Water and sanitation program and Importance of clean water. The Rivers State Government, in conjunction with the Port Harcourt Water Corporation (PHWC), has embarked on the implementation a project aimed at providing potable water and sanitation services to residents of Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor Local Government Authorities (LGAs).
Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, Governor of Rivers State. The water project is part of a sector-wide institutional reform embarked on by the state government
The project is part of a sector-wide institutional reform embarked on by the state government, and is planned to be implemented with parallel financing support by the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the Urban Water Reform and Port-Harcourt Water Supply and Sanitation Project, and by the International Development Association (IDA) (hereafter also referred to as World Bank), under the Third National Urban Water Sector Reform Project (NUWSRP3). The planned allocations to Rivers State include $200 million in AfDB funds and $80 million in IDA funds. The Rivers State Government co-financing amounts to $48 million.
The current population in the two LGAs is about 1.3 million, but it is expected to reach 4 million by 2040.
Currently, its citizens do not benefit from any water services of acceptable quantity, quality or reliability standards, as the water system is considered to be largely non-functional. As a result, the population obtains water from a combination of private boreholes/shallow wells (directly in their household or bought through intermediate vendors) and water sachets, with varying quality, costs and availability.
For sanitation, most households in Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor are served by toilets with on-site septic tanks or household pit latrines, while most public centres such as markets and lorry parks lack adequate facilities.
The project aims to improve access to safe water supply and public sanitation services in Port Harcourt and Obio/Apkor and also to establish sound performance and long-term viability of the Port Harcourt Water Corporation to ensure sustainability of services provided.
To this effect, the project is structured around four components, which are listed to include:
Rehabilitation and expansion of the existing water infrastructure and construction of public sanitation facilities;
Institutional Support covering capacity building of the recently established Port Harcourt Water Corporation, consumer outreach, environmental protection, and longer-term planning for comprehensive sanitation services;
Establishment of Public Private Partnerships for sustainable service operations; and
Project Management. The population in the project area is primarily low income households, which requires special considerations in delivery mechanisms and tariff setting for affordability and sustainability.
The objective of the project is to increase access to potable water to 100% in the state.
EU environment ministers on Tuesday, February 28 2017 reached an agreement in support of the revision of the ETS Directive for the period after 2020.
EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner, Miguel Arias Canete. Photo credit: Reuters/Francois Lenoir
Tuesday’s agreement comes after almost two years of discussions in the Council, led since the start of this year by the Maltese presidency, and serves as the basis for negotiations with the European Parliament.
Welcoming the agreement, Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, said: “Less than two weeks after the vote by Parliament, today’s agreement demonstrates once more the European Union’s strong commitment to show leadership on climate action and help drive the global transition to clean energy. I count on everybody’s best efforts to swiftly initiate the negotiations between the Council and Parliament.”
The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is the EU’s flagship policy to combat climate change by reducing the emissions from more than 11,000 installations in the power sector and energy intensive industry through a market-based cap and trade system.
Building on the Commission’s proposal from July 2015, Council agreed on a set of rules to ensure continued adequate protection against carbon leakage beyond 2020. It also backed measures to strengthen the Market Stability Reserve to more quickly reduce the current oversupply of allowances on the carbon market.
Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are in the process of establishing the Luapula River Authority (LRA) in order to manage shared water resources between the two countries.
The Luapula River
Zambia’s Minister of Energy, David Mabumba, said the riparian states are discussing the establishment of an authority to manage the Luapula River joint resource.
“The Luapula River, which is shared with the DRC, has immense hydro potential which both countries want to tap into but coming up with an authority will enable us utilise the water resource effectively.
“So we are in discussions with that country and, very soon, we will travel to Kinshasa (DRC capital) to finalise documents to come up with a special purpose vehicle to look after the water resource,” said Mr Mabumba.
He said Zambia wanted to realise 1,000 megawatts (MW) from the Luapula River Hydro-Power Project estimated to cost $4 billion.
Zambia and Zimbabwe have established the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) to manage water resources in the Zambezi River which is shared by the two countries.
The Central Log Control of the Ogun State Ministry of Forestry has uncovered a plot by lumbermen to cart away forest resources from the state through its borders with Ondo State.
