tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/lagos-20366/articlesLagos – The Conversation2024-02-24T14:08:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2231362024-02-24T14:08:11Z2024-02-24T14:08:11ZNigeria’s ban on alcohol sold in small sachets will help tackle underage drinking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577320/original/file-20240222-16-aset0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C6%2C1075%2C801&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sachet alcoholic drinks on display. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kofo Belo-Osagie</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>On February 5, 2024, Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control <a href="http://tinyurl.com/4h3usb97">announced</a> a ban on alcoholic beverages sold in sachets or bottles less than 200ml. The agency asserts that the ban will, among other benefits, protect underage children from easy access to alcohol. However, the Federal House of Representatives, Nigeria’s lower chamber of the national assembly, has asked that the ban be <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2024/02/suspend-ban-on-alcoholic-drinks-in-sachets-pet-bottles-reps-tell-nafdac/#:%7E:text=The%20House%20of%20Representatives%20Committee,its%20investigation%20into%20the%20matter.">suspended</a> pending investigation. Medical sociologist Emeka Dumbili, who has <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Fek70KoAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">researched</a> issues around young people’s use of alcohol and other psychoactive substances, explains why he believes the ban is needed and how it can work.</em></p>
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<h2>How bad is youth alcohol consumption in Nigeria?</h2>
<p>Alcohol consumption is growing among young Nigerians. Although alcohol consumption is not new to Nigerian society, historically only adults consumed it because drinking <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/220883?casa_token=WZLoim3ESs4AAAAA%3AUuAurxn7QSnHDbLh2bkJW-ftyWhRhU61T2zqeXGqQTroqQbjlAySCrq30jij75tlAh7lN5Fa08n3P3G4CKBHIne1ewsKxNjM4EJnNzxJKfy_O2XUDwxe">signified that one was an elder</a>. Unwritten rules constrained youths from drinking palm wine, which was the only available alcoholic beverage then. It was believed they were too immature to handle the intoxicating effects of alcohol. Nowadays, a rising number of Nigerian adolescents and young adults consume alcohol. Some even see drinking as <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-04017-7_6">fashionable</a> and those who abstain as old fashioned. </p>
<p>Studies have shown that young Nigerians are consuming more alcohol. For example, studies published in <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/njp/article/view/110285">2015</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08897077.2021.1944952">2021</a> and <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jcmphc/article/view/245152">2023</a> found a 30%, 34% and 55.8% drinking prevalence among youths in Nigeria. </p>
<p>These statistics suggest that there will be more alcohol-related problems such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6601673/">brain underdevelopment or damage</a>, alcohol-induced <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00220426231184151">sicknesses, truancy, violence, injuries</a> and death among young people than there used to be. </p>
<p>Existing studies not only show that youths are drinking, but reveal heavy drinking and drunkenness. These findings also echo a <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241565639">World Health Organization report from 2018</a> which showed that the 22.5% prevalence of heavy episodic drinking among Nigerians aged 15 to 19 years was among the highest on the African continent. </p>
<h2>How do liquor sachets contribute to the problem?</h2>
<p>Research has shown that several factors are responsible for youth alcohol consumption in Nigeria. Chief among them is <a href="https://books.google.ie/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qnOyDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Global+status+on+alcohol&ots=a2ksQEocgr&sig=dgRbP_sCOyG2LXTySU2dfuIvMMk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Global%20status%20on%20alcohol&f=false">unregulated alcohol marketing</a>. Alcohol corporations in Nigeria increasingly use aggressive marketing strategies, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16066359.2016.1202930">advertising and sales promotions</a> such as buy-two-get-one-free that make different brands of such alcohol readily <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00220426221135765">available, accessible and affordable</a>.</p>
<p>Alcoholic beverages packaged in less than 200ml plastic bottles and sachets are affordable and widely available in retail shops, supermarkets, roadside kiosks and eateries in Nigeria. </p>
<p>They are also sold close to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article-abstract/58/6/628/7272955">primary and secondary schools</a>, where children spend time away from their parents. This is against international standard practices. </p>
<p>Sachet alcoholic beverages are also easy to carry and can be concealed from adults because of their small size. Young people can easily buy and drink them.</p>
<p>Another reason why sachet drinks are a problem is that they are spirit-based beverages with <a href="https://punchng.com/sachet-alcohol-ban-nafdac-lists-health-risks-as-firms-fear-losses/">high potency</a>. They can contain between <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ahs/article/view/194922">40% and 60%</a> alcohol, which is potentially <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687637.2019.1615035">more harmful</a>. </p>
<p>There’s another reason too, related to another growing problem in Nigeria. Many youths now use different types of herbal sachet and plastic bottle alcoholic beverages as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-016-3163-1">aphrodisiacs</a> and <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ahs/article/view/194922">sex enhancers</a>. A <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ahs/article/view/194922">2020 study</a> found that 33.6% of adolescents used sachet alcohol before their last sexual intercourse. </p>
<h2>How effective are bans of liquor products?</h2>
<p>Well-coordinated enforcement of the ban can check the availability of sachet alcoholic beverages. This should reduce accessibility, consumption and related harms among young people. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.jsad.com/doi/abs/10.15288/jsad.2021.82.511">Uganda</a> has a ban, which has reduced the availability and consumption of sachet alcohol in that country. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00036840110102743?casa_token=HVq94RCTjUQAAAAA:ARU9QJAFeresjhcYe3pNfNixDCdRcGYRmMqLQeONqFVAQGwZTMs5uMennGxfeivRxElYLdCgj4mw">Research</a> in western countries has also shown that banning alcohol advertising reduces consumption. </p>
<p>For the ban to be effective, Nigeria should learn from <a href="https://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13011-020-00280-8">Malawi’s</a> experience. There, the ban on sachet alcohol failed to produce the desired results due to the lack of coordinated and effective enforcement.</p>
<h2>Do state institutions in Nigeria have capacity to enforce the ban?</h2>
<p>It requires coordinated effort. As a regulatory body, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control may not implement the ban without the support of federal law enforcement agencies like the police. </p>
<h2>What else can be done to deal with youth drinking?</h2>
<p>Dealing with the problem of alcohol consumption among youths goes beyond placing a ban on sachet alcoholic beverages. Many young people in western countries are shunning alcohol consumption due to the rising awareness of the problems associated with drinking and also because of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dar.13132">reduced peer pressure</a>. The decline in youth drinking in the west may also be due to effective policy implementation on alcohol marketing and the increased <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.2202/1935-1682.1637/html">minimum drinking age</a>, especially in countries such as the US.</p>
<p>Nigerian agencies should learn from the reasons why youths in the west are avoiding alcohol. This will help when designing and sharing information to educate Nigerian youths and the public on the dangers of using sachet alcoholic products. </p>
<p>The awareness campaign should highlight the short- and long-term positive effects of the ban. This is important so that alcohol producers and marketers will not form alliances that will frustrate the purpose.</p>
<p>To disseminate information widely, social media platforms where young people are increasingly active should be prioritised without neglecting the traditional media. Health NGOs and other charities should also help spread information on the ban’s benefits, including the idea that “health is wealth”. </p>
<p>Nigeria should increase the minimum purchasing age from 18 to 21 years and enforce such regulations to deter early alcohol initiation and consumption.</p>
<p>To prevent the failure of the sachet alcohol ban, the federal government should ensure it’s enforced without corruption.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223136/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emeka Dumbili receives funding from Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, Germany (2019-2022). </span></em></p>The sachet alcoholic drinks ban in Nigeria can curb youth alcohol consumption. But government must improve enforcement and awareness strategies for success.Emeka Dumbili, Assistant Professor and Ad Astra Fellow, University College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2215042024-02-20T14:27:38Z2024-02-20T14:27:38ZLagos: drugs, firearms and youth unemployment are creating a lethal cocktail in Nigeria’s commercial capital<p>Lagos is the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1218259/largest-cities-in-africa/#:%7E:text=Lagos%2C%20in%20Nigeria%2C%20ranked%20as,living%20in%20the%20city%20proper.">most populous</a> city in Africa and a regional economic giant, having west Africa’s busiest seaport. It is the centre of commercial and economic activities in Nigeria.</p>
<p>The city’s <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/april-2019-july-2019/africa%E2%80%99s-megacities-magnet-investors">population</a> is estimated to be 20 million people. The existence of informal settlements makes it difficult to come up with a more precise number.</p>
<p>Lagos has <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ACRC_Lagos_City-Scoping-Study.pdf">grown</a> rapidly since Nigerian independence in 1960, when its estimated population was 763,000 people. In the 1980s, its population reached 2.7 million. The government of Lagos state estimates that <a href="https://insidebusiness.ng/18245/rapid-urbanization-86-migrants-enter-lagos-every-hour-ambode/">86 young migrants</a> arrive every hour.</p>
<p>This rapid urbanisation has been poorly managed. The result is crumbling public infrastructure, poor sanitation, poverty, and shortages of employment opportunities, food, social services, housing and public transport. </p>
<p>These challenges combine to make the city susceptible to criminal activities. Organised crime and violent conflicts are a public safety and security challenge. </p>
<p>The issue of crime has been with Lagos for years. In 1993, the Nigerian government <a href="https://ludi.org.ng/2023/07/10/crime-prevention-through-public-space-design-a-lagos-story/#:%7E:text=The%20rapid%20population%20growth%20without,leading%20to%20high%20crime%20rates.">described</a> Lagos as the “crime capital of the country” with the emergence of the “<a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/nigeria/nigeria-area-boys-growing-menace-streets-lagos">Area Boys</a>”, a group of social miscreants. </p>
<p>The 2017 <a href="https://nigerianstat.gov.ng/elibrary/read/786">statistics</a> on reported crime incidences in Nigeria by the <a href="https://www.nigerianstat.gov.ng/">National Bureau of Statistics</a> shows that Lagos has remained in a class of its own. Lagos State had the highest percentage share of total cases reported with <a href="https://nigerianstat.gov.ng/elibrary/read/786#:%7E:text=Lagos%20State%20has%20the%20highest,205(0.2%25)%20cases%20recorded.">50,975</a> (37.9%) cases recorded. </p>
<p>I have been <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jDncA6MAAAAJ&hl=en">researching</a> various aspects of crime and insecurity in Nigeria, particularly in the country’s south-west. I currently lead the <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/">African Cities Research Consortium</a> safety and security domain research in Lagos.</p>
<p>I contributed to a recent <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ACRC_Working-Paper-7_February-2024.pdf#page=26">paper</a> about residents’ experiences and perceptions of safety in six African cities: Nairobi, Bukavu, Freetown, Mogadishu, Lagos and Maiduguri. </p>
<p>My research identified various drivers of insecurity in Lagos. They included youth migration and unemployment; inequality and poverty; the visible network of organised youth criminal groups; proliferation of small arms and drugs; inadequate preparedness of the city government; police corruption; the high rate of out-of-school children; and poor urban planning.</p>
<p>I argue that for residents to feel secure, the government needs to include these drivers in approaches to solving security challenges in Lagos. </p>
<h2>Unemployment, firearms and drugs</h2>
<p>In my African Cities Research Consortium safety and security domain research in Lagos, unemployment and the proliferation of small firearms and drugs stand out as trends. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://medium.com/@olaoyeleye09/navigating-unemployment-in-lagos-nigeria-1a55c2a5e0b5">survey</a> on Navigating Unemployment in Lagos, Nigeria revealed that 48.31% of the respondents were unemployed and the majority were between 25 and 34 years old.</p>
<p>In Lagos, youth of 18-40 years make up about half of the <a href="https://www.urbanet.info/youth-employment-in-lagos/#:%7E:text=In%20Lagos%2C%20youth%20are%20believed,equalling%20over%2010%20million%20people.">population</a>, equalling over ten million people facing high rates of unemployment. I do not have current unemployment data but in its fourth quarter 2020 nationwide survey, the National Bureau of Statistics <a href="https://mepb.lagosstate.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2022/02/MACRO-ECONS-FLYER-DECEMBER-2021-edition-1.pdf">estimated</a> a 37.14% unemployment rate in Lagos, and 4.52% underemployment rate.</p>
<p>According to my research participants, drug abuse and illicit arms have become serious issues. Some of the city precincts in communities such as Ikorodu, Somolu, Agege, Bariga, Ojo, Oshodi, Mushin and Badagry have become warehouses and destinations for firearms and drugs. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://enactafrica.org/research/ocwar-t/silencing-the-guns-in-cities-urbanisation-and-arms-trafficking-in-bamako-and-lagos">recent survey</a> published by <a href="https://enactafrica.org/research/organised-crime-index#:%7E:text=The%20ENACT%20Africa%20Organised%20Crime,organised%20crime%20across%20the%20continent.&text=The%20ENACT%20Index%20is%20a,organised%20crime%20on%20the%20continent.">ENACT Transnational</a> on organised crime in Africa has shown that between 2010 and 2017, the largest supply of live ammunition transported into Nigeria illegally was intercepted at Lagos. This was made up of 21,407,933 items of live ammunition and 1,100 pump action guns.</p>
<p>Most of the illegal weapons pass through ports in west Africa; some are imported over land borders. While the country’s <a href="https://omaplex.com.ng/an-overview-of-the-gun-regulations-in-nigeria-the-current-stance-and-the-way-forward/">law forbids</a> random possession of firearms, my research respondents say it is surprisingly common for young miscreants to carry firearms in Lagos.</p>
<p>The police have <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/ssouth-west/409520-blacksmith-two-others-arrested-for-illegal-firearms-fabrication.html">confirmed</a> that hooligans acquire illicit firearms from local blacksmiths who make them, and from corrupt security officers. </p>
<p>In 2022, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/09/23/the-lagos-drug-bust">discovered</a> a warehouse in a residential estate in Ikorodu with 1.8 tonnes of cocaine. This was the largest single cocaine seizure in the country’s history.</p>
<p>In November 2023, security agents <a href="https://leadership.ng/navy-intercepts-boats-with-n200m-illicit-drugs-in-lagos/">intercepted</a> cannabis in Ibeshe, Iworoshoki and Badagry, and in January 2024, the drug law enforcement agency <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/656790-nigerian-authorities-intercept-hard-drugs-from-us-arrest-suspect-official.html">intercepted</a> cannabis at Ikeja.</p>
<h2>Impacts of unemployment, small arms and drugs in Lagos</h2>
<p>Findings from <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ACRC_Working-Paper-7_February-2024.pdf#page=26">my research</a> in Lagos show respondents perceive high levels of violent crime in the city. Youth aged 13 to 40 are mostly the perpetrators.</p>
<p>While there are no accurate statistics of daily violent crime incidences, residents are <a href="https://punchng.com/daredevil-daylight-robbers-return-to-lagos-streets/">complaining</a>. </p>
<p>In 2022, the police <a href="https://securityandsafetymatters.wordpress.com/2022/11/24/lagos-police-says-over-three-hundred-people-brutally-murdered/">reported</a> that no fewer than 345 people were murdered in Lagos – the highest number in years. </p>
<p>Young people have formed themselves into street gangs. My research respondents spoke of violent encounters in which their assailants used firearms and were often under the influence of alcohol or drugs or both. This was the experience of 18 respondents, out of a sample of 50 randomly selected respondents.</p>
<p>Some respondents described street gangs in Lagos who are constantly high on drugs and have no regard for human life. Other respondents said drugs were accessible and affordable even for unemployed youth. Respondents believed that a combination of a large youth population, unemployment and easy access to drugs and illicit firearms was proving deadly.</p>
<h2>Preventing and treating the issues</h2>
<p>The crime triangle in Lagos – youth unemployment, drugs and illicit arms – requires urgent attention. </p>
<p>My study in Lagos shows that a widespread sense of economic hopelessness exacerbates the use of drug and firearms by young people in Lagos. Youth who embrace this culture of violence are those who feel that they have no stake in the city and no trust in the government to provide opportunities for them.</p>
