Population growth in Lagos in recent decades has been rapid as better healthcare and life expectancy leads to natural increase, and rural-to-urban migration occurs as people leave the countryside in pursuit of a better quality of life. But this has had an enormous impact on Lagos and has brought with it a number of key challenges.

Congestion

Lagos is the commercial capital of Nigeria and is notorious for traffic congestion. The rise of the middle class means that more and more people can afford to have a car, and historically a lack of inner city rail system means that most people drive into the CBD. Around 2 million cars drive in Lagos each day overwhelming the road network. This leads to congestion with many business hours lost daily from workers arriving late to work, or delays in deliveries, as people spend 3 hours in their cars on average. It also causes high levels of air pollution, leading to respiratory illnesses. Pollution from exhaust fumes in Lagos is 5 times higher than the internationally recommended limit.

The city's Traffic Management Agency employs 2000 traffic officers to manage this problem and has installed traffic signals in busy areas, and introduced radio traffic updates to help people navigate their journeys. They have also set up a hotline so members of the public can call in to report problems on the roads.

Lagos' Strategic Transport Master Plan

It is hoped that congestion will be eased by the city's ambitious integrated transport plan - an efficient network of linked roads, railways and waterways which will make journeys much quicker and easier. The plan should reduce daily traffic jams by increasing the number of residents using public transport, and reduce vehicle emissions, improving the city’s air quality.

There are several aspects to this plan...

Bus rapid transit (BRT) system: On a north-south route through the city between the suburbs and the CBD, with separate bus lanes to speed up journeys; used by 200,000 every day but has to be supplemented by a fleet of 'danfos' (pictured below) which are minibus taxis designed to carry 15 passengers, although sometimes they carry 30! The eventual aim is to have 14 BRT routes.

Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT): The Blue line light railway opened its first phase in December 2022 running west to east across the city, transporting 250,000 passengers a day. When completed the entire line will carry 500,000 people daily. It is the long-awaited major transport link for the city connecting Lagos Island (the CBD) to residential areas in the west. The eventual aim is to open six rail lines which will connect the city as well as a planned monorail,

Waterway network: 20 water transport routes including LAGFERRY, which is the state operated ferry carrying over 500,000 people per year on its six routes across the river. The increased number of ferries will enable people to travel efficiently around Lagos using the various waterways (which there are many of).

Other improvements:

• Better road network - the removal of markets and street vendors from the road will mean that people are able to travel around more quickly and traffic congestion will be reduced, this will be aided by more dedicated bus lanes
• Lekki International Airport - this is a proposed airport on the Lekki Peninsula which is away from the city centre and is designed to handle 5 million passengers annually
• Improved safety - particularly for those walking and cycling, including proper pavements and cycle lanes

Water supply

Despite being a city with a huge economy only 10% of people in Lagos have a piped water supply from the Lagos Water Corporation, that has been treated and purified. This is because rapid population growth has led to increased demand on water supplies, which will get worse in the future.

The rest of the population get their water from expensive water vendors where they end up paying 500% more than the Lagos Water Corporation charge for water - and these are often the poorest inhabitants of the city, as a result water theft has become a problem in Lagos. Other people dig their own wells or sink boreholes to reach groundwater supplies, and a small proportion of city dwellers even resort to drinking from the river and Lagos Lagoon - which highly polluted and very salty!

Poor planning and insufficient funding along with an old failing infrastructure means the government finds it difficult to provide sanitation and clean water - they currently provide 330 million gallons a day less than is needed.

Water pollution

Lagos' water supply lacks adequate waste water treatment and is heavily polluted with bacteria and chemicals, leading to a high incidence of cholera and dysentery. A lack of waste collection also means that a lot of rubbish, including plastics ends up in the city waterways (like in the photo below).

Sewage disposal is also a big issue - it is sometimes disposed of with rainwater through open drains, and then carried into rivers and the Lagoon, which also become polluted. Sewage may also seep into the ground from pit latrines or leaking septic tanks. Here it can find its way into water supply though wells and boreholes. Additionally, some water pipes are laid with sewage so become contaminated. Even water from vendors can be contaminated because they obtain water from the same sources.

The issue of waste - Olusosun Rubbish Dump

10,000 tonnes of waste is produced in Lagos every day - 40% gets taken to landfill sites, whilst the other remains in the street or ends up in waterways.

Olusosun (pictured below) is a huge landfill site near the centre of Lagos which receives waste collected from the city. The dump is so extensive that some people even live there having built their homes out of discarded materials, and the site has shops, restaurants, bars, cinemas and a mosque!

500 people work at Olusosun sorting through rubbish to find stuff to recycle and sell. This waste is sorted by hand - and often workers don't wear gloves or shoes so are at risk of infection from sharp objects. The dump also receives electrical waste imported from other countries. This e-waste is treated with chemicals to extract reusable materials but toxic fumes are released in the process. These fumes are breathed in by workers who often end up with respiratory diseases.

Methane builds up under the decomposing waste which can lead to fires, however this gas can be harnessed to turn into energy. The Lagos State Waste Management Authority also has plans to produce 25mw of electricity from landfill - which would be enough to power a town.

Rising sea levels

Sea level rise is a threat to Lagos as most of the city lies less than two metres above sea level. It could lead to an increase in flooding, which could lead to the groundwater becoming contaminated by salt. In the last couple of decades Lagos has experienced several serious incidents of flooding, turning roads into rivers and overwhelming drainage systems, causing sewage to flood homes.

Lagos is also situated within the tropics and has over 2,000 mm of rainfall annually, and its flat, low-lying land by the coast is very quick to flood but slow to drain, so the flood waters stay in place for a significant period of time. The flood risk has been made worse by rapid urbanisation which has covered the land with impermeable tarmac and concrete, and as these surfaces cannot absorb water, surface run-off increases. Rapid urbanisation has also led to informal settlements being built without proper drainage, and land reclamation for development sites, which has reduced the area of water for floodwater to drain into.