Ogun State Commissioner for Forestry, Chief Kolawole Lawal
Commissioner for Forestry, Kolawole Lawal, who made the disclosure recently in Abeokuta, stated that some illegal tree merchants in Laagan, a border village between Ogun and Ondo states, had constructed a concrete bridge through which they intended to smuggle illegally felled trees to neighbouring states.
Lawal, who was speaking with newsmen on the development at Odo-Oni, Laagan Village, Area J4 in Ijebu-North East Local Government Area, added that the Central Log Control was established to curb illegal exploitation of trees and forest resources in the state.
He described the act of the tree merchants as an aberration as the State Forestry Law prohibited construction of any structure within its forest reserves without government’s approval. He added that government was committed to protecting the forests from further encroachment by internal and external forces.
He explained that constructing a bridge on Odo-Oni, which is the natural boundary between Ogun and Ondo states, would further encourage influx of illegal migrants from neighbouring states into the forest reserves as well as illegal exploitation of its resources and destruction of economic trees.
“We got information that people of Laagan community are collaborating with other neighbouring settlements from Ondo State to construct a bridge on Odo-Oni River, which is the natural boundary between Ogun and Ondo states. This is against the State Forestry Law as it will create avoidable porosity into our forest reserves. Our forest resources will be illegally moved into by neighbouring communities to the detriment of Ogun State Government,” he said.
In his response, the Baale of Laagan Village, Chief Mufutau Sanusi, pleaded with the state government to be lenient with merchants, saying they were not aware that it was an offence and the likely negative impact the bridge would have on the forest reserves.
He assured the state government that Laagan and other settlements in the area would cooperate to fight against illegal activities in the forest reserves.
TB Alliance and the broader TB community are asking the World Health Organisation (WHO) to add Mycobacterium tuberculosis to the critical group within the list of drug-resistant bacteria identified as urgent priorities for research and development.
Mel Spigelman, President and CEO of TB Alliance, which wants the WHO to add Mycobacterium tuberculosis to the critical group within the list of drug-resistant bacteria
“The absence of TB from this list is shocking,” said Mel Spigelman, President and CEO of TB Alliance. “The effort to develop new drugs to cure TB has always been chronically underfunded despite the disease’s impact.”
TB is considered the world’s deadliest infectious disease, killing 1.8 million people each year.
Medical experts believe that TB patients urgently need new and better antibiotics, adding that treatment for drug-resistant TB is long, toxic, complicated, and expensive.
“It can consist of more than two years of a dozen or more pills per day, along with six months of daily injections. And for those unfortunate enough to have extensively resistant TB, even if they take every one of those 20,000 toxic pills and hundreds of injections, they will still have less than a one-in-three chance of survival. Put simply, TB has evolved at a speed that outpaces our underfunded research community.”
It is projected that, this year alone, approximately half a million people will develop drug-resistant TB. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is caused by TB bacteria that are resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampin, the two most potent TB drugs. Less than 20 percent of people with MDR-TB receive treatment; of that small fraction, about half are cured. To place the drug resistant TB situation in perspective, patients with Ebola, for whom there is no available drug therapy, have the same chances of survival that patients with drug-resistant TB patients have, accessing today’s available medicines. MDR-TB is also said to be the most contagious of all the pathogens noted on the WHO’s list, spreading readily from person to person, and is especially dangerous to children, people with HIV, and other vulnerable populations.
About 29 percent of deaths caused by antimicrobial infections are due to drug-resistant TB, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. MDR-TB could cost the world $16.7 trillion by 2050, according to a study commissioned by the UK government. Last year’s high-level meeting on AMR at the UN General Assembly affirmed that TB is critical to the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) agenda.
New tools, including vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments, cannot be developed without adequate resources, and the global TB community faces significant underfunding, says TB Alliance, ponting out that the WHO’s 2011-2015 Global Plan to Stop TB saw a five-year funding deficit of $2.4 billion in drug R&D, and 2015 saw the biggest decline in R&D funding for TB in over a decade. Even efforts to treat and prevent the disease are underfunded by almost $2 billion, according to the WHO.