<p>Thus, the state and communities must address the lack of opportunities and alternatives, reaching out to marginalised youth and providing them with an environment in which they can lead a fulfilling life. An effective strategy is one that provides legitimate activities and job opportunities for them. </p>
<p>Government action is required to ensure that opportunities exist for training in a trade or life skill. This would enable youth to make better choices and find productive employment. They could be socially responsible and play an active role in the city rather than becoming a threat in their communities.</p>
<p>Government has the authority to control the supply and use of firearms and drugs. </p>
<p>Special operations should be directed at drug addicts and unlicensed firearms carriers. The approach should be to disrupt the market for illicit arms and drugs. </p>
<p>Security agencies can work with communities to discover new dealing locations and make buyers feel vulnerable and uncomfortable through sting operations – pretending to be dealers or users. </p>
<p>Urban planning approaches could also be applied such as inclusive planning of informal settlements, installation of security cameras and street lighting, limiting access to problematic streets through road changes, removal of transport stops used by drug and firearms users and their dealers, and improved signage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adewumi I. Badiora does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Youth migration, unemployment, proliferation of small arms and drugs are some of the drivers of violent crimes in Lagos.Adewumi I. Badiora, Senior Lecturer, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Olabisi Onabanjo UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2205072024-02-08T14:09:18Z2024-02-08T14:09:18ZNigeria’s street food: tasty but toxic? Expert shares advice to make it safer<p>In the lively streets of Nigeria’s cities, where delicious street food is a daily delight, a wide variety of food can be bought and consumed instantly. From the sizzling suya snack in Abuja to the aromatic jollof rice in Lagos, street food has become an integral part of Nigerian life. </p>
<p>However, beneath these enticing flavours lies a critical question of public safety and health regulation. There is growing concern about the chemical and microbiological safety of these foods, as there seems not to be any oversight or control in their production and marketing.</p>
<p>Over 70% of urban dwellers in Africa <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/why-brutalizing-food-vendors-hits-africas-growing-cities-where-it-hurts#:%7E:text=Food%20markets%20in%20the%20informal,meat%2C%20fish%2C%20and%20milk.">rely on street vendors</a>. However, inadequate government regulation in developing nations, such as Nigeria, raises concerns about food safety and public health. Foodborne diseases have been <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311932.2023.2266194">linked</a> with contaminated street foods. Common pathogens include <em>E. coli</em> and <em>Salmonella</em>, which has potential to cause foodborne illnesses such as <a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/gastroenteritis-salmonellosis">gastroenteritis</a>, <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/e-coli">haemorrhagic colitis or bloody diarrhoea and life-threatening conditions such as haemolytic uraemic syndrome</a>. Heavy metal contamination is another risk. </p>
<p>This issue is not unique to Nigeria or Africa; it is a <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-2556-8_7">global challenge</a> in many developing countries where street food is a <a href="https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=104389">substantial</a> part of the economy.</p>
<p><a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82316865.pdf">Research</a> has explored the role of street-vended foods in meeting socio-economic challenges, particularly in developing nations. Other studies have focused on the microbiological safety of street foods (for example, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362028X22104229?via%3Dihub">soy wara</a>, a Nigerian curdled soy milk product), and <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82316865.pdf">the risk factors in street food practices</a>. </p>
<p>Our own <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311932.2023.2266194">study</a> analysed gaps in the safety and regulation of street foods in Nigeria. We highlighted gaps in infrastructure, training and vendor awareness, and made recommendations to solve the problems we identified. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311932.2023.2266194">found</a> a gap in food safety standards for street-vended foods in Nigeria. While street food vendors <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajfand/article/view/163672/153148">provide</a> affordable and accessible meals, the lack of regulation <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311932.2023.2266194">poses</a> significant health risks. </p>
<h2>Why street food can be unsafe</h2>
<p>The primary concern is hygiene and food handling practices. Inadequate <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.2991/efood.k.200619.001">access to clean water</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8279176/">inappropriate waste disposal</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0956713514004307">temperature abuse</a> and lack of food safety knowledge are common challenges seen among street food vendors. </p>
<p>These conditions can lead to food-borne illnesses, which can be prevented but continue to be a public health issue. The WHO <a href="https://www.who.int/activities/estimating-the-burden-of-foodborne-diseases#:%7E:text=Each%20year%20worldwide%2C%20unsafe%20food,number%20is%20likely%20an%20underestimation.">estimates</a> that each year, there are more than 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses, resulting in over 420,000 deaths, with the greatest burden of these (more than 30%) occuring in children less than 5 years of age. </p>
<p>In Nigeria, there have been pockets of foodborne disease outbreaks over the years which have claimed lives. The Consumer Advocacy for Food Safety and Nutrition Initiative <a href="https://www.gainhealth.org/sites/default/files/publications/documents/report-of-eatsafe-launch-in-nigeria-with-next-steps.pdf#page=3">estimates</a> that 173 million cases of foodborne illnesses occur in Nigeria, resulting in 33,000 deaths annually.</p>
<p>Generally, street food preparation in Nigeria mirrors traditional approaches to food preparation at home. However, <a href="https://jara.org.in/uploads/archivepdf/8025JARA_Vol_03_June_2021_01.pdf">a study in Asaba</a>, Delta State Nigeria highlights that because of the scale and quantity of foods prepared, more than 50% of food processors do not wash raw foods prior to preparation and another 40% of the food processors do not wash their hands. Neither do they practise personal hygiene during the handling of foods. Similarly, many street food vendors <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25258630/">operate in less than perfect environments for food processing</a>: many street food vendor stands have flies, rodents and open waste bins which are risk factors for the contamination of foods. </p>
<p>The lack of a clean and sanitary environment for food processing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8279176/">has been identified</a> as among the key factors that contribute to the contamination of street foods by microorganisms. </p>
<h2>Checking unsafe practices</h2>
<p>A multifaceted approach to these issues must be adopted. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Training: First, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311932.2023.2266194">basic food safety training for vendors</a> is crucial. This training should cover essential hygiene practices, safe food handling and storage procedures. It can be done through local health departments and community organisations. This recommendation draws on <a href="https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/food-hygiene-for-your-business">established principles</a> of hygiene and safe food handling. Continuous training on food safety has <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0287996">proved</a> effective in promoting food safety.</p></li>
<li><p>Enforcement: The government should <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311932.2023.2266194">develop and enforce</a> food safety regulations specific to street vendors. This requires a balance between ensuring public health and not stifling the livelihoods of the vendors. Subsidising the cost of necessary equipment like portable sinks or refrigeration units could be a part of this initiative. Supplying vendors with hygienic materials has <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0287996">proved</a> to be valuable for preserving and enhancing food safety in low- and middle-income nations.</p></li>
<li><p>Inspection: Regular inspections should be conducted to ensure compliance with these regulations. These should not be punitive but rather supportive, helping vendors to meet the required standards. A <a href="https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/Stage%202%20Process_evaluation%20final%20report.pdf">food hygiene rating scheme</a> should be put in place to identify vendors complying with food safety standards as this could motivate them to improve their sanitary conditions.</p></li>
<li><p>Awareness: Public awareness also plays a vital role. Consumers should be educated about the importance of food safety and how to identify vendors who adhere to hygiene standards. <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-7475-9">Consumer awareness</a> can create a demand for safer practices, encouraging vendors to comply with regulations.</p></li>
<li><p>Research and development: Finally, research and collaboration with food scientists and public health experts can lead to innovative solutions that are tailored to the Nigerian context. For instance, exploring low-cost preservation techniques or developing mobile apps for health inspection ratings could revolutionise the way street food is regulated.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Regulations will save lives and livelihoods</h2>
<p>Regulating street food in Nigeria is not just about preventing disease; it is about preserving a way of life in a safe and sustainable manner. At the heart of this issue are the vendors and consumers, whose lives and well-being are interconnected with the very essence of street food culture.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220507/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Onyeaka does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Street food is popular in Nigeria but safety is not regulated.Helen Onyeaka, Associate Professor, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217702024-01-30T13:19:19Z2024-01-30T13:19:19ZNigeria’s plastic ban: why it’s good and how it can work<p>Two weeks into January 2024, Nigerian authorities took steps to curb environmental degradation caused by plastic pollution in the country.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://von.gov.ng/environment-ministry-bans-single-use-plastics-at-headquarters-agencies/">Federal Ministry of Environment</a> and the Lagos State government both announced <a href="https://twitter.com/tokunbo_wahab/status/1749055962193744206">bans</a> on single-use plastics.</p>
<p>The Federal Ministry of Environment was the first to issue a directive. It banned single-use plastics in its own departments and agencies. The Lagos State government followed a few days later with a ban on styrofoam containers (popularly used for food packaging) and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPr_5fdI_BQ">gave</a> businesses three weeks to mop up styrofoam in circulation.</p>
<p>The Abia State government in the south-east followed with its own <a href="https://dailypost.ng/2024/01/28/abia-govt-bans-take-away-foils/">ban</a> on single-use plastics, announced on 27 January. </p>
<p>Nigeria generates excessive amounts of <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/672#B9-sustainability-16-00672">plastic waste</a>, nearly 90% of which is <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/672">mismanaged</a>. </p>
<p>As an environmental toxicologist, I argue that there is enough research evidence showing the adverse effects of plastic waste on the environment – as well as potential harm to people – to support the ban. As a member of the Metrics Task Force of the <a href="https://www.globalplasticaction.org/nigeria">Nigeria National Plastic Action Plan</a>, among others, I have been part of several stakeholder <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7066392385236123649/">engagements</a> since 2022 across the plastic waste value chain, contributing to the evidence on the severity of the plastic waste menace in Nigeria. </p>
<p>The challenge will be implementation. Nigeria has had a law in the pipeline banning single-use plastics <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/blogs/11156/34-plastic-bans-in-africa/">since 2013</a>. It has still not been <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/blogs/50697/the-negative-impact-of-plastic-in-nigeria-the-need-for-a-legal-framework/">promulgated</a> at the national level. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the recent bans are being announced with <a href="https://punchng.com/lasg-gives-styrofoam-makers-three-weeks-to-clear-stock/#:%7E:text=The%20Lagos%20State%20Government%2C%20on,before%20the%20commencement%20of%20enforcement.">pledges</a> of <a href="https://businesspost.ng/general/abia-prohibits-use-of-styrofoam-foils-after-lagos/#:%7E:text=A%20statement%20issued%20over%20the,but%20the%20implementation%20was%20relaxed.">stringent implementation</a>.</p>
<p>To make it work this time, Nigeria could learn from other countries like <a href="https://www.no-burn.org/rwanda-plastic-ban/#:%7E:text=Rwanda%20was%20the%20first%20country,the%20issue%20of%20plastic%20pollution.">Rwanda</a> that have issued similar bans. It is also important to consider affordable alternatives and the human and financial resources that are needed to enforce the ban.</p>
<h2>Why banning single-use plastics is necessary</h2>
<p>Nigeria has been rather slow to tackle plastic pollution. This is despite research documenting the extent of plastic waste in the environment, which has <a href="https://www.wacaprogram.org/sites/waca/files/knowdoc/Nigeria_plastics_PWC_final%20%281%29.pdf#page=4">caused</a> pollution of rivers and water bodies and reduced fish populations.</p>
<p>We conducted a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Temitope-Sogbanmu/publication/360677339_Plastic_Pollution_in_the_Environment_in_Nigeria_A_Rapid_Systematic_Review_of_the_Sources_Distribution_Research_Gaps_and_Policy_Needs/links/6291f3886886635d5caa425c/Plastic-Pollution-in-the-Environment-in-Nigeria-A-Rapid-Systematic-Review-of-the-Sources-Distribution-Research-Gaps-and-Policy-Needs.pdf">review</a> of about 40 studies, mostly in south-western Nigeria, that documented the sources and extensive distribution of plastic waste. </p>
<p>In more recent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277241662400010X?via%3Dihub">research we found</a> microplastics in Osun River, its sediments and fish. These tiny pieces of plastic are not degradable and can leach into living organisms when ingested, causing adverse effects.</p>
<p>A range of studies have documented various plastic waste types, forms, sizes and polymer compositions, especially highly hazardous ones. Hazardous plastic polymers have been found in potable water (<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03067319.2021.1982926">bottled water</a> and <a href="https://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir/article-1-483-en.html">sachet water</a>) and food such as (<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-023-26410-w">fish</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0075951119300970?via%20percent%203DDihub">snails</a>). They have also been found in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468227622001272">surface waters</a>, sediments and air. </p>
<p>There is also evidence of a large quantity of uncollected plastic litter across major metropolises like <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361548692_REVIEWING_THE_CONCEPT_WASTE_HIERARCHY_GUIDELINE_AND_THE_ENVIRONMENTAL_PROBLEM_OF_WASTE_MANAGEMANET_IN_LAGOS_STATE_NIGERIA">Lagos</a> and Abuja. </p>
<p>And there’s evidence that single-use plastics make up most of the plastic waste across the country. An example is water sachets – about <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780128178805000220?via%3Dihub">60 million</a> of these are used daily in Nigeria. </p>
<h2>Lessons from other countries</h2>
<p>Nigeria can learn from the mistakes and successes of other countries that have banned single-use plastics. </p>
<p>It is estimated that <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/04/05/really-encouraging-plastic-bag-bans-work-say-campaigners-where-is-europe-lagging-behind">over 100 countries globally</a> have partially or fully banned single-use plastics. African and Asian countries top the list. </p>
<p>About <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/73207/PB_2021_21_STG.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y#page=3">60%</a> of the countries in Africa have various bans on single-use plastics. Not all the countries have recorded <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/73207/PB_2021_21_STG.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">successes</a>. </p>
<p>Rwanda is one African country that has <a href="https://www.undp.org/blog/umuganda-rwandas-audacity-hope-end-plastic-pollution#:%7E:text=The%20cleanliness%20is%20anchored%20in,is%20not%20an%20isolated%20law">succeeded</a>. The government used a top-down approach involving enforcement with stringent penalties and a bottom-up approach involving advocacy campaigns at the grassroots. </p>
<p>There have also been failures. In <a href="https://www.efdinitiative.org/publications/case-banning-single-use-plastics-malawi">Malawi</a>, the ban failed thrice mainly due to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010021000081?via%3Dihub">lack of robust stakeholder</a> consultation and national advocacy. </p>
<p>In Nigeria, affordable alternatives to single-use plastics should be made available in critical sectors such as pharmaceuticals, fast moving consumer goods, food manufacturing and processing.</p>
<h2>Enforcement</h2>
<p>For sustainable enforcement in Nigeria, the ban should be done sequentially. Non-essential uses, such as fizzy drinks and beverages packaging, should be targeted first. </p>
<p>This should be done while providing affordable alternatives and encouraging the production and use of sustainable materials. For example, potable water needs to be provided by the government at accessible and affordable prices as an alternative to sachet and plastic bottled water. </p>
<p>Strategic stakeholder engagement for monitoring, advocacy and buy-in is also key. It is important to carry along the private and informal sectors which drive the single-use plastics value chain. </p>
