns. Those
that (have been fortunate enough to) build their houses on the periphery of the cities have to
live without basic services and infrastructures such as clean water, sewers, electricity and
roads. Transportation to city centres is expensive and cumbersome because the transport
system is provided by unregulated private informal operators and unreliable most of the time.
There is no comprehensive transportation plan for the city of Lagos and the bus rapid transit
as it is been operated in Curitiba, Brazil can be seen as a way out especially for a city which
has been fully built up with little space for such transportation plans as a light rail system and
absence of a solid financial base.

38

The employment base of many less developed cities remains largely informal and the amount
of wealth that can be generated with the realization of the importance of such informal sector
activities may lead to the reduction of poverty and even a creation of considerable wealth for
a majority of the urban poor. Also, as noted that the provision of adequate housing is more a
function of the availability of funds, the urban poor seen as capable of solving their own
housing need with the generation of surplus from the engagement in productive informal
sector activities.
It is noteworthy that the source of rapid growth of less developed cities needs further
investigation because unless we know what results in the increasing population, the right
solution may not be pursued. The thinking is that if natural increase contributes more to a
citys population, then there is a need for long term plan for young population and focus will
be on such services as healthcare and schools. However, if rural-urban migration continues to
add more people to the population, then the need for housing and job creation should be
overriding.

39

REFERENCE
Abiodun, J. (1997) The Challenge of Growth and Development in Metropolitan Lagos in
Rakodi, C. (eds) (1997) The Urban Challenge in Africa: Growth and Management of Its
Large Cities, United Nations University Press.
Ayeni, B. (1997) A Retrospective and Prospective Review in Regional Development Planning
and Management of Urbanization Experiences from Developing Countries in Regional
Development Planning and Management in Africa. UN Habitat.
Bailey, J., Amanda, L. and Plimmer, F. (2004) Locating the Country in Town and Country
Planning: The Urban Bias in English Planning, International Federation of Surveyors.
Barredo, J., Demicheli, L., lavalle, C., Kasanko, M. and Mccormick N. (2004) Modelling
Future Urban Scenarios in Developing Countries: An Application Case Study in Lagos,
Nigeria, Planning and Design, vol. 32, pp 65-84.
Becker, C., Hamer, A. and Morrison, A. (1994) Beyond Urban Bias in Africa Urbanization
in an Era of Structural Adjustment. Heinemann.
Bradshaw, W. (1987) Urbanization and Underdevelopment: A Global Study of
Modernization, Urban Bias and Economic Dependency, American Sociological Review, Vol.
52, No. 2, pp. 224-239.
Brunn, S., Williams, J. and Zeigler, D. (eds) (2003) Cities of the World World Regional
Urban Development, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Byerlee, D. (1974) Rural-Urban Migration in Africa: Theory, Policy and Research
Implications, International Migration Review, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 543-566.
Corbridge, S. and Jones, G. (2005) Urban Bias: The continuing Debate, Paper prepared for
DFID. April 2005.
Daniels, P.W. (2004) Urban Challenges: The Formal and Informal Economies in Mega-cities,
Cities, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 501-511.
Drakakis-Smith, D. (1995) Third World Cities: Sustainable Urban Development, Urban
Studies, vol. 32, no. 4-5, pp. 659-677.
Drakakis-Smith, D. (2000) Third World Cities, Routledge London and New York, Second
Edition.
Eastwood, R. and Lipton, M. (2004) Rural and Urban Income Inequality and Poverty: Does
Convergence between Sectors Offset Divergence, Oxford Scholarship online monographs,
pp. 112-143.
Federal Government of Nigeria (1962) First National Development Plan (1962-'68), Lagos,
Federal Ministry of Finance.
Federal Government of Nigeria (1970) Second National Development Plan (1970-'74), Lagos,
Federal Ministry of Information.
Federal Government of Nigeria (1975) Third National Development Plan (1975-'80), Lagos,
Federal Ministry of Finance.
Federal Government of Nigeria (1981) Fouth National Development Plan (1981-'85), Lagos,
National Plan office.
Federal Government of Nigeria (1991) National Rolling Plan (1991-'93), Abuja, National
Planning Office, Vol. 1.
Federal Government of Nigeria (1993) National Rolling Plan (1993-'95), Abuja, National
40

Planning Office, Vol. 1.