According to TB Alliance, drug-resistant TB is an urgent and critical priority.
The group adds: “Without more attention and new antibiotics, the disease will continue to wreak havoc among the world’s poorest communities. It is not enough to say that TB is being addressed by other health programmes; drug resistant TB is the biggest global threat in AMR and it must be recognised as such, especially by the WHO. The absence of TB from the WHO list is an irresponsible public health statement, sending the wrong message about global health priorities.”
According to TB Alliance, the WHO did issue a follow-up release affirming the critical need for R&D of new antibiotics to tackle drug-resistant tuberculosis. This effort, however, should not be separate from efforts to address other drug-resistant pathogens, it notes.
It insists that every global effort to address the burgeoning AMR emergency must include TB, adding that the WHO should be taking a leadership role in this effort, starting with the inclusion of TB on the new WHO list of priority pathogens.
TB Alliance is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to finding faster-acting and affordable drug regimens to fight tuberculosis (TB).
African representatives, Nigeria and Senegal, have been slotted in groups A and B in the forthcoming FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, slated to hold between April and May 2017 in Nassau, capital of Bahamas.
Nigeria’s Beach Soccer team
The draws were held at the Atlantis Paradise Island Hotel on Tuesday, February 28 2017, with 16 countries in attendance.
Nigeria, known as the “Sand Eagles”, was drawn in Group B, which comprises of Italy, a team from Asia and Mexico, while Senegal is in Group A with Bahamas, Switzerland and Ecuador.
In Group C, another team from Asia, Paraguay, Portugal and Panama will do battle with each other, while four-time world champions, Brazil, with 2015 runners-up Tahiti, Asia representative and European champion Poland are in Group D.
The Asia’s three representatives will be determined at the regional qualifiers, taking place on 4th and 11th of March, 2017.
Fourth African champion, Senegal, defeated Nigeria 8-3 at the final of the CAF Beach Soccer Championship last year, for both to qualify for the Bahamas World Cup.
To get to the final, Nigeria defeated Egypt 3-2, won on penalty kicks after playing 4-4 with Cote d’Ivoire, beat Ghana 4-3 at the quarter-final and whitewashed Morocco 6-1 at the semi-final.
The Federal Government and the Lagos State Government are set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) over the use of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos. Indications are that this may materialise on Wednesday, March 1 2017.
Main bowl of the National Stadium in Lagos
The signing exercise stemmed from the interest shown by the Lagos State Government on the use of the stadium towards the tail end of February.
The state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, had paid a condolence and courtesy visit to the Youth and Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, at his residence in Abuja, where he expressed the state’s intention in the renovation of the stadium for commercial use.
The governor impressed it on the minister that the last time a football match was played at the stadium was in 2005, adding that he wants to bring the stadium back to life, as well as the football culture the state is known for.
With this in mind, Ambode invited Dalung to Lagos to ascertain the level of decadence and to hold talks on the evaluation and the next line of action to be taken on the stadium. This prompted the minister to visit the fading facility, on a joint working inspection with the state government.
It will be recalled that the Sports Ministry had handed over the Enugu, Bauchi and Kaduna stadia to respective state governments for commercial use.
Nigeria’s former Environment Minister, Amina J. Mohammed, on Tuesday, February 28 2017 at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York formally assumed position as the Deputy UN Secretary General after being sworn into office.
The event was graced by dignitaries, most especially from Nigeria, who stood beside the world’s Number 2 civil servant in what looks like a spirit of solidarity for the hardworking and affectionate Nigerian.
Amina Mohammed and UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, welcoming guestsAntonio Guterres and Amina Mohammed. Photo credit: UNAmina Mohammed delivering a speechPress coverage of Amina Mohammed’s maiden speech as UN Deputy Secretary GeneralIbrahim Jibril (Acting Environment Minister), Ibikunle Amosun (Governor of Ogun State) and Kashim Shetimma (Borno State Governor) were among the Nigerian politicians who witnessed the swearing-in ceremony of Amina MohammedAmina Mohammed takes oath of office
The Nitijela (parliament) of the Republic of the Marshall Islands on Tuesday, February 28 2017 gave its approval for the low-lying atoll nation to become the first country to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
Hilda Heine, President of Marshall Islands
The move comes just four months after the Marshall Islands worked with the Federated States of Micronesia through the 30+ country High Ambition Coalition to secure the historic Amendment.