<p>Incentives to promote the adherence to this ban are important. The Federal Ministry of Environment is already leading this by <a href="https://punchng.com/govt-plans-to-stop-single-use-plastics/#:%7E:text=Kindly%20share%20this%20story%3A,Ministry%20of%20Environment%20in%20Abuja.">enforcing</a> the ban across its departments and agencies first.</p>
<p>The use of mainstream and social media platforms is important. And the judiciary and legal institutions must be engaged to support the enforcement, as was done in <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/q-a-reflecting-on-kenyas-single-use-plastic-bag-ban-three-years-on/">Kenya</a>. </p>
<p>Funds must be invested in sustainable local alternatives to single-use plastics. The aim would be to provide livelihoods. </p>
<p>Universities, polytechnics, and government research institutions such as the <a href="https://www.scienceandtech.gov.ng/parastatals/">Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation parastatals</a> should be funded to research and pilot innovative and affordable alternatives to single-use plastics. </p>
<p>Monitoring must be harmonised across states and national institutions to track progress. Open access digital platforms such as the <a href="https://eepon.unilag.edu.ng/">Environmental Evidence Portal for Nigeria</a> can be partnered by the government to make available contextual “Nigerian” evidence in non-technical formats for education and advocacy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Temitope O. Sogbanmu receives funding from the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Canada, Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), among other. Her affiliations include the Nigeria National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP) as a member of the Metrics Task Force, One Health and Development Initiative (OHDI) and the the Nigerian Young Academy (NYA).</span></em></p>Banning single-use plastics in Nigeria is a step in the right direction. But its success will depend on provisions made for enforcement.Temitope O. Sogbanmu, Senior Lecturer, Ecotoxicology and Conservation Unit, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of LagosLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217892024-01-29T12:51:00Z2024-01-29T12:51:00ZOver half of charity campaigns for international causes focus on Africa – here’s why that’s harmful<p>The images used by charities and NGOs can become deeply ingrained in the memories of supporters, donors, development partners and the “beneficiaries” themselves. These stories colour what is generally known about global poverty and the developing world. </p>
<p>One of the most notorious examples was the media and charity coverage of the <a href="http://www.imaging-famine.org/papers/UK_Report_Section_1.pdf">Ethiopian famine</a> in the early 1980s. Powerful and disturbing images brought the reality of the famine into the lives of millions of British people and fast became the currency of the media and NGOs.</p>
<p>But there’s a problem with this. The use of such imagery seems to confirm rather than challenge traditional perceptions that Africa is underdeveloped and not capable of dealing with its own problems.</p>
<p>In 2021, I purchased 17 national newspapers in the UK every weekend over a period of six months. The aim was to explore whether charity adverts have changed in recent years and what kinds of characters are represented in fundraising campaigns. </p>
<p>After analysing a total of 541 fundraising images, one of the <a href="https://charity-advertising.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/charity-representations-of-distant-others-report-2024.pdf">major findings</a> was that Africa continues to be over-represented in charity adverts supporting international causes. Over half of the images (56%) focused on countries in Africa. And almost none of these images contain whole family units – rather they are set in rural areas and feature women and children.</p>
<p>But there is also evidence that charities are actively responding to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2018/jan/12/charities-stop-poverty-porn-fundraising-ed-sheeran-comic-relief">previous critiques</a> of using shock tactics, dehumanisation and employing images to evoke emotions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571441/original/file-20240125-21-l248se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A charity advert in a newspaper with a picture of women and children in rural Ethiopia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571441/original/file-20240125-21-l248se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571441/original/file-20240125-21-l248se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571441/original/file-20240125-21-l248se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571441/original/file-20240125-21-l248se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571441/original/file-20240125-21-l248se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571441/original/file-20240125-21-l248se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571441/original/file-20240125-21-l248se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Example of an advert by EthiopiAid in the Guardian using images of women and children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Girling</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why does it matter?</h2>
<p>By constantly focusing the spotlight on African countries, charities reinforce historical stereotypes of underdevelopment that equate Africa with poverty. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/67684/public-attitudes-april10.pdf">report</a> from 2010 that was commissioned by the Department for International Development, for instance, found that the UK public view “developing countries” as synonymous with “Africa”. They associate Africa with poverty and misery, reflecting some of the representations used in charitable appeals. </p>
<p>The consistent portrayal of these depictions in various campaigns has promoted the view among the British public that there has been little to no progress in economic and social development across Africa since the 1980s. This has contributed to the belief that Africa is a “<a href="https://academicjournals.org/article/article1379931879_Andrews.pdf">bottomless pit</a>” in terms of charitable efforts and the constant need for foreign aid.</p>
<p>But, in reality, this is not the case. Africa is developing fast. It has the world’s <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/reimagining-economic-growth-in-africa-turning-diversity-into-opportunity">youngest and fastest-growing population</a> which, by the middle of this century, is expected to hit 2.5 billion.</p>
<h2>Addressing stereotypes</h2>
<p>Nevertheless, my findings do suggest that the sector is making strides towards decolonising narratives and addressing its use of damaging stereotypes. In 2016, a study found that 34% of all <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jid.3235">British charity adverts</a> used “pitiful images” that explicitly emphasised human suffering. </p>
<p>However, by 2021, only two out of the 27 charities that placed adverts used pitiful images in their fundraising appeals. This amounted to 11% of all adverts as these charities repeatedly used such imagery over the six month study period, but it still represents a significant decline.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571442/original/file-20240125-15-h61b6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A fundraising appeal by Sightsavers depicting an African child suffering from trachoma." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571442/original/file-20240125-15-h61b6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571442/original/file-20240125-15-h61b6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571442/original/file-20240125-15-h61b6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571442/original/file-20240125-15-h61b6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571442/original/file-20240125-15-h61b6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571442/original/file-20240125-15-h61b6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571442/original/file-20240125-15-h61b6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Image from a Sightsavers fundraising leaflet which was used 20 times during the six month period.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Girling</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Women and children continued to be the most popular characters in newspaper adverts. But, compared to similar studies from <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/representations-of-global-poverty-9780857722492/">2013</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jid.3235">2016</a>, there was a significant reduction in the use of images of children. In 2021, 21% of charitable campaigns featured images of children, down from 42% in 2013.</p>
<p>By 2021, 20% of all the images used in charitable campaigns were also of people characterised as professionals or leaders from developing countries. These people included doctors, nurses and other development workers, offering a more realistic view of people from Africa.</p>
<p>Several factors have prompted charities into reconsidering the potential damage of the representation they use and the stories they tell in recent years. One of the main factors is the need to decolonise narratives by reducing the use of negative stereotypes.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Lives-Matter">Black Lives Matter</a> protests in 2020 were a significant catalyst in charities rapidly adopting or updating their ethical imagery policies. The protests alerted people and organisations to the injustices of colonial histories. </p>
<p>The COVID pandemic was also instrumental in charities being forced to employ local photographers and filmmakers in the countries where they deliver programmes. Travel restrictions that were imposed during the pandemic meant charities were unable to fly in their own staff.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>Images have the potential to inflict damage. So communications professionals in the charity sector must strive to diversify the characters they portray.</p>
<p>But the public has a level of responsibility too. We all need to be careful about making assumptions of other countries and cultures when viewing charity images in newspaper adverts. Photographs may not always provide a complete picture.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221789/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Girling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Charity advertising often reinforces historical stereotypes of underdevelopment that equate Africa with poverty.David Girling, Associate Professor and Director of Research Communication in the School of Global Development, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2123032023-09-27T13:55:54Z2023-09-27T13:55:54ZLagos building collapses: we used machine learning to show where and why they happen<p>Building collapses have become a major <a href="https://estateintel.com/lagos-state-has-seen-an-alarming-rate-of-1-building-collapse-every-two-months-in-the-last-6-months">menace</a> in Lagos, Nigeria. Lagos is the business hub of the country and has its largest seaport and airport. With an estimated population of <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1308467/population-of-lagos-nigeria/">15.4 million</a>, it is the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa and the second largest in Africa after Cairo.</p>
<p>The city has two distinct geographical areas: <a href="https://lagosstate.gov.ng/about-lagos/#:%7E:text=It%20consists%20of%20five%20Local,with%20the%20City%20of%20Lagos">Lagos Island</a> and Lagos Mainland, connected by <a href="https://www.ice.org.uk/what-is-civil-engineering/what-do-civil-engineers-do/third-mainland-bridge-lagos">three bridges</a>. Lagos Island is the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIcPNQydUG0">historical nucleus</a> of the city. This area is renowned for its eclectic mix of architectural styles, a blend of modern skyscrapers, remnants of colonial-era structures and bustling traditional markets. It serves as the <a href="https://lagosstate.gov.ng/about-lagos/#:%7E:text=It%20consists%20of%20five%20Local,with%20the%20City%20of%20Lagos">centre of the city’s financial, entertainment and corporate activities</a>. Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki are popularly regarded as an extension of Lagos Island.</p>
<p>Lagos Mainland has residential areas, markets and industrial zones. </p>
<p>There have been numerous <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-buildings-keep-collapsing-in-lagos-and-what-can-be-done-about-it-113928">building collapses</a> in both areas. </p>
<p>Using machine learning techniques, we built a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15623599.2023.2222966">model</a> that ranked the factors affecting building construction collapses in order of relevance. We also modelled the number of casualties by location. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/knowing-what-leads-to-building-collapses-can-help-make-african-cities-safer-118423">Knowing what leads to building collapses can help make African cities safer</a>
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<p>The study classified causes of building collapses into human factors, natural disasters and unspecified causes. Human factors included sub-standard material, structural defects, onsite changes of plan, bad supervision, demolition processes, non-adherence to building standards and regulations, lack of geotechnical information, poor maintenance, construction defects and overload. </p>
<p>Based on our results we made two findings.</p>
<p>First, location was the most relevant factor contributing to building collapses in Lagos. We found that more buildings collapsed on the island than on the mainland. </p>
<p>Second, building collapses on the mainland had a higher number of casualties than those on the island. </p>
<p>Based on our findings, we recommended proper onsite geotechnical inspection before the start of construction in both locations.</p>
<h2>Building the model</h2>
<p>Our study showcased the applicability of supervised machine learning models for a range of purposes. Supervised machine learning models are algorithms that learn from labelled data, where the input (features) and corresponding desired output (labels or targets) are provided. These models are trained to recognise patterns and relationships in the data, allowing them to make predictions or classifications on new, unseen data. </p>
<p>Our study provided a comprehensive analysis of building collapse statistics in Lagos from 2000 to 2021. The buildings ranged from bungalows to multi-storey buildings and skyscrapers.</p>
<p>On average, <a href="https://estateintel.com/lagos-state-has-seen-an-alarming-rate-of-1-building-collapse-every-two-months-in-the-last-6-months">four buildings collapse</a> each year, resulting in approximately 31 casualties annually. </p>
<p>The highest number of collapses occurred in 2011, with 10 buildings involved, followed by 2000 and 2006, with nine each. The peak casualty count, 140, occurred in 2014. It was concentrated in the Ikotun-Egbe area of the Lagos mainland.</p>
<h2>The differences</h2>
<p>Our model suggested that the higher number of collapses on the island was due to the soil there. The island soil’s geotechnical properties give it poorer capacity to bear building loads. </p>
<p>We identified three factors for the higher number of deaths from building collapses on the mainland:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Many landowners in the mainland area ignored soil tests because they assumed it was safe to build there, given the area’s reputation of having soil that could bear heavier building loads.</p></li>
<li><p>The height of the building. </p></li>
<li><p>The quality of materials used. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>To prevent future collapses and casualties</h2>
<p>Our study emphasised the importance of understanding the causes of building collapses in Lagos, and the potential of machine learning algorithms for prediction.</p>
<p>We made a number of recommendations.</p>
<p>First, that it is important to carry out basic soil investigation using the right professionals and building engineers to ascertain the geological properties or bearing capacity of the soil.</p>
<p>This information would clearly identify the type of building that the soil can support.</p>
<p>Second, assigning the right job to the right professional is paramount. For instance, the job of a civil engineer should not be assigned to an architect. </p>
<p>Third, eradication of substandard materials is key to a durable structure. </p>
<p>Fourth, many property owners add extra floors and extensions to maximise profit. Yet the higher the building, the deeper the foundation. Geotechnical properties of the soil will determine the choice and quality of the foundation. In addition, location should determine the choice of a building foundation.</p>
<p>Last, there should be policies in place to enhance proper onsite geotechnical inspection. </p>
<p>We also recommend the use of machine learning for predicting building collapses.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212303/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olushina Olawale Awe receives funding from FAPESP Brazil. He is affiliated with Statistics Learning Laboratory, UFBA as a research team leader. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emmanuel Oluwaseyi Atofarati does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An AI model shows that building collapses in Lagos are location specific, and soil testing can help to check them.Olushina Olawale Awe, Professor of Statistics, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA)Emmanuel Oluwaseyi Atofarati, PhD Candidate, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2080782023-07-30T11:09:36Z2023-07-30T11:09:36ZDisabled Nigerians battle when using minibus taxis – they share their experiences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539772/original/file-20230727-17-78ike.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">peeterv/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>People with disabilities often face difficulties when accessing transport services. Inadequate and unsuitable options <a href="https://disabilityunit.blog.gov.uk/2021/07/28/transport-national-disability-strategy-explained/">restrict</a> their mobility, independence and ability to navigate their communities. This limits their opportunities for employment, education, healthcare and social engagement. These individuals can also be very vocal about their experiences – sharing comments online that can shape the branding and marketing of a city. </p>
<p>As an academic <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emmanuel-mogaji-1217677">researcher</a> with a focus on transport, education and financial services, I teach the marketing and advertising of these services. To do so, one must first understand the state of a service like transport in a city. </p>
