Nigeria is the sixth-most populous country in the world, and, by 2050, almost one in every thirteen children born in the world will be Nigerian.
First pillaged through the slave trade, the country remained under British rule until 1960, but military conflict continued until 1999, when the country became a democracy. Lagos, Africa’s most populated city, is home to 10% of Nigeria’s population, but two thirds of its residents live in informal settlements, under living and working conditions that do not respect the right to live in dignified, affordable, and healthy housing.
This coastal city, whose name originates from the Portuguese lake, is at the frontlines of climate change, routinely experiencing flooding and extremely high temperatures, and is at risk of being submerged by 2050. The Department of Climate Change has introduced a series of national policies, but these have not been translated into practice, often overshadowed by the ambitious economic growth targets embedded in local development plans inspired by imported ideas and models disconnected from local needs.
There are some exceptions, such as the Ajegunle-Ikorodu Community Resilience Action Plan, which grounds climate action in human rights, and civil society organisations like Spaces for Change, which are working to expand the space for marginalised residents to participate in built environment decision-making. However, initiatives such as Eko Atlantic, displacing entire local communities to build privatised gated communities under the guise of resilience, show that there is still a long way to go to ensure the transition benefits those most at risk from climate change.
For more information, read the Lagos City Summary Report
Opportunities for the green transition
Spaces for Change was created as a platform for young people and women to participate in decision-making around the built environment through citizen-led advocacy initiatives and capacity-building programmes. It has also created the Community Alliance Against Displacement, which brings together the leaders of marginalised communities to improve security of tenure and prevent forced evictions.
When developing the Ajegunle-Ikorodu Community Resilience Action Plan, the University of Lagos selected and trained women from Ajegunle-Ikorodu to act as citizen scientists to undertake asset mapping. Their involvement broadened the range of residents who took part in participatory workshops, where they developed initiatives to make the local community more inclusive, resilient, and prosperous.
Risks from the green transition
The Eko Atlantic project sets out to protect Lagos from coastal erosion by building a new, eco-friendly city. However, it is doing so by displacing a community of 80,000 traders, cleaners, waiters, and clerks, mostly living in stilted homes above the water, servicing the nearby wealthy Victoria Island. For the project, public land was handed over to a private investor, with large-scale evictions. Today, it’s being turned into a privatised green gated community for the ultra-rich.
City Future Vision: Lagos
Integrity-driven, sustainable and fair
Decentralisation enables the creation of localised policies tailored to local needs, developed in close collaboration with NGOs and CSOs. Governments and businesses implement inter-sectoral strategies that enable Nigerian households to shift from petrol-fuelled generators to renewable energy sources. Green urban design and non-motorised urban environments are the norm, ensuring sustainable living is available to everyone and not a luxury. Accountability and transparency mechanisms ensure inclusive and responsible governance, creating a conducive environment for the private sector to contribute to the just transition. Businesses mainstream human rights in their operations to minimise long-term risk and civil society holds governments and businesses to account, with young people driving a paradigm shift towards a more inclusive transition.