Last year, the Marshall Islands was also the first country to deposit its instrument of ratification of the Paris Agreement during a Signing Ceremony held by the UN Secretary-General, and in 2014 the Marshall Islands became the first island country to table its intended post-2020 emissions reduction target.
The Kigali Amendment paves the way for the production and consumption of toxic Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) to be cut by more than 80 percent over the next 30 years. The science suggests this will help avoid up to 80 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2050 and will be a big boost to the Paris Agreement’s goal of working towards keeping global temperature increases within 1.5°C.
Speaking after the Nitijela’s approval of the Kigali Amendment, President Hilda Heine said: “My country will not survive without urgent action to cut emissions by every country and every sector of our economies, including HFCs. Our rapid ratification of the Kigali Amendment is yet another demonstration of our commitment to the Paris Agreement. We now need others to quickly do the same in order to help keep global temperature increases within 1.5°C. This deal is good for our people, the planet, and the profits of those that follow in our footsteps.”
Minister-in-Assistance to the President and convenor of the High Ambition Coalition, Mattlan Zackhras, said: “The High Ambition Coalition fought hard to secure this Amendment, and we’ll be working hard this year to ensure it can be international law as soon as possible. We have no time to waste, and it is important we also find ways to increase energy efficiency and support those countries that are willing to cut HFC emissions even further and faster as some have already offered to do.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs, John Silk, added: “The world owes a great debt to the Federated States of Micronesia in particular for their tireless leadership in securing this Amendment, beginning with their first submission in 2009. This Amendment is one of the best examples of island leadership that we have seen. I will be instructing our UN Mission in New York to make preparations for the depositing of our instrument of ratification of this Amendment at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Lagos is a conurbation and a mega city by the very definitions of the two words – a very large city made up of a network of other urban communities and having a minimum population of 10 million people and above. The estimated population of the mega city being bandied in different literature put the current figure between 21 million and 25 million. The population growth of the megacity has been explosive, judging from past figures 1.4 million (1974), two million (1980) 4.5million (1991), six million (2000), 12.5 million (2011).
Traffic congestion in Lagos
Associated with the stupendous growth are many other grave problems arising from unmanaged urbanisation leading to very low quality of life. This article is not about the commonly known problems which the residents encounter daily in the city. The focus is on how to make Lagos a great city by suggesting three hallmarks of city development strategies that would facilitate and fast-track its journey to greatness.
The three key elements are smart growth, prudent financial management, and participatory governance.
Any city ( small, medium or large) could be functional, prosperous and facilitate a better quality of life for the citizenry if those at the leadership positions are visionary and have a wonk team with acumen in governance, planning, and management. Examples and best practices can be cited where city mayors/city managers in different countries of the world have performed excellently well by adopting one, two or a combination of the three hallmarks, which contributed to the greatness of their cities, and could be laboratories for other cities to understudy and emulate.
Applicative to Lagos megacity this write-up would progress and suggest as follows:
Smart Growth
Smart growth connotes intelligent planning with strategic thinking and systematic approach in programme implementation. We advocate that Lagos should strive to cultivate, adopt and achieve smart growth as a pragmatic city development strategy in order to promote a buoyant economy and urban development that would curb sprawl and deter unwholesome environmental conditions.
In order to achieve smart growth in Lagos, there must be a radical change in the way urban planning is done. Therefore, we suggest a few of the principles that would engender smart growth in the megacity:
Mix land uses: Rather than allow developments to spread out in every direction without proper co-ordination in land uses, it is better to encourage mix land uses by creating clusters of development where residential, commercial and recreational uses are close to one another. Put in simple word, transit-oriented development. The residents within the clusters would be able to take advantage of the proximity of land uses to do most of their day-to-day activities within walking distance instead of driving outside their area to far-flung places to work, shop or recreate.