<p>I’ve <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920921002807">studied</a> the experiences of commuters with disabilities and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cb.2089">examined</a> their interactions with transport providers. My focus has been on developing countries, like Nigeria, where limited transport infrastructure poses unique challenges for disabled commuters. </p>
<p>In my <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JSM-04-2022-0145/full/html">latest research</a>, I explored interactions between commuters with disabilities and transport services providers in the densely populated Lagos state. </p>
<p>Commuters with disabilities express constant dissatisfaction with the poor service quality provided by <a href="https://culturecustodian.com/the-danfo-story-on-lagos-enduring-cultural-icon/">danfo</a> (minibus) operators in Lagos. And about the negative attitudes of other commuters, who often perceive them as burdens who slow down the journey.</p>
<p>It’s crucial to address these barriers by establishing inclusive and accessible transport systems that meet the diverse needs of individuals with disabilities. This will promote <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09504222221122958">equal opportunities and full participation</a> for all members of society. Apart from enhancing their wellbeing and quality of life, this could also improve the image of Lagos.</p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4450539">Danfos</a> – small yellow para-transit buses often derived from retrofitted Volkswagen vans – are the most popular form of public transport in Lagos. They accommodate 14 to 18 commuters and can be very uncomfortable when passengers are packed together. Danfos are unregulated, with no designated routes or route numbers. They’re operated by informal, self-employed owners or drivers. </p>
<hr>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/they-eat-our-sweat-new-book-exposes-daily-struggles-of-transport-workers-in-lagos-206027">They Eat Our Sweat - new book exposes daily struggles of transport workers in Lagos</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Qualitative data for my <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JSM-04-2022-0145/full/html#sec006">research</a> was collected over five weeks of ethnographic fieldwork in different locations in Lagos state. This included interviews with 23 individuals with various forms of disabilities and 81 transport service providers. </p>
<p>My analysis presents three key themes around the experiences of commuters with disabilities.</p>
<h2>Before riding</h2>
<p>Participants expressed concerns about the disorganised nature of transport services in Lagos. They felt anxious and uncertain because there were no fixed schedules and bus availability was unreliable. They requested a journey planner and mobile app.</p>
<p>But danfo drivers showed little interest. They didn’t believe they needed technology to aid their informal business because even without it, they were exceeding their targets.</p>
<p>One driver said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You are making everything these days about technology. I am not ready
for that, I just want to get on with my work. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Accessing buses was especially challenging for wheelchair users, who face uncooperative drivers. Drivers said that meeting targets and avoiding delays were obstacles to providing better service. </p>
<p>The fast-paced environment and inadequate infrastructure exacerbated difficulties for commuters with disabilities – drivers and conductors displayed a lack of understanding and patience. I found a general lack of awareness and empathy towards the needs of disabled commuters.</p>
<h2>While riding</h2>
<p>Participants shared experiences about bus conditions, safety and desired assistive technologies during their journeys. Service providers showed a resistance to change. </p>
<p>Space issues, especially for wheelchair users, were raised. Bus rapid transit services in Lagos were seen as more supportive, but participants mainly used unregulated private buses. Formal buses operate on a specific route, while danfos operate on their regular route. They end up heavily relying on them for their daily commute. </p>
<p>One participant with a hearing impairment told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The bus conductors and drivers can be very rude. They lack empathy and any human feeling. They can shout at you, pull you down if you are struggling to get down or they will treat you like you are nobody. This is because they know you don’t have a choice. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Participants called for training and compassion. Two wheelchair users said that drivers charged them more because they had a wheelchair. The drivers I interviewed denied the claims. </p>
<h2>Disembarking</h2>
<p>Commuters with disabilities expressed concerns about the lack of assistive technologies and the service providers’ limited awareness. Accessibility issues arose, like struggles to attract the attention of bus conductors and the rush to exit as conductors called in more passengers. </p>
<p>One visually impaired participant said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I now have to follow the bus to one of the bigger stops where I know they will stop to take some passengers. I do this because they don’t like stopping at my bus stop – always grumbling that I am making them lose customers. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many commuters shared stories of falling and injuring themselves, highlighting the safety hazards involved. Inadequate infrastructure, including poorly designed exits, steep ramps and inaccessible environments worsen these challenges. Regulated buses offered better support.</p>
<h2>What needs to be done about it</h2>
<p>The development of inclusive and accessible transport systems would enhance the mobility and quality of life for individuals with disabilities – and also the branding of the city.</p>
<p>One proposed solution is to launch a social campaign aimed at raising awareness about the challenges faced by commuters with disabilities. This would encourage operators to make small changes to enhance service quality. To reach operators, the campaign – which could be sponsored as a corporate social responsibility initiative – would involve visiting bus stops, engaging with drivers and sharing informative videos that promote empathy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-minibus-taxi-industry-has-been-marginalised-for-too-long-this-must-change-142060">South Africa's minibus taxi industry has been marginalised for too long. This must change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There’s also a clear need for a new mobility start-up that can disrupt the informal economy and provide a more inclusive service. This social enterprise could provide a service similar to London’s <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/dial-a-ride/">Dial-a-ride</a>, where commuters with disabilities can pre-book buses. It could incorporate assistive technologies, mobile apps and journey planners. </p>
<p>By meeting the growing demand from people with disabilities who want to participate in the marketplace, more socially conscious public transport can open new opportunities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emmanuel Mogaji does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Danfo drivers are often intolerant, bringing down the image of Lagos as a destination.Emmanuel Mogaji, Associate Professor in Marketing, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2073742023-07-27T14:46:33Z2023-07-27T14:46:33ZTraffic jams are overwhelming Africa’s biggest city – here’s what could help<p>Traffic in Lagos, Nigeria, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing cities, can be a nightmare. Citizens often spend <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/traffic-stress-lagos-nigeria/index.html">30 hours a week</a> in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tubosun-Fagbe/publication/341992986_Traffic_Congestion_and_Health_Information_on_Road_Users'_Safety_and_Wellbeing_in_Apapa-Badagry_Expressway_Lagos_Nigeria/links/5edd5278299bf1c67d505048/Traffic-Congestion-and-Health-Information-on-Road-Users-Safety-and-Wellbeing-in-Apapa-Badagry-Expressway-Lagos-Nigeria.pdf">traffic jams</a>.</p>
<p>In 2023, Lagos was ranked the fourth most <a href="https://nairametrics.com/2023/06/22/lagos-ranks-among-top-5-most-uncomfortable-cities-to-live-in-2023/">uncomfortable city to live in</a> in the world partly because of this. </p>
<p>Motorcycle taxis (also known as okadas), and tricycle taxis (keke Marwa) are popular ways to negotiate the traffic. These operate as a form of informal public <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel-Agbiboa/publication/341470638_How_Informal_Transport_Systems_Drive_African_Cities/links/5ec332c5a6fdcc90d6825df0/How-Informal-Transport-Systems-Drive-African-Cities.pdf">transport</a>. But okadas were banned from large parts of Lagos in 2022 by <a href="https://nairametrics.com/2022/08/18/lagos-extends-okada-ban-to-four-more-local-govts-from-september-1/">Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu</a>, who has just been re-elected.</p>
<p>Sanwo-Olu was sworn in at the <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/ssouth-west/601191-breaking-sanwo-olu-sworn-in-for-second-term.html">end of May</a>. Part of his agenda for his new term is focused on <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/601474-inauguration-sanwo-olu-sets-themes-plus-agenda-for-second-term.html">traffic</a> management. Recent evidence suggests that traffic jams are getting worse, <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/06/mother-of-all-traffic-motorists-spend-seven-hours-in-lagos-ibadan-expressway-gridlock">with or without okadas</a>.</p>
<p>A survey we conducted found that the ban was very unpopular. In an ongoing <a href="https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/projects/humanities-social-sciences-tackling-global-challenges-inclusive-poverty-reduction/">project</a> undertaken with our colleagues Basirat Oyalowo <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?pli=1&authuser=1&user=-GYUM9cAAAAJ">at the University of Lagos</a> and Eghosa Igudia of <a href="https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/academic-staff/business-and-law/eghosa-igudia/eghosa-igudia.aspx">De Montfort University</a> we surveyed over 1,700 people in Lagos in 2022. Around 72% disagreed or strongly disagreed that the ban was in the public interest. The authorities had announced they had <a href="https://punchng.com/okada-ban-begins-today-lagos-deploys-more-boats/">public support</a> from most Lagosians for the okada bans when they were first announced. </p>
<p>When we collected data in August 2022, after the first ban, people surveyed highlighted the lack of transport alternatives, notably for riders to earn money and for passengers to navigate the terrible traffic. Bans tend to be <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0308518X221083989">opposed or ignored</a> if they cause inconvenience and disruption, or worsen poverty and inequality.</p>
<p>We are now helping local people develop alternatives to outright bans so that there could be better transport options. We are presenting these ideas to policymakers. These suggestions include establishing a way to get the public more involved in decision making, including a permanent forum bringing together policymakers, security officers and people working in the informal economy, such as okada riders.</p>
<p>Respondents also told us they want the government to create alternative job opportunities for riders before they are affected by any bans or restrictions. </p>
<p>We propose providing adequate and affordable transport alternatives for those previously using okadas to get around; and that politicians regularly monitor the effects these measures <a href="https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/22991">are having</a> on citizens.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535052/original/file-20230630-23-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Drivers on their motorcycles in Lagos." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535052/original/file-20230630-23-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535052/original/file-20230630-23-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535052/original/file-20230630-23-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535052/original/file-20230630-23-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535052/original/file-20230630-23-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535052/original/file-20230630-23-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535052/original/file-20230630-23-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Motorcycle taxis are controversial in Lagos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/catalog/licenses?q=Lagos">ariyo olasunkanmi/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vanessa-Watson-2/publication/228890337_Conflicting_rationalities_Implications_for_planning_theory_and_ethics/links/5b1a729faca272021cf2d0da/Conflicting-rationalities-Implications-for-planning-theory-and-ethics.pdf">continued debate </a> over okadas has created <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0308518X221083989">a tension</a> between the everyday lives of citizens and the authorities’ vision for Lagos as a modern city.</p>
<h2>Alternatives cause problems</h2>
<p>Because of the ban, some former okada riders have turned to driving keke Marwa. These are also vulnerable to coming off badly in <a href="https://thenationonlineng.net/the-keke-marwa-menace-lagosians-lament-recklessness-of-three-wheeler-vehicles/">road traffic accidents</a>, and are not as able to cope with narrow streets as motorcycles. Road accidents remain high <a href="https://www.alimoshotoday.com/alimosho-news/tragic-lagos-records-78-cases-of-road-accidents-in-january-26-deaths-6522120">generally</a>, despite the okada ban. Meanwhile, the casualty statistics presented in support of the okada ban have been criticised by <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/features-and-interviews/376896-fact-check-are-okadas-responsible-for-over-10000-accidents-in-lagos.html?tztc=1">local journalists</a> for not being accurate.</p>
<p>Lagos <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10611-019-09878-x">state governor Babatunde Fashola</a> had wanted to completely ban okadas in 2010, but compromised on banning them from about 5% of Lagos’s roads. An outright ban was imposed on okadas from six of parts of Lagos <a href="https://leadership.ng/examining-lagos-state-5th-okada-ban/">in June 2022</a>, followed by bans in a further four areas <a href="https://www.nigeriainfo.fm/news/homepagelagos/lagos-extends-okada-ban-to-10-more-lgs-lcdas/">in September 2022</a>. Discussions with local colleagues suggest that some were areas with particularly bad traffic and dense populations. Others, however, were areas where middle-class voters appear to have lobbied for inclusion in the ban. One motivation for this probably was concern over noise rather than traffic jams or criminality.</p>
<p>To help replace okadas, in May 2021 Sanwo-Olu launched a fleet of 500 minibuses, billed as “<a href="https://nairametrics.com/2021/05/19/lagos-launches-500-first-and-last-mile-buses-as-alternative-to-okada/">first and last mile buses</a>”, with a plan to expand these to 5,000. Even if that figure is reached, these numbers cannot match the number of displaced okadas. And these minibuses don’t have the flexibility of the okadas they are intended to replace to nip in and out of Lagos’s narrow streets and past jams. On a visit to Lagos in April 2023, the UK researchers saw hardly any of these new buses, but the old danfo (private minibus) and keke Marwa were still there in great numbers.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-priorities-for-nigerias-newly-elected-national-assembly-208511">Four priorities for Nigeria’s newly elected national assembly</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Injuries and deaths</h2>
<p>Over the last decade in particular, okadas have been a source of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15389588.2019.1663346">injury and death</a> on the roads, with some riders also accused of exploiting the manoeuvrability of the motorcycles to <a href="https://www.tvcnews.tv/2022/05/majority-of-okada-riders-are-criminals-in-disguise-lagos-cp/">commit crimes</a>. But they have also <a href="https://www.fiafoundation.org/resources/the-wheels-of-change-safe-and-sustainable-motorcycles-in-sub-saharan-africa">provided an income</a> to hundreds of thousands of people and enabled millions of citizens to navigate the vast metropolis fairly swiftly. </p>
<p>The ban has hit the riders’ <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/oct/21/lagos-motorcycle-taxi-okada-ban-leaves-drivers-destitute">ability to earn money</a>, but also affected the millions who previously were using okadas to get around.</p>
<p>Another of the government’s arguments for banning okadas was their use by criminals. One of our interviewees reported that in an earlier court case, the judge said that the authorities should identify and apprehend criminals, rather than assuming that all riders were criminals or “<a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/public-culture/article/34/1%20(96)/123/296690">could-be criminals</a>”. </p>
<p>Criminals cannot simply be identified as those who ride a motorcycle, nor can the authorities ban every mode of transport that criminals exploit. Motorcycles are used widely in sub-Saharan Africa as an integral part of the transport system – the challenge is to maximise their benefits while managing and <a href="https://www.fiafoundation.org/resources/the-wheels-of-change-safe-and-sustainable-motorcycles-in-sub-saharan-africa">minimising their downsides</a>.</p>
<p>Our research confirms that okada riders and those who used okadas view such their use as a legitimate source of income, this is particularly relevant in a country with the <a href="https://worldpoverty.io/map">largest number</a> of people living in extreme poverty in the world (over 71 million). Meanwhile, as Nigeria’s <a href="https://lagossdgandinvestment.com/glancelagos">economic powerhouse</a>, Lagos continues to draw in people from across Nigeria and beyond, and informal economic activities such as okada riding have helped to absorb these individuals into the economy of Lagos.</p>