Federal Government of Nigeria (1994) National Rolling Plan (1994-'96), Abuja, National
Planning Office, Vol. 1.
Federal Government of Nigeria (1996) National Rolling Plan (1996-'98), Abuja, National
Planning Office, Vol. 1.
Federal Government of Nigeria (1997) National Rolling Plan (1997-'99), Abuja, National
Planning Office, Vol. 1.
Filani, M. O. and Abumere, S. I. (1993) Operational Efficiency in the Provision of Mass
Transit Services by State-owned Transit Companies in Nigeria in Ikya, S. G. (1993) Urban
Passenger transportation in Nigeria (ed), Heinemann Educational Books, Nigeria
Gilbert, A. and Gugler, J. (1982) Cities, Poverty and Development- Urbanization in the Third
World, Oxford University press.
Habitat Report (1996) An Urbanizing World: Global Report on Human Settlement, Oxford
University press.
Habitat Report (2001) Cities in Globalizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements,
Earth Scan, London and Sterling. VA.
Habitat (2001b) Implementing the Habitat Agenda In Search of Urban Sustainability, DPU.
Hansen, K. T. and Vaa, M. (2004) Reconsidering Informality: Perspectives from Urban
Africa, Nordic African Institute, Uppsala.
Kasarda, J. D. and Parnell, A. M. (1993 eds) Third World Cities: Problems, Policies and
Prospects. Sage, London and Newbury Park, California
Kasarda, J. D. and Crenshaw, E. M. (1991) Third World Cities: Dimensions, Theories and
Determinants, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 17, pp. 467-501
Kironde L (1992) Recieved Concepts and Theoriesin African Urbanisation and Management
Strategies: The Struggle Continues, Urban Studies, vol. 29, no. 8, pp. 1277-1292.
Knox, P.L. (1994) Urbanization An Introduction to Urban Geography, Englewoods Cliff,
N.J.
Kombe, W. and Kreibich, V. (2000) Formal Land Management in Tanzania, Spring Research
series, no. 29, Dortmund.
Lipton, M. (2005) Urban Bias in Forsyth, T. (eds) Encyclopaedia of International
Development, London, Routledge.
Lloyd, R. (2003) Defining Spatial Concepts Towards an African Urban System, Urban
Design International, vol. 8, no. 3, pp.105-117. Palgrave, Macmillan.
London, B. and Smith, D. A. (1988) Urban Bias, Dependence, and Economic Stagnation in
Noncore Nations, American Sociological Review, Vol. 53, No. 3, pp. 454-463.
Lupala, J. M. (2002) Urban Types in Rapidly Urbanizing Cities Analysis of Formal and
Informal Settlements in Dar es salaam, Tanzania. PhD. Thesis, KTH, Stockholm.
Ngware, S. and Kironde, L. (eds) (1996) Urbanizing Tanzania Issues, Initiatives and
Priorities, DUP.
Olayiwola, L. M. and Adeleye, O. A. (20059 Rural Infrastructural Development in Nigeria:
Between 1960 and 1990 Problems and Challenges, Journal of Social Sciences 11 (2) pp. 9196.
Onibokun, P. (1990) Urban Housing in Nigeria, NISER. Ibadan.
41

Payne, G. and Majale, M. (2004) The Urban Housing Manual: Making Regulatory
Frameworks Work for the Poor, Earthscan, London.
Rakodi, C. (eds) (1997) The Urban Challenge in Africa: Growth and Management of Its
Large Cities, United Nations University Press.
Rakodi, C. and Lloyd-Jones, T, (2002) Urban Livelihoods: A people-centered Approach to
Reducing Poverty. Earthscan publications Ltd.
Sachs, J. and Bloom, D. (1998) Geography, Demography and Economic Growth in Africa,
Harvard Institute for International Development, Harvard University (Working Paper).
Satterthwaite, D. (2005) The Scale of Urban Change Worldwide 1950-2000 and its
underpinnings, IIED, ISBN: 184369560X
Smith, D. and London, B. (1988) Urban Bias, Dependence and Economic Stagnation in
Noncore Nations, American Sociological Review, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 454-463.
Tannerfeldt, G. and Ljung, P. (2006) More Urban Less Poor An Introduction to urban
Development and management. Earthscan UK/USA
Taylor, R. (1988) Urban Development Policies in Nigeria: Planning, Housing and Land
Policy. Centre for Economic Research on Africa, Montclair State University.
Todaro, M. (1997) Urbanization, Unemployment and migration in Africa: Theory and Policy.
Paper prepared for reviewing social and economic progress in Africa, Macmillan.
Wekwete, K. (1997) Urban Management: The Recent Challenges in Rakodi, C. (eds) (1997)
The Urban Challenge in Africa: Growth and Management of Its Large Cities, United Nations
University Press.
World Bank (1991) Urban Policy and Economic Development: An Agenda for the 1990s,
Washington DC.
WEBSITES
http://www.photius.com/countries/nigeria/economy/nigeria_economy_planning.html (10-012007)
Yunusa M. L. (1998) The Community Banking System in Nigeria
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/IDEP/UNPAN004228.pdf (21-022007)

42