The government can initiate a pilot scheme using a PPP approach especially along a section of Broad Street in Lagos Island where there are some disused/abandoned government buildings and underutilised structures which can be pulled down and re-built along the line of this suggestion. Residential houses would be provided with mixed commercial facilities where playground can also be incorporated for family recreation. The area will be revitalised and that section of the city would not be drab and desolate at night as it is. In specific area(s) of the megacity pockets of vacant lands can be identified where such mix land use development could be feasible and suitable. One prime area that the LASG can site a transit-oriented development is the National Theatre enclave, where there is an abundance of unused land (100 hectares) lying fallow.
The whole essence is for government and urban planning technocrats/policy makers to start to encourage compact development that would discourage sprawl and conserve space and reduce development pressure at the city outskirts many of which are rural settlements and lands suitable for agriculture.
Develop a futuristic plan: In a rapidly growing megacity like Lagos, development is not static. Smart growth is being ready for what lies ahead and having a plan to address the issues that could arise as a result of such accelerated growth. As more and more people migrate to live in Lagos, there would be more demand for public services and amenities such as transportation, healthcare, schools, housing, potable water, roads and other necessities for a better quality of city life. Successful cities around the world are known to plan for change and have religiously followed the implementation of the plan for the betterment of their cities
Here are notable global examples:
Chicago: Go to 2040… A comprehensive regional plan about sustainable prosperity which seeks to make and strengthen Chicago Metropolitan Region of 28 communities one of (USA) few global economic centres. (Chicago Comprehensive Regional Plan, 2014)
New York City: OneNYC…The Plan for a Strong and Just City which will fuse sustainability, social equity, and resilience with a timeframe goal (One New York City, 2015)
Melbourne, Australia: Plan Melbourne… A metropolitan planning strategy, guiding how Melbourne will grow and change to 2050. A plan to house, employ and connect people to jobs and services, closer to where they live. (Plan Melbourne, 2014)
Los Angeles: Sustainable City pLAn….A roadmap for a Los Angeles that is environmentally, economically prosperous and equitable in opppourtunity for all, now and over the next 20 years. (Los Angeles pLAn, 2015)
We canvass for a futuristic or theme plan (in the mold of the examples cited above) that would envisage and seamlessly accommodate the changes in the Megacity. The current Lagos State Development Plan 2012-2014 (LSDP), which is more of an economic development plan prepared by the last Administration submitted and accurately admitted “the absence of a Regional Plan for Lagos… since the expiration of the last Lagos Metropolitan Regional Plan 1980-2000. Lagos urgently needs a new Regional Plan to guide the next phases of development…….” (LSDP, 2012). The plan did not cover in detail what a Comprehensive Regional Plan would have adequately covered. Hence, there is a yawning gap. Lagos without an operative Comprehensive Regional Plan cannot compete favourably with other global megacities.
Apart from the long-range plan, Lagos must start to come up with specific subject/sector plans or sub-area plans to rejuvenate, improve or address some peculiar problems plaguing the city. It is noteworthy that there is a Strategic Transport Master Plan (STMP) which led to the creation of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA). The strategic transport plan for the next two decades is already being implemented in order to solve the city’s chronic traffic congestion and lack of a well-organised mass urban transit system. The BRT and the Light Rail are products of the STMP including the use of the waterways for ferry transportation. More of such ad hoc plans for housing, water supply, security, urban renewal and environmental sustainability should be on the drawing board. All of these plans must set goals to be met within a timeframe.
For example, in early 2015, when unveiling OneNYC Plan, Mayor deBlasio of New York City unequivocally said that the Plan will “lift 800,000 people out of poverty by 2025 and will achieve zero waste landfills by 2030.”
Create incentives to attract businesses and investors: There are areas of competing interests which deserve government attention but resources are limited and overstretched. As a result, the government should seek partnership with willing investors in the urban development sector. The LASG by now should have a full-fledged PPP office whose main mandate is to scout for investors who are willing to do business in Lagos under mutually agreed terms and conditions.
But there is a caveat to this. The government must be willing to invest in infrastructural development to support business operation, give a tax break, nurture skilled workforce, guarantee security and avoid policy inconsistency. For example, if the dream of creating a tech hub to serve as the Lagos version of Silicon Valley is to be realised as recently made public by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, the LASG must be prepared to provide a site that is completely integrated, one that combines company innovations, business incubation and a fertile training facility to breed locally available IT-savvy workforce. The Silicon Valley should be a place that one can get all round training in IT and can quickly get employment within the complex. The government must also be ready to create a pool of capital funds to assist new start-up businesses, without which all the rhetoric of becoming a tech hub will remain a mirage.
We cite here the good examples where the government has excelled. The Lekki Free Trade Zone and the Eko Atlantic City are key economic development projects where the government played the role of a facilitator in jump-starting the two projects. The projects’ current stages of development are impressive and encouraging for future PPP collaboration.
Pay attention to environmental matters
Lagos is home to over 20 million people. It is a city where energy consumption is the highest in Nigeria. The number of vehicles plying the roads is also the highest in the country. What this translates into is the very high production of greenhouse gas emissions from the two key sources: fumes from vehicles and consumption of energy in buildings. Both are the causes of the harmful air and environmental pollution common in the city. Added to this is the very large amount of waste that is being generated daily in the city plus the negative habit of the residents who indulge in dumping waste in the open and inside the lagoon, creeks, and rivers.
Part of smart growth and sustainability is to be conscious of a safe, green and wholesome environment. Because of the high level of environmental degradation in the megacity, the LASG cannot afford to pay picayune attention to environmental matters, especially on how to plug the key sources of environmental pollution. There must be “local plan and programmes” directed toward such effort in line with the assurance given by Governor Ambode in June 2016, that Lagos would have the world’s first “carbon-neutral city.” A city powered entirely by renewable energy (use of wind and solar) and no carbon footprints (greenhouse gas emissions).
We want to suggest here actions that the LASG must take to cut down on greenhouse gas emission and sundry pollutants of the environment:
Increase the fleet of BRT buses and extend the service to cover all city districts in order to encourage/popularise ridership of public transport and to drastically reduce traffic congestion and air pollution in the city;
Introduce car levy in certain commercial zones to discourage use of private cars especially within the Central Business District in Lagos Island;
Promote green roofs concept whereby new regulations would mandate the use of solar panels and plants on rooftops of new buildings as legislated in France, Canada, Australia, and Germany. If Lagos wants to truly “go green”, it would require both persuasions and strict enforcement of tough environmental regulations;
Accelerate the tempo of the city’s tree planting programme and give incentive to homeowners to plant a tree in their home environment. LASPARK should establish zonal arboretum where residents can obtain young trees for free, in order to cultivate the culture of tree planting;
The campaign for domestic separation and recycling of waste must be intensified, while the government must set an achievable timeframe for zero waste to landfills.
Encourage and entrench an inclusive planning process: No matter the vision a leader has for his/her city and the positive change one might contemplate, one must win the support of the citizenry to actualise the change. This is where community participation and stakeholders’ collaboration in planning is imperative. Lagos planning must be open and democratic. The residents must be given the opportunity to brainstorm and decide the type of “Future Lagos” they want to live and work. This writer found the philosophy of Park Won, the mayor of Seoul, South Korea very apt: “No one great genius can lead a city. Instead, citizens need to lead; my job is to get their ideas into the system.”
When the Lagos State Government decides to prepare a new Regional Plan in no distance future, it must take the path of a robust participatory planning and make it a Wiki Plan……a plan the citizens can edit and contribute ideas.
Prudent financial planning connotes cost-effective operations, plugging of financial wastages, saving for a raining day, accountability, transparency and measuring the return on investment. These are attributes which the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode must imbibe and exemplify. Governor Ambode with his solid background in public finance and accounting is “glove-fit” to lead by example on how to lay a solid foundation for a fiscally virile Future Lagos.
Last Word
The path to greatness and sustainability of the Lagos mega city would require very tough policy decisions, while it would sometimes compel the enactment of a new set of laws in order to achieve set goals. It is not an impossible task inasmuch as the government has the political will to embrace smart growth, provide the resources and transparently engage the citizenry in the development process. That way, Lagos will become a city with fewer cynics and more praise singers. It will aslo become a city of no cars where the rich and the poor use public transportation, and where urban planning awareness/parlance should be part of the citizens’ lingo.