<p>There is little evidence of improvement in the general traffic situation in Lagos because of the ban. Poverty remains widespread, the motorcycle taxi ban has the potential to make that worse as people struggle to find affordable, accessible transport and others are denied the opportunity to provide that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research has been funded by an award from the British Academy, as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund. Award Reference TGC/200070.</span></em></p>A ban on Lagos’ motorcycle taxis is unpopular, and now the governor who introduced the ban is back to tackle transport problems.Robert Ackrill, Professor of European Economics and Policy, Nottingham Trent UniversityOlasunmbo Olusanya, Senior Lecturer, University of LagosLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060272023-07-17T15:06:18Z2023-07-17T15:06:18ZThey Eat Our Sweat - new book exposes daily struggles of transport workers in Lagos<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535262/original/file-20230703-266873-aa70gw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A minibus driver and an agbero exchange blows at Ojota, Lagos. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Daniel E. Agbiboa’s book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/they-eat-our-sweat-9780198861546?cc=us&lang=en&">They Eat Our Sweat: Transport Labor, Corruption, and Everyday Survival in Urban Nigeria</a> explores the world of drivers of minibuses (danfo) and motorcycles (okada) in Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria. <a href="https://wcfia.harvard.edu/people/daniel-e-agbiboa">Agbiboa</a> is assistant professor of African and African American studies at Harvard University. His research interests include the informal economy, urban change, mobility and youth politics. </p>
<p>The book describes the everyday interactions between the drivers, their conductors, union members regulating the garages through which they pass daily, and police officers. The drivers work 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, but go home without much revenue after paying daily “fees” or “dues” to bus owners, police officers and union members. </p>
<p>To gather materials for the book, Agbiboa worked as a conductor in a minibus for several months. He witnessed everyday forms of exploitation of these drivers by the police and touts. One driver summed it up: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I work tirelessly each day, while the ‘baboons’ (touts and police) stand in the roundabout and just chop (eat) my sweat.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Agbiboa reveals the micro dynamics of corruption and the drivers’ obligation to pay street-level bureaucrats from the National Union of Road Transport Workers and police. </p>
<p>His book is very welcome as he explores in detail the everyday survival of minibus and okada transport workers. Like many informal workers, transport operators have no fixed income, no days off and no social protection. And, as elsewhere on the continent, drivers have to speed to make ends meet. A central argument of the book is that corruption levels are high on the road.</p>
<p>My view, as a scholar of <a href="https://www.sciencespo.fr/histoire/en/researcher/Laurent%20Fourchard/76183.html">Nigerian history and political sociology</a>, is that the book’s solid empirical base makes it an important study of transport working conditions in the country. Agbiboa usefully questions the distinction – recently established by critical scholars – between “capitalist owners” (of minibuses) and “proletarian workers” (who have only their labour to sell) in Africa’s cities. In Lagos, he suggests, the workers have the potential to earn more money than the owners. </p>
<p>The author also places Lagos in a larger conversation about informal transport in Africa’s cities, moving beyond any exceptional character of Lagos. He rightly insists there is order beyond the apparent chaos in African cities.</p>
<p>The book also documents the efforts of some transport associations to challenge state laws which deprive workers of their revenues. In an attempt to promote Lagos as a “world class city”, the <a href="https://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/09/04/lagos-traffic-law-okada-riders-vow-resistance/">2012 Lagos State Law</a> banned motorbike riders from operating on the most important roads of the state and wealthy neighbourhoods. <a href="https://www.channelstv.com/2012/12/13/okada-riders-loss-battle-against-lagos-traffic-law/">Okada attempted to resist but eventually lost</a>. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-okada-motorcycles-have-a-bad-image-but-banning-them-solves-nothing-154765">saga</a> revealed the imbalance of power and the official narrative that associated motorbike drivers with crime, danger and disorder.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-okada-motorcycles-have-a-bad-image-but-banning-them-solves-nothing-154765">Nigeria's okada motorcycles have a bad image, but banning them solves nothing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>. </p>
<h2>Extortion and complicity</h2>
<p>Agbiboa suggests the daily encounters between <em>agbero</em> (the agents who collect fees from drivers for the transport union), drivers and police agents are marked by extortion and complicity. </p>
<p>The book asserts complicity between <em>agbero</em> and police agents and never between <em>agbero</em> and drivers. My own observations in several motor parks in Lagos suggest, however, that there isn’t always complicity between <em>agbero</em> and police, and that complicity between <em>agbero</em> and drivers is very common. Most <em>agbero</em> and drivers work together daily in the same garage for years, sometimes for decades. They know each other and develop various forms of sociability that could not be reduced to violent exploitation. </p>
<p>To a large extent, the book presents the drivers’ perspective, more than that of union members, whose voices are rarely heard. Most drivers are not members of the <a href="https://web.facebook.com/nurtwabuja/?_rdc=1&_rdr">National Union of Road Transport Workers</a>, but former drivers are often union members. </p>
<p>The union is powerful in regulating transport and plays a key role in electoral politics, two dimensions that remain to be explored in more detailed empirical works. </p>
<p>The book presents the union mainly as a criminal organisation. The author defends the hypothesis of a predatory union-state alliance that “eats the sweat” of drivers. This view has merit but it probably needs further explanation. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02255189.2022.2132924">My own research suggests</a> there are more ambivalent relationships between union members, state officials, police and military officers at the grassroots level. Union members are often in conflict with the police while negotiating with police officers for the release of their drivers from police stations or jails. None of them want the drivers working under their authority to be arrested, and many of them try to protect them against police extortion in order to keep business flowing.</p>
<p>Agbiboa makes a welcome distinction between <em>agbero</em> identified with a specific garage or motorpark and “area boys”, or “delinquents” associated with a particular neighbourhood. <em>Agbero</em> do not want to be associated with crime: they think of themselves as workers. Still, <em>agbero</em> are criminalised in the book. They are the easy target of public criticism. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537269/original/file-20230713-23-fn0yq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537269/original/file-20230713-23-fn0yq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537269/original/file-20230713-23-fn0yq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537269/original/file-20230713-23-fn0yq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537269/original/file-20230713-23-fn0yq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537269/original/file-20230713-23-fn0yq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537269/original/file-20230713-23-fn0yq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537269/original/file-20230713-23-fn0yq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The book.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/they-eat-our-sweat-9780198861546?cc=us&lang=en&">Oxford University Press</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><em>Agbero</em> seen as outlaws</h2>
<p>Drivers insist that <em>agbero</em> are making easy money from their work but, as my <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02255189.2022.2132924">research</a> has found, <em>agbero</em> are often in the same precarious conditions as transport workers themselves. Their leaders impose on them a daily revenue target to be taken from the drivers. Many of them hardly make a living from their work. </p>
<p>In my view, the <em>agbero</em> has become the new figure of a long history of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4100568">criminalisation of poor young urban men</a>. Transport in Nigeria could be better understood if <em>agbero</em> were analysed as the least powerful members of the union working for the benefit of more powerful and better connected members of society: union bureaucrats, government officials, politicians and law enforcement agents who have a common interest in keeping this revenue system intact. </p>
<p>These remarks aside, Agbiboa’s book is the most detailed and accurate account of Nigeria’s road transport system so far.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206027/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurent Fourchard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new book focuses on the politics of road transport, the everyday corruption and the hard-living world of transport workers in Lagos, Nigeria.Laurent Fourchard, Research Fellow, Sciences Po Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2073172023-06-22T08:45:54Z2023-06-22T08:45:54ZCities are central to our future – they have the power to make, or break, society’s advances<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530867/original/file-20230608-3016-2sh956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dharavi slum in India. Billions of people live in terrible conditions in the world's cities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Punit Paranje/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in tumultuous times. In the space of just a few years, we have witnessed a surge in <a href="https://ppr.lse.ac.uk/articles/10.31389/lseppr.4">populist politics across the world</a>, a <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019">global pandemic</a>, a spike in <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/weather-related-disasters-increase-over-past-50-years-causing-more-damage-fewer">environmental disasters</a> and a fraying of geopolitical relations demonstrated by the <a href="https://www.ft.com/war-in-ukraine">tragic war in Ukraine</a> and <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations-tension-us-policy-biden">escalating tensions over Taiwan</a>.</p>
<p>That has all occurred against a backdrop of dramatic technological changes that are fundamentally altering the way we work and relate to one another. </p>
<p>Our future is in the balance. Cities will be central to our fate, for two reasons. </p>
<p>First, they are now home to <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview#:%7E:text=Today%2C%20some%2056%25%20of%20the,billion%20inhabitants%20%E2%80%93%20live%20in%20cities">over half of the global population</a>, a share that will rise to <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html">two-thirds by 2050</a>. That is something never before seen in human history, and means that the forces shaping life in cities now also shape our world as a whole. </p>
<p>Second, cities throughout history have been the engines of human progress. Cities are where solutions are found – but also where perils are amplified when we fail to act.</p>
<p>This article draws on a book I co-authored with Tom Lee-Devlin, <a href="https://linktr.ee/ageofthecity">Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together</a>, which has just been published by Bloomsbury. As the book’s subtitle highlights, we need to ensure that we create more inclusive and sustainable cities if all our societies are to thrive. </p>
<h2>Cities as seats of populist revolt</h2>
<p>The great paradox of modern globalisation is that declining friction in the movement of people, goods and information has made where you live more important than ever. Appreciation of the complexity of globalisation has come a long way since the early 2000s, when American political commentator Thomas Friedman’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/World-Flat-History-Twenty-first-Century/dp/0374292884">The World is Flat </a> and British academic Frances Cairncross’s <a href="https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/the-death-of-distance-how-the-communications-revolution-is-changing-our-lives-distance-isn-t-what-it-used-to-be">The Death of Distance</a> captured the public’s imagination. </p>
<p>We now know that, far from making the world flat, globalisation has made it spiky. </p>
<p>The growing concentration of wealth and power in major urban metropolises is toxifying our politics. The wave of populist politics engulfing many countries is often built on anger against cosmopolitan urban elites. This has been given expression through <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887">Brexit in Britain</a>, and in support for anti-establishment politicians in the US, France, Italy, Sweden and other countries. </p>
<p>A common thread of all these populist movements is the notion that mainstream politicians, business leaders and media figures cocooned in big cities have let the rest of their countries down and lost interest in “left behind” places and people. </p>
<p>These populist revolts against dynamic cities are rooted in real grievances based on stagnating wages and soaring inequality. </p>
<p>A transformational effort to spread economic opportunity is long overdue. But undermining dynamic cities is not the way to do that. Cities like London, New York and Paris – and in the developing world Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Shanghai, Cairo, Johannesburg and Lagos – are engines of economic growth and job creation without which their respective national economies would be crippled.</p>
<p>What’s more, many of these cities continue to harbour profound inequalities of their own, driven by wildly unaffordable housing and broken education systems, among other things. They are also in a state of flux, thanks to the rise of remote working.</p>
<p>In places like San Francisco, offices and shops are suffering, municipal taxes are declining and businesses that depend on intense footfall – from barbers to buskers – are under threat. So too are public transport systems, many of which depend on mass commuting and are haemorrhaging cash.</p>
<p>All countries, therefore, are in dire need of a new urban agenda, grounded in an appreciation of the power of large cities – when designed properly – to not just drive economic activity and creativity, but also bring together people from many different walks of life, building social cohesion and combating loneliness. </p>
<p>But our focus must extend beyond the rich world. It is in developing countries where most of the growth in cities and the world’s population is taking place. Overcoming poverty, addressing the Sustainable Development Goals and addressing climate change, pandemics and other threats requires that we find solutions in cities around the world. </p>
<h2>Dangers posed for cities in the developing world</h2>
<p>Developing countries now account for most of the world’s city-dwellers, thanks to decades of dramatic urban growth.</p>
<p>In some cases, such as China, rapid urbanisation has been the result of a process of economic modernisation that has lifted large swathes of the population out of poverty. </p>
<p>In others, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, urbanisation and economic development have been disconnected, with rural deprivation and the flight from danger playing a greater role in the migration to cities than urban opportunity. </p>
<p>Either way, cities are now where the world’s poor are choosing to live. And many of their cities are giant and overcrowded, with residents too often living in appalling conditions. </p>
<p>Appreciating what is happening in the cities of the developing world is essential if poverty is to be overcome. It also is vital if we are to understand why contagious diseases are making a comeback. Modern pandemics, from HIV to COVID-19, have their origins in these cities. </p>
<p>Crowded conditions are coinciding with a number of other trends in poor countries, including rapid deforestation, intensive livestock farming and the consumption of bushmeat, to increase the risk of diseases transferring from animals to humans and gaining a foothold in the population. </p>
<p>From there, connectivity between the world’s cities, particularly via airports, makes them a catalyst for the global dissemination of deadly diseases. That means that dreadful living conditions in many developing world cities are not only a pressing humanitarian and development issue, but also a matter of global public health. </p>
<p>Tremendous progress has been made in the past two centuries in <a href="https://wellcome.org/news/reforming-infectious-disease-research-development-ecosystem">combating infectious diseases</a>, but the tide is turning against us. Cities will be the principal battleground for the fight ahead. </p>
<p>Cities are also where humanity’s battle against climate change will be won or lost. Ocean rise, depletion of vital water resources and urban heatwaves risk making many cities uninhabitable. Coastal cities, which account for nearly all global urban growth, are particularly vulnerable. </p>
<p>While rich cities such as Miami, Dubai and Amsterdam are threatened, developing world cities such as Mumbai, Jakarta and Lagos are even more vulnerable due to the cost of developing sea walls, drainage systems and other protective measures. </p>
<p>At the same time, cities, <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/cutting-global-carbon-emissions-where-do-cities-stand">which account for 70% of global emissions</a>, will be at the heart of efforts to mitigate climate change. From encouraging public transport use and the adoption of electric vehicles to developing better systems for heating and waste management, there is much they need to do.</p>
<p>In 1987, Margaret Thatcher is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-quotes">reported to have declared</a>: “There is no such thing as society”, only “individual men and women and families”. In fact, <em>Homo sapiens</em> is a social creature, and our collective prosperity depends on the strength of the bonds between us. If we are to survive the turmoil that lies ahead, we must rediscover our ability to act together. Since their emergence five millennia ago, cities have been central to that. We cannot afford to let them fail.</p>
<p><em>Ian Goldin and Tom Lee-Devlin, <a href="https://linktr.ee/ageofthecity">Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together, Bloomsbury, June 2023</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207317/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Goldin receives funding from Citibank, and the Allan and Gill Gray Foundation.
</span></em></p>Cities are where solutions are found – but also where perils are amplified when we fail to act.Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development; Director of the Oxford Martin Programmes on Technological and Economic Change, The Future of Work and the Future of Development, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1965842023-06-01T14:38:50Z2023-06-01T14:38:50ZCycling could be a boon for Lagos – but people fear for their safety on bikes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529420/original/file-20230531-29-8f7ght.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A cyclist participates in World Car Free Day in Lagos.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adekunle Ajayi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With an estimated <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/22007/lagos/population">16 million residents</a>, Lagos is the most densely populated state in Nigeria. It’s under <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920922000360">immense pressure</a> to transport its huge population. According to a global ranking of mobility in cities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/lagoss-chequered-history-how-it-came-to-be-the-megacity-it-is-today-124306">Lagos</a> was ranked <a href="https://www.oliverwymanforum.com/mobility/urban-mobility-readiness-index/ranking.html">worst</a> out of 60 cities across the world in 2022. Famous for its <a href="https://businessday.ng/the-bridge/article/businesses-commuters-suffer-as-lagos-traffic-worsens/#:%7E:text=Businesses%20and%20commuters%20in%20Lagos,by%20heavy%20rains%20and%20flooding.">traffic jams</a>, Lagos has <a href="https://www.internetgeography.net/topics/traffic-congestion-in-lagos/">40%</a> of all the cars registered in Nigeria.</p>
<p>Transport service quality is known to drive the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212571X20301633">public attitude to and image of a city</a>, which is important to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-a-failed-johannesburg-project-tells-us-about-mega-cities-in-africa-112420">marketing</a> of a city as a destination or place for <a href="https://theconversation.com/africas-free-trade-area-offers-promise-for-cities-but-only-if-theres-investment-187177">investment</a>. Cycling is one of the cheapest modes of transport. It can ease traffic gridlock and its associated pollution and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23800127.2020.1723385">environmental impacts</a>, making the city more attractive as a destination. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-challenges-of-governing-lagos-the-city-that-keeps-growing-175753">The challenges of governing Lagos, the city that keeps growing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Yet cycling continues to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-9941(2012)0000001010">marginalised</a> in developing countries. This has stimulated <a href="https://www.google.co.za/books/edition/The_Politics_of_Cycling_Infrastructure/iZ_LDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">academic research</a> to understand the adoption of cycling infrastructure. But how well can cycling work in a highly urbanised state like Lagos? </p>
<p>As an <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emmanuel-mogaji-1217677">academic researcher</a> with a focus on transport, education and financial services, I teach the marketing and advertising of these services. To market cycling as a sustainable mode of transport, I need to understand the challenges, opportunities and prospects facing consumers. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JSM-04-2022-0145/full/html">part</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.2089">my</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2022.103206">ongoing</a> <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1361920921002807">research</a>, I set about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2022.100608">studying</a> the attitudes of cyclists and non-cyclists in Lagos to understand why cycling is a challenging mode of transport despite its obvious benefits. </p>
<p>I found that numerous fears and social pressures are holding back the uptake of cycling – yet even so there are growing groups of Lagosians championing the bicycle.</p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2022.100608">research</a> involved ethnographic fieldwork, observations and interviews with cyclists and non-cyclists in Lagos. </p>
<p>I interviewed 28 members of cycling clubs and 67 non-cycling participants. The research also collected photographic evidence of transport infrastructure, various activities organised to encourage cycling, and the business operations of cycling clubs and start-ups. </p>
<p>Thematic analysis of the data revealed three key challenges for establishing a culture of cycling in Lagos.</p>
<h2>Three key findings</h2>
<p><strong>Personal fears:</strong> This is about the ability and willingness to cycle. I found that many adults don’t know how to ride a bike and can’t imagine themselves cycling in Lagos. Some were very reluctant to learn and many felt it was unsafe and wouldn’t even encourage their children to cycle. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2022.103506">Gender discrimination</a> was a significant concern – women are often harassed and unfairly treated on the road. Road users in Lagos can be very impatient, putting cyclists at risk.</p>
<p><strong>Social issues:</strong> These are broader challenges that hinder the adoption of cycling. A lack of awareness of the benefits of cycling is compounded by societal marginalisation – many people still feel rich people drive and poor people cycle. Cyclists may have no place to shower or to safely store their bicycles. However, it’s important to recognise the growing numbers of cycling clubs in Lagos that provide a safe cycling environment and network and schedule group rides for budding cyclists. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CityCyclersNG/">City Cyclers</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGsSoaZpcpE">Bikaholics</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/people/Green-House-Bikers-Club/100083076435187/?paipv=0&eav=AfYFVJ8MypRavdI3jspDkI8h0ibJfnp-EmG1u2nEs3MiTVDVdCgWQLV5eeRAHFNCE30&_rdr">Greenhouse Bikers</a>, <a href="https://www.cycology.com.ng/">Cycology</a> and <a href="https://cyclotron.com.ng/">Cyclotron</a> are some of the bigger cycling clubs in the state. There are also charities, foundations and initiatives – like <a href="https://ludi.org.ng/girl-bike-club-lagos-island/">Girls Bike Club</a> – supporting the growth of cycling.</p>
<p><strong>Structural limitations:</strong> These challenges most often place responsibilities on government to support cycling infrastructure. The security of cyclists in Lagos is put at risk because of a lack of cycle lanes, parking and routes.</p>
<h2>Why cycling matters</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2011.01299.x">health benefits</a> of cycling have been well recognised. Lagos needs to promote cycling as a contributor for better population health. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529515/original/file-20230601-23207-w5p0c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people chat, on or next to their bicycles, wearing cycling gear and helmets." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529515/original/file-20230601-23207-w5p0c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529515/original/file-20230601-23207-w5p0c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529515/original/file-20230601-23207-w5p0c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529515/original/file-20230601-23207-w5p0c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529515/original/file-20230601-23207-w5p0c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529515/original/file-20230601-23207-w5p0c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529515/original/file-20230601-23207-w5p0c2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bicycle riders gather during World Car Free Day in Lagos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adekunle Ajayi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then there are the economic benefits of cycling in a congested state like Lagos. According to the former permanent secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Transport, Lagos is set to <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/ssouth-west/549418-traffic-congestion-lagos-to-lose-21-billion-monthly-by-2030-expert.html?tztc=1">lose US$21 billion monthly by 2030</a> due to time spent stuck in traffic. Fewer cars on the roads would allow people to be more productive. </p>
<p>Finally, cycling benefits the environment. Road transport in Lagos – with the abundance of old vehicles and high sulphur content in imported fuels – is a significant contributor to air pollution. The World Bank <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2022/06/03/afw-making-lagos-a-pollution-free-city-solving-the-threat-one-solution-at-a-time#:%7E:text=It%20is%20estimated%20that%20at%20least%2030%2C000%20people,die%20every%20year%20in%20Lagos%20due%20to%20pollution.">estimates</a> that at least 30,000 people die every year in Lagos due to pollution – <a href="https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/980031575616020127/the-cost-of-air-pollution-in-lagos">11,200</a> of them premature deaths.</p>
<p>People are increasingly conscious of how their environment affects their wellbeing. With Lagos excluded from the comprehensive <a href="https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/">world ranking</a> of bike-friendly cities, it needs to improve its brand positioning. The mega city could help change its image as a place where people struggle to move around by investing in sustainable modes of transportation. </p>
<h2>What should be done</h2>
<p>Awareness of cycling should be promoted, alongside increased availability of bicycles for people to use. With rental services like <a href="https://awabike.com">Awa Bike</a> providing bike sharing across educational campuses and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/p/ThinkBikes-Limited-100086658639617/">Thinkbikes</a> offering electric bicycles, there are business opportunities for increasing the number of bicycles in Lagos. State government can also consider financial support for those who may want to buy their own bicycles, like the <a href="https://www.bike2workscheme.co.uk/">Bike2Work Scheme</a> in the UK.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/johannesburgs-bike-lanes-are-not-well-used-heres-why-75068">Johannesburg's bike lanes are not well used. Here's why</a>
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<p>Road users should be made aware of the rights of cyclists on the roads. Ensuring that streets have safe, continuous space for pedestrian movement and dedicated cycle tracks is an essential component of a complete cycle network.</p>
<p>By increasing cycling uptake and reducing the use of motorised vehicles, the Lagos brand could help attract more visitors who are keen to explore the state.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196584/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emmanuel Mogaji is affiliated with Centre for Multidisciplinary Research and Innovation (CEMRI), Abuja, Nigeria. This is a non-government organisation in Nigeria. <a href="http://www.cemri.org">www.cemri.org</a></span></em></p>Lagos is famous for its congested traffic. Cycling could help change this image.Emmanuel Mogaji, Associate Professor in Marketing, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1961482023-01-30T14:28:04Z2023-01-30T14:28:04ZThe Badoo ritual gang created fear in Lagos: here’s what made victims vulnerable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504020/original/file-20230111-16-rmyhvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Head of a Celestial Church of Christ parish stands in front of the church where worshippers were killed and valuables stolen by the Badoo gang in 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Violent cult gangs are well known in Nigeria. Though there are no statistics on their numbers and impact, Lagos State in southwest Nigeria <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/01/shocking-tales-of-cult-gangs-that-terrorise-lagos/">has more than 10 of these groups</a> controlling different areas. They operate in neighbourhoods and their memberships cut across age groups. They control certain territories as their own, extorting money from businesses and residents.</p>
<p>But the Badoo cult gang that operated in Ikorodu area of the state between 2016 and 2018 was different. It was a violent ritual gang. The <a href="https://www.channelstv.com/2018/01/02/police-arrest-suspected-badoo-cult-leader-chief-herbalist/">capture</a> of its leader and herbalist ended its operations. The Badoo cult <a href="https://www.pulse.ng/gist/badoo-ikorodu-resident-narrates-how-the-deadly-cult-gang-started/d99wpd7">was known</a> for killing its victims in mysterious circumstances for ritual purposes.</p>
<p>Through mastery of the environment and target selection, the Badoo cult gang was able to impose fear in the minds of residents. Unlike other known violent cult gangs, like the <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/5843fa644.html">Eiye</a> and <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/50ebf7a82.html">Black Axe</a> cults, the Badoo cult gang did not use guns in its operation; its weapons were the pestle, mortar, grinding stone and white handkerchief. The pestle was used to hit victims on the head and the handkerchief to clean their blood – indicating the motive as ritual.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/25166069221127375">Our study</a> explored how the ritual gang selected its victims and how it operated. This was with a view to understanding how environment predisposes people to become victims of crime.</p>
<p>Our findings could stimulate policy actions towards improving environmental design and crime prevention. </p>
<p>The study was carried out in Ikorodu, Lagos state, where more than 20 attacks took place. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with three traditional rulers, three religious leaders (one Muslim and two Christians), the leader of the vigilante group in Ikorodu who was involved in arresting some Badoo suspects and 13 other participants who lived near houses that were attacked by members of the gang.</p>
<h2>Selecting targets</h2>
<p>Each gang member was assigned responsibilities. A key gang member, usually a community insider, would provide information on households that looked like easy targets. We found that women spies were sent to the potential area of attack, because they would be less likely than men to raise any community suspicions. This way, the gang would gain advance knowledge of the targets and how to get into their houses. An informant said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They might be going round to know that a particular house has no burglar proofs. The women give them information on where they would strike. </p>
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<p>Most of the targets could be characterised as soft targets in isolated spaces in the community. The targets were also relatively poor people. They lived in partially completed structures, usually single room apartments and sometimes without burglar proofing. Some stayed in stand-alone house quarters detached from main buildings. One participant said:</p>
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<p>The people they attacked were not rich. The husband was a motorcyclist while the wife roasts corn by the side of the road. Their house has no burglar proof and the door is made of plywood. </p>
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<h2>Operation patterns</h2>
<p>Our participants and reports indicated that the gang operated in the early hours of the day, usually between 1am and 3am.</p>
<p>While parading arrested gang members, the then Commissioner of Police of Lagos State, Edgar Imhohimi, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmKzVeYk_vc">described</a> what they had done:</p>
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<p>The gang of three murderers and ritualists usually spray a powdery substance into the victims’ dwelling place that will make their targets fall into deep sleep before the group ends their lives by smashing their skulls with grinding stone. </p>
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<p>Another participant in our study, a victim of Badoo attacks, said:</p>
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<p>They hit my husband on the head with a stone, something like the stone they use to grind pepper, that native grinding stone. </p>
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<p>Our informants’ responses suggest that buildings under construction or unoccupied are a threat to security, and overgrown vegetation obstructs visibility. Isolated houses may compromise the security of neighbourhoods and make inhabitants of those structures easy targets. </p>
<h2>Combating crime</h2>
<p>The reign of terror of the Badoo cult gang in Ikorodu eventually ended when the formal and informal agencies of social control collaborated. That is, the police enlisted the support of local vigilance groups. This shows that cooperation between the police and local security operatives could work well in combating crime. Local people use traditional methods of vigilance similar to those that the Badoo gang used. And they know their community.</p>
<p>Security could also be improved by clearing overgrown vegetation and paying attention to empty or isolated buildings.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196148/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oludayo Tade does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Through their mastery of the environment and target selection, the Badoo cult gang was able to unleash terror among residents.Oludayo Tade, Sociologist/Criminologist/Victimologist and Media Communication Expert, University of IbadanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1974262023-01-19T14:10:26Z2023-01-19T14:10:26ZNigeria’s new Lekki port has doubled cargo capacity, but must not repeat previous failures<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504856/original/file-20230117-16-5p0ve1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photo-taken-on-oct-31-2022-shows-a-view-of-the-lekki-news-photo/1244415452?phrase=lekki%20deep%20sea%20port&adppopup=true">Guo Jun/Xinhua via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Three-quarters of the world <a href="https://nwa.mah.nic.in/sdmc/availability/where.htm">is covered by water</a> and <a href="https://www.ics-shipping.org/shipping-fact/shipping-and-world-trade-world-seaborne-trade/">up to 90% of world trade is seaborne</a>. Seaports and shipping are critical to the conduct of global trade. </p>
<p>Africa has <a href="https://web.ccsu.edu/faculty/kyem/GEOG466_Africa/Geogogy_Climate_Vegetation_2.htm">relatively few natural harbours</a> that offer shelter and are deep enough to take big vessels. Along the Atlantic coastline of West Africa, for instance, natural harbours exist only at Freetown and Lagos. Consequently, artificial ports have been carved out of lagoon and river ports, which dot the coastline from Morocco to South Africa. Considerable capital and engineering know-how <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-41399-6">have been applied</a> since the late nineteenth century to make African ports accessible to ocean shipping. </p>
<p>Since the 1990s, African countries <a href="https://theconversation.com/africas-ports-race-is-hyped-as-development-but-also-creates-pathways-for-plunder-195731">have engaged</a> in a “ports race” to emerge as the shipping hub for their region. </p>
<p>In this context, the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/17/africa/lekki-deep-sea-port-construction-completion-spc-intl/index.html">recent completion of the US$1.5 billion Lekki Deep Sea Port</a> in Lagos, Nigeria, is significant. </p>
<p>Lekki is one of <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/6-of-africas-largest-ports/304zly9">Africa’s top six ports</a>. It is Nigeria’s first fully automated port, and its largest. It has more than doubled the capacity of Lagos’ ports, which had remained the same for 25 years. It will accommodate the world’s largest <a href="https://www.myseatime.com/discussion/what-is-panamax-vessel">cargo ships</a> and is expected to reduce cargo wait times <a href="https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/nigeria-vessels-waiting-time-at-lagos-ports-now-hits-50-days/">from over 50 days</a> to two days. </p>
<p>Its modernity and efficiency are projected to make Nigeria a regional hub and boost the country’s GDP. It is envisaged to <a href="https://www.blueprint.ng/lekki-deep-seaport-changing-the-tide-for-nigerias-maritime-industry/">generate 170,000</a> direct and indirect jobs, billions of dollars in tax revenues for Lagos State and the host community, and a turnover of US$361 billion over the next 45 years. </p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0843871419886806">My work on the economic history of African seaports</a> supports the view that the Lekki Deep Sea Port could serve as a pivot of local and regional development. The project should have multiplier effects on commerce, industry, agriculture and small-scale enterprises connected to it by various modes of transport. </p>
<p>A combination of factors will determine its success. These include its capacity to meet the demands of shipping; its efficiency and competitiveness in the national and international contexts; the coordination of policies; the way transport modes work together; the state of the inland economies; and the application of technology.</p>
<h2>Nigeria’s port history</h2>
<p>In colonial Nigeria, significant port development <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-15362-6_10">took place between 1850 and 1950</a> for the economic benefit of Britain. Shipping was concentrated at a few ports during the world wars and the Great Depression (1929-33). But increasing imports and exports in prosperous times required more functioning ports to cope with the greater volume of trade. </p>
<p>Lagos and Port Harcourt gained prominence because they had railway links to the hinterland. Port Harcourt <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/084387149600800108">was created</a> as an outlet for the coal exports from Udi, near Enugu in eastern Nigeria, and the tin exports of the Jos Plateau. Lagos had become the leading port in West Africa following extensive harbour works between 1892 and 1914 when <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002252669201300105">it welcomed its first ocean liner</a>. It handled the bulk of Nigeria’s foreign trade right into the independence period. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nigerian-civil-war">The civil war of 1967-70</a> compelled the adoption of a policy of port concentration at Lagos. Port congestion at Lagos was aggravated by the demands of post-war reconstruction. <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/198091468775789095/pdf/multi-page.pdf">Massive oil revenues</a>, following the 1973 Arab-Israeli conflict, funded massive imports. </p>
<p>Poor planning saddled Nigerian ports with <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/bushst/v62y2020i4p566-587.html#:%7E:text=The%20'Cement%20Armada'%20was%20a,of%20the%201970s%20oil%20boom.">an armada of cement-laden ships</a> in the late 1970s. The congestion imposed huge demurrage costs on the country. And containerisation, which existing seaports were unsuited to handle, made it necessary to expand Apapa Port and create <a href="https://nigerianports.gov.ng/tincan/">the Tin Can port in Lagos in 1977</a>.</p>
<p>During the 1980s and 1990s, the growth of the national economy <a href="https://punchng.com/nigerias-seaports-operating-far-above-installed-capacity-npa-md/">outstripped</a> the installed capacity of Nigerian ports. At the same time, Nigerian ports <a href="https://shipsandports.com.ng/counting-the-gains-of-port-concession/">attained</a> increasing notoriety for inefficiency, decaying infrastructure, uncompetitive tariffs and systemic corruption. Other West African ports offered better services – so traffic went there instead.</p>
<p>The Nigerian government eventually in 2005 adopted the landlord model of port administration: state control was replaced by a system of concessions. This improved port services, but did not bridge the gap between capacity and volume of container traffic. Thus the idea of the Lekki Deep Sea Port was conceived. </p>
<h2>Lekki port’s potential</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.blueprint.ng/lekki-deep-seaport-changing-the-tide-for-nigerias-maritime-industry/">Lekki is expected</a> to generate direct and induced business revenue estimated at US$158 billion, a qualitative impact on the manufacturing, commercial and services sectors, and a multiplier effect over 230 times the cost of construction. It will attract a massive influx of people, businesses and investment.</p>
<p>The new facility will support the industrial and petrochemical complex, including the Dangote Refinery, the largest in the world, situated in the Lekki Free Trade Zone. It is poised to <a href="https://www.danbelinvestmentltd.com/the-impact-of-the-lekki-deep-sea-port-on-nigerias-economy/">attract investment</a> in the range of US$20 billion in the first few years. With an airport in the vicinity, the port will be a component of a Harbour City equipped with logistics infrastructure of various kinds. </p>
<p>Lekki port should reduce congestion at the older ports in Lagos and help recover the lost traffic of landlocked Chad and Niger, which had been diverted to more efficient ports in the sub-region.</p>
<p>The port also positions Nigeria to optimise the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.</p>
<h2>Weak points</h2>
<p>However, it appears that the project suffered from some lapses in planning. Provision for cargo evacuation by rail is non-existent, and the road infrastructure is <a href="https://guardian.ng/business-services/why-lekki-deep-seaport-should-avoid-pitfalls-of-lagos-ports-by-stakeholders/">inadequate</a> for the anticipated volume of traffic.</p>
<p>The other challenge is the encroachment on land around the Lekki port and the future problem of congestion. Unless the state government takes drastic action under the <a href="https://archive.gazettes.africa/archive/ng/1978/ng-government-gazette-supplement-dated-1978-03-29-no-14-part-a.pdf">Land Use Act</a> to acquire land in the public interest for the future expansion of the port, it will be a repeat of the problems of older ports hemmed in by unplanned industrial, urban and commercial land use. </p>
<p>The project indicates that public-private sector partnership is the best way to plan and deliver landmark infrastructure projects. <a href="https://lekkiport.com/about-lekki-port-lftz-enterprise/">Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Ltd</a> was created for the purpose, with investment by China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd, Singapore’s Tolaram Group and the Nigerian government. </p>
<p>But it has the potential drawback of idle capacity if the economic prospects that motivated it fail to materialise. Then the huge investment in the deep sea port project would become a huge burden of unpaid debts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197426/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ayodeji Olukoju received funding for his research on African and Japanese ports from The Japan Foundation, Institute of Developing Economies, Tokyo, CODESRIA and the British Academy.</span></em></p>Nigeria’s Lekki Deep Sea Port is also its largest, and will boost the country’s ability to process imports and exports.Ayodeji Olukoju, Distinguished Professor of History and Strategic Studies, University of LagosLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1943612022-11-16T13:10:05Z2022-11-16T13:10:05ZAsake, the breakout pop star from Nigeria who owned 2022<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495118/original/file-20221114-17-tmcwac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Asake live in Atlanta in the US in 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paras Griffin/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.musicinafrica.net/directory/asake">Asake’s</a> first commercial releases, beginning with the song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B07v379B8a0">Lady</a> in 2020, didn’t really portend a seismic shift in Nigeria’s teeming <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-nigeria-to-the-world-afrobeats-is-having-a-global-moment-179910">Afrobeats scene</a>. The 27-year-old genre-blending Nigerian singer and rapper has a tongue-in-cheek delivery and jocular persona. He writes nonsensical, self-deprecating rhymes with hip-hop influenced consumerist themes and could easily be mistaken for a less threatening <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nairamarley/">Naira Marley</a> – a street savvy Afrobeats mainstay-wannabe.</p>
<p>And then, in September 2022, came his scorching 30-minute long album, <a href="https://www.complex.com/music/asake-mr-money-with-the-vibe-album-stream">Mr. Money With The Vibe</a>. It’s an engrossing potpourri of music styles, voices and attitudes that reveal a breadth of ambition that music lovers have not seen in a long time. His rise to global reckoning was sealed by sold out shows in Atlanta and London and a collaboration with Nigerian singer <a href="https://www.musicinafrica.net/node/10353">Tiwa Savage</a> on the hit <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgeTnpTkzI0">Loaded</a>.</p>
<p>Currently signed to Afrobeats linchpin <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/21/africa/olamide-nigeria-music-label-spc-intl/index.html">Olamide’s</a> Empire-distributed <a href="https://www.musicinafrica.net/directory/ybnl-records">YBNL label</a>, which is also home to the equally talented <a href="https://www.musicinafrica.net/magazine/interview-afrobeats-star-fireboy-dml">Fireboy DML</a>, Asake finds himself in quite impressive company. Olamide himself is pretty adept in blending the sonic elements that form the basis of Asake’s own creative template.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-dance-music-craze-amapiano-could-conquer-the-world-if-its-stars-step-up-192417">South Africa's dance music craze, amapiano, could conquer the world – if its stars step up</a>
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<p>It seems Asake, a Lagosian, is also embracing <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-house-of-amapiano/">amapiano</a>, the South African house music subgenre taking the world <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-dance-music-craze-amapiano-could-conquer-the-world-if-its-stars-step-up-192417">by storm</a>. Characterised by jazzy, sometimes bluesy, house grooves punctuated by frequent log drum infusions, amapiano has spread across the continent and is redefining and re-energising popular dance music. Asake is adding his own distinctive chameleonic qualities to it. </p>
<p>His sweeping take on Afrobeats, <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/africa/nigeria/articles/the-music-lovers-guide-to-fuji-music/">fuji</a>, amapiano, Lagosian street slang and the urban sounds of black America has an immediate impact as an astonishing blast of creativity.</p>
<h2>Who is Asake?</h2>
<p>Born Ahmed Ololade, Asake is a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University drama department who burst into the music scene without apparent warning. Asake is actually his mother’s name. He is also a highly inventive student of Nigeria’s Yoruba language, his main medium of expression. </p>
<p>He uses slang fresh from the streets coupled with expressions popularised by fuji (an Islam-inflected south-west Nigeria form of popular music) and the entire Isale Eko (downtown Lagos) army of street-dwelling miscreants. Asake brazenly embraces urban “hood” culture and its seductive promise of social rebellion. Yet at the same time, he is not the kind of guy moms loathe because he’s also endowed with a winning comic gift and bad-boy-on-the-mend sort of aura.</p>
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<p>Nigerian megastar <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-burna-boy-set-the-world-alight-with-his-mixed-brew-of-influences-188080">Burna Boy</a> was quick to partner on a remix of Asake’s Afrobeats-cum-amapiano track <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WU__JQuB8g">Sungba</a>, but didn’t bring anything new to the table apart from his certified hit-making status and brooding sense of menace. Asake, on the other hand, is a live wire linguistic conduit, spicing up Yoruba street lingo with the dexterity of a street urchin, complete with witty banter and double meanings. </p>
<h2>Is his debut album any good?</h2>
<p>Songs such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MefXQvGTYtE">Peace Be Unto You</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrIP_igi76U">Terminator</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXl5dPuiJa0">Joha</a> only lavishly build on the eruptive momentum of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbmKD-4Zr4Q">Organise</a>, the opening track of Mr. Money With The Vibe. The album’s blistering pace is one of its most distinctive features, followed by its seamless splicing (editing). Pace and sequencing are the key elements of this exquisite piece of sonic art.</p>
<p>Building from this is Asake’s mastery of a rich range of music styles, from amapiano and Afrobeats to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/rhythm-and-blues">R&B</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/hip-hop">hip-hop</a> and <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/jamaica-dub-music-reggae-electronic-music-7857092/">Jamaican dub</a>. He burns through these illustrious music archives at great speed and, surprisingly, with some depth. He’s able to convert gospel-sounding ditties into profane and rabble-rousing secular anthems. This ability is one of the secrets of the album’s somewhat unexpected artistic success.</p>
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<p>Most of Asake’s videos off the album are shot by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/boy_director/?hl=en">TG Omori</a>, the intriguingly <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/auteur-theory">auteurish</a> cinematographer and <a href="https://www.okayafrica.com/nigerian-music-videos-tg-omori-interview-breathing-new-life/">leading</a> West African music video director. They try to capture the frenetic pace and layering of the songs. The scenes are eclectic and quirky by turns. Joha appears shot in the arid expanses of Arizona or some such place. Peace Be Unto You sweeps up Lagos’s sprawling urban chaos and intensity. Terminator offers a slow burning account of simmering foreboding, sassiness and sexual gratification. Through it all, Asake adopts a broad selection of personas and roles.</p>
<h2>Beyond amapiano</h2>
<p>When South African amapiano stars such as <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rileyvansteward/2022/10/02/dbn-gogo-is-a-global-disc-jockey-on-genres-edge/">DBN Gogo</a> and <a href="https://briefly.co.za/48879-all-major-league-djz.html">Major League DJz</a> heard Mr. Money With The Vibe, they <a href="https://theyanos.co.za/2022/09/amapiano-artists-react-to-nigerian-star-asakes-amapiano-album/">expressed</a> their awe and admiration. Major League DJz tweeted that “Asake is amapiano”. DBN Gogo went as far as to say the album was so good that South African amapiano musicians had to come together to fend off the formidable Nigerian challenge. Obviously, she’s at a loss regarding Asake’s diversity of cultural and musical inspirations.</p>
<p>Indeed, Asake can be difficult to categorise. He gleefully avails himself of cultural resources and archives with confidence, panache and skill.</p>
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<p>Asake’s free-wheeling sonic eclecticism might be the key to his meteoric success. Joyous choral singing, ebullient fuji trimmings, repurposed iconic R&B grooves, street patois, good natured urban hooliganism, immediacy and openness also need to be added into the already intriguing mix. Surely, this is all beyond ordinary amapiano. And that makes it all the more appealing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sanya Osha receives funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation but the views expressed in this article do not represent those of the Mellon Foundation or the University of Cape Town. </span></em></p>The album Mr. Money With The Vibe, with its amapiano influences, is just 30 minutes long but it speaks volumes about Asake’s talents.Sanya Osha, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1924092022-10-13T14:19:58Z2022-10-13T14:19:58ZNigeria floods: expert insights into why they’re so devastating and what to do about them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489582/original/file-20221013-13-4wbcws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/GEORGE ESIRI</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nigeria is experiencing its worst flooding in over a decade.
<a href="https://www.enca.com/news/nigeria-floods-kill-500-displace-14-million-people">Over</a> 1.4 million people have been displaced, 500 have been reported dead and thousands have been injured.</p>
<p>Flooding isn’t a new challenge in Nigeria – it’s one of the country’s most prevalent natural disasters. During the rainy seasons, from March to July and mid August to mid October in the south, and July to October in the north, major rivers <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-nigeria-is-not-prepared-to-deal-with-flooding-104018">often burst</a> their banks. Dams burst too. This causes flooding in numerous Nigerian states, among them Delta, Kogi, Anambra, Bayelsa, Adamawa and Niger.</p>
<p>Various experts have written for The Conversation Africa on Nigeria’s flooding challenge and steps needed to alleviate their worst effects. </p>
<p>Here we share three insightful reads. </p>
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<p>Environment researcher Adaku Jane Echendu <a href="https://theconversation.com/nigeria-has-a-flooding-challenge-heres-why-and-what-can-be-done-169044">explains</a> that – unlike some natural disasters – floods due to rainfall can be controlled with proper planning and infrastructure. </p>
<p>She <a href="https://theconversation.com/nigeria-has-a-flooding-challenge-heres-why-and-what-can-be-done-169044">reveals</a> that the main drivers of Nigeria’s include poor, or non-existent, drainage systems, poor waste management, unregulated urban expansion and the lax implementation of laws. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigeria-has-a-flooding-challenge-heres-why-and-what-can-be-done-169044">Nigeria has a flooding challenge: here's why and what can be done</a>
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<p>Floods can be particularly devastating in Nigeria’s cities, causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. In a study of Lagos and Port Harcourt, disaster risk reduction and resilience specialist Olasunkanmi Habeeb Okunola <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-nigerian-cities-can-do-to-cope-better-with-flood-risk-172312">found</a> that a variety of factors make cities vulnerable. These include institutional failures, inadequate infrastructure and a lack of disaster education.</p>
<p>Okunola outlines what cities must do to better cope with the risk of floods. Key to this is the need for government, non-governmental agencies, community-based organisations and residents to join forces and prepare for floods, reducing their impact. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-nigerian-cities-can-do-to-cope-better-with-flood-risk-172312">What Nigerian cities can do to cope better with flood risk</a>
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<p>Flooding may seem to be an inevitable reality for Nigeria. But, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-nigeria-is-not-prepared-to-deal-with-flooding-104018">argues</a> water management expert Nelson Odume, risks can be minimised in a variety of ways. The most significant of these is coordinated spatial planning. This involves bringing urban planners and environmental practitioners together to organise the distribution of people and activities in a space. </p>
<p>He outlines the steps Nigeria needs to take to deal with flooding. These include installing gauging stations, developing suitable models for hydrological predictions, and collecting data that will enable accurate flood forecasting. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-nigeria-is-not-prepared-to-deal-with-flooding-104018">Why Nigeria is not prepared to deal with flooding</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192409/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Experts share their insights into Nigeria’s flooding challenge and steps needed to alleviate their worst effects.Moina Spooner, Assistant EditorWale Fatade, Commissioning Editor: NigeriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1903782022-09-19T13:17:38Z2022-09-19T13:17:38ZAkin Mabogunje: Nigerian urban geographer who mapped the origin and trends of African cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485061/original/file-20220916-25-mljo8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C58%2C538%2C478&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Akin Mabogunje</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I was introduced to Professor Akin Mabogunje’s work when I joined the Department of Estate Management at the University of Lagos in 2011. As a new junior lecturer, I had to read the key text being used by my course leader. It was here that I first encountered Mabogunje’s work on urbanisation in Nigeria. </p>
<p>I never met Mabogunje, <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/08/prof-akin-mabogunje-dies-at-90/">who died</a> in Lagos on 4 August 2022 at the age of 90. And though my first experience of his work was not as a student, today his writings play a key part in what my own students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19491247.2020.1851634">learn</a>. Each year when I stand before a class of young people to introduce the semester’s work to them, I feel compelled to justify why they must read a text that was written before we were all born. </p>
<p>This compulsion has deepened with the news of his passing. It is not just future geographers and scholars of urbanisation who should engage with Mabogunje’s work. So, too, should anyone invested in Nigeria’s progress; every aspiring Nigerian political leader and all pan-Africanists. His research captured history as it happened. It must be read and dissected as the compass to guide Nigeria’s future.</p>
<h2>Origins of Nigerian cities</h2>
<p>Akin Mabogunje was born in Kano, northern Nigeria, <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/10/17/buhari-rejoices-with-akin-mabogunje-at-90/">on 18 October 1931</a>. He completed his secondary schooling at Ibadan Grammar School in 1948. It was here that his flair for geography became clear. His teacher even <a href="https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=aMSDDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">predicted</a> that he would one day become a professor of the subject. </p>
<p>He won a scholarship to study at the University College, Ibadan, now University of Ibadan, and obtained his Master of Arts and Doctorate in Geography in 1958 and 1961 respectively. He became <a href="https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=aMSDDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">a professor of geography in 1965</a>, at the remarkable age of 34. He was Nigeria’s first professor of geography.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/abs/urbanization-in-nigeria-by-akin-l-mabogunje-london-university-of-london-press-1968-pp-353-ill-maps-50s/1A2870622275DBFEC16D84EF945497D9">Urbanization in Nigeria</a> was Mabogunje’s seminal work. It was derived in part from his doctoral dissertation and further shaped when he was a visiting scholar at Northwestern University in the US in 1963. The book provided a cogent narrative of the pre- and colonial origins of Nigerian cities. It also presented pathways for navigating urbanisation challenges from an African perspective. </p>
<p>The book traced the history of urbanisation in northern and southern Nigeria before colonisation, stretching to the early 1960s. It unpacked the impact of colonial policies and laws on urban configuration.</p>
<p>In it he told of generative cities, those that contribute to the social and economic development of every nation, and parasitic cities, those that suck the contributions of other cities. These don’t add to the financial pot. He spoke also of primate cities, those towering hubs that are synonymous with their nation’s development. </p>
<p>Two key south-western Nigerian cities, Ibadan and Lagos, served as case studies. Ibadan, the sprawling historical city of warriors, local slave merchants and cottage craftsmanship, epitomised the rich cultural legacy of a Nigerian “traditional metropolis”. Lagos, on the coast, was to Mabogunje the “most spectacular” of the modern cities, emerging from European influence and the subsequent British colonial administration.</p>
<p>Crucially, Mabogunje empirically tested urban growth theories that emerged from western contexts. He showed the dangers of applying these theories to African cities’ contexts without recognising differences and similarities. He was among the first urban scholars to raise this crucial point. Sadly his critique was largely overlooked: even now, western theories still form the foundation for theoretical knowledge in urban planning disciplines in Africa.</p>
<h2>Postcolonial cities</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/abs/urbanization-in-nigeria-by-akin-l-mabogunje-london-university-of-london-press-1968-pp-353-ill-maps-50s/1A2870622275DBFEC16D84EF945497D9">Urbanization in Nigeria</a> was neither Mabogunje’s only book nor the only book on housing problems in Nigeria. He published <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=akin+mabogunje&btnG=">others and scholarly articles too</a>. But it stands apart from many other writings on the subject by providing historical evidence of urbanisation’s origin and trends in Nigeria. </p>
<p>Beyond this, his work compels urbanisation scholars to think about why postcolonial institutions in African cities do not seem to work. It compels us to ask why, decades after colonial governance, we as stakeholders in the cities of Africa have not corrected the inequalities we inherited. He invites us to replace the ever-ready stance of blaming colonial roots for all current problems in land, housing, and real estate markets, and proposes clear courses of action. </p>
<p>His writing was also palpably honest. In Urbanization in Nigeria he presented colourful, endearing and poignant descriptions of the streets of Ibadan and Lagos. Readers were invited to walk alongside him through history – and to grasp the tenacity of those cities’ modern problems. And the book is suffused, perhaps surprisingly, with hope: Mabogunje suggests that Nigeria’s future might still be great if it has the courage to learn from its past mistakes.</p>
<p>Like no other, his book connects the history of urbanisation, the heritage of coloniality and the missed opportunities for changes in Nigeria’s urban areas. </p>
<h2>Mabogunje’s legacy and vision</h2>
<p>But Mabogunje’s legacy stretches far beyond his seminal book. </p>
<p>He served as a consultant to the Nigerian government and several states in urban and regional development, helping politicians and bureaucrats to understand how research institutions could influence and shape policy. </p>
<p>He also engineered the structures upon which the Nigerian real estate sector emerged. Through his work, institutions such as the <a href="https://www.fmbn.gov.ng/">Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria</a> emerged. Through his chairmanship of the Presidential Technical Committee on Housing and Urban Development in 2002, the <a href="https://web.redanonline.org/">Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria</a> was formed. </p>
<p>Mabogunje was also an accomplished academic. He was the first African to be elected as a foreign honorary associate of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017. <a href="https://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/news-events/news/news-archive/2017/october-2017/akin-mabogunje-awarded-this-year2019s-vautrin-lud-prize">That same year he won the Vautrin Lud Prize</a>, the highest global award in the field of geography. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/08/akin-mabogunje-an-african-institution/">a consultant to the Federal Capital Development Authority</a> (1976-1984), he was instrumental to the conceptualisation of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. He was also the foremost professional in getting it built, canvassing rigorously for the appointment of Nigerian town planners and architects to build the city.</p>
<p>It is up to urbanisation scholars, ordinary Nigerians and politicians to do more than just offer tributes to the father of modern policy in the nation’s built environment. We all owe him action: to bring his vision of cities that work for all to life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190378/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Basirat Oyalowo receives funding from the UK Research and Innovation, British Academy and WaterAid. </span></em></p>Akinlawon Ladipo Mabogunje was Nigeria’s first professor of geography. He has died at 90.Basirat Oyalowo, Senior Lecturer/Researcher in Housing, Real Estate and Sustainability, University of LagosLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1908052022-09-18T08:51:36Z2022-09-18T08:51:36ZNigeria’s endless lecturer strikes: insights from some essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484890/original/file-20220915-23-uz1tph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Pius Utomi Ekpei /AFP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One thing that is synonymous with public universities in Nigeria is strikes. Since 1999, the public university system has lost about 57 cumulative months to industrial action. This always comes about as a result of under-funding. Lecturers’ unions have called for the revitalisation of the sector and wage increases. </p>
<p>The Conversation Africa has featured several analyses of the topic by academic experts. </p>
<p>A former vice-chancellor and professor of history, Ayo Olukoju, highlighted the winners and losers of the strikes and suggested a way forward for Nigeria’s public universities. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-university-strikes-winners-losers-and-ways-forward-179698">Nigeria's university strikes: winners, losers and ways forward</a>
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<p>The latest strike by lecturers, which started on 14 February 2022, is the 17th in 23 years. The National Executive Council of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, an umbrella body of lecturers in Nigeria, declared the strike as an “indefinite action”. Council member Dele Ashiru explained what this meant and what the government would have to do for the strike to be called off.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/17-strikes-in-23-years-a-unionist-explains-why-nigerias-university-lecturers-wont-back-down-190170">17 strikes in 23 years: a unionist explains why Nigeria’s university lecturers won’t back down</a>
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<p>Incredibly, amid this strike, Nigeria’s parliament is mulling the idea of creating 63 new public institutions of higher education. An education management expert and lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Eragbai Jerome Isuku, examined the proposition and the reasons it’s been put forward. He concluded that Nigeria, for now, did not need any new universities because existing ones were underfunded.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-universities-in-nigeria-absolutely-not-189083">New universities in Nigeria? Absolutely not</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Nigeria’s public university system has lost about 57 months to industrial action since 1999. This has implications for the future workforce.Moina Spooner, Assistant EditorSegun Oluwagbile, Commissioning Editor: NigeriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1904702022-09-15T08:08:54Z2022-09-15T08:08:54ZFive steps Nigeria must take to stop buildings collapsing in Lagos<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484555/original/file-20220914-12-vk96ha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the