Why has lagos grown

Lagos has expanded well beyond Olusosun, and the cavernous dump now finds itself in the center of the city, a hospital on one side, a primary school on another, and homes hovering just over its precipice.

The world now produces more than a billion tons of garbage a year, which it incinerates and buries and exports and recycles. In New York, barges transport as much as 3, tons of waste down the Hudson River every day.

In the Netherlands, which has a sophisticated recycling system, residents throw away the equivalent of more than , loaves of bread per day. By , according to a World Bank study, the waste produced by cities around the globe will be enough to fill a line of rubbish trucks 3, miles long every day. Africa, the fastest-urbanizing continent, is full of cities struggling to balance their extraordinary growth with sustainable waste management.

Every year, improper garbage disposal contributes to devastating epidemics of mosquito-borne malaria, yellow fever, and other potentially fatal diseases. This year, Lagos has had two outbreaks of Lassa fever, a sometimes deadly virus, spread by rodent urine or feces, that has been linked to poor sanitation. But in the waterfront slums circling the lagoon, this vision is a threat to livelihoods, not a hope for the future. Pulling up her elegant blue dress, she leans down to inspect the damage done to one of her boats by security forces, and begins to cry.

Many boats with huge holes in their hulls have been hauled up and abandoned on a beach that just a year ago was busy with work. Wooden boats with food-sack sails would bring sand from deep in the lagoon to sell as building material, employing thousands of people. His fears stem from the recent clearance of Otodo Gbame slum, which went ahead despite a court order halting its destruction.

The bulldozers came in with the taskforce, smashing tin shacks, burning anything wooden to the ground. The moment you demolish a slum, naturally two or three more slums will spring up because people need somewhere to sleep. Rather the moment you demolish a slum, naturally two or three more slums will spring up because people need somewhere to sleep.

They have the same fears in Ago Egun, the next slum along, where the men catch fish and the women smoke them on circular wire grills. Their shacks are built on a floating rubbish dump - trodden down and compacted over the years, its paths wobble disconcertingly underfoot.

Klote Kakini is an old fisherman whose father lived here before him. He denies they have been heavy-handed by driving people from land they have lived on for many years. Lagos government has seen that the waterfront communities are prime land where they can build the five-star hotels He believes the answer to redevelopment is to leave people where they are, improve their lives in situ and create new space to house them.

And they do keep coming - from other towns and cities, and from remote rural communities. In the slums of the old city the spirits of the dead appear to have returned to cleanse it of evil and pray for its peace and prosperity.

The original spot where 15th Century Yoruba fishermen settled on Lagos Island is now an edgy, poor, densely packed neighbourhood.

Degraded buildings lean into each other, appearing to sag under the weight of people packing the balconies to watch the procession. The roads are potholed, there are few schools or clinics, let alone parks or playing fields — it desperately needs a new lease of life. There is no way we can continue to sprawl. Emerging from the rusty tin rooftops and towering above the Eyo parade route is a multi-storey apartment block — a gleaming, modern show home rising from the slum.

Eleven families lived on the land — they were persuaded to combine their plots and stay elsewhere while the flat tower block was built. But it took years to build and was hugely expensive - too expensive for the government to roll out across Lagos. Land has been cleared for a Marriott hotel, a small shopping mall, an IMAX cinema, two office blocks and two apartment buildings.

Here, people can avoid the Lagos chaos of overcrowding and terrible traffic congestion — the selling point is that if you can afford to live here, you never need to leave.

Earthmovers are landscaping this vast spur of land reclaimed from the sea, roads are being built and the first few tower blocks are beginning to take shape. How has urbanisation helped Nigeria develop? Please Support Internet Geography If you've found the resources on this site useful please consider making a secure donation via PayPal to support the development of the site. Top Posts and Pages How does flooding affect humans and the environment? What factors affect population density and distribution?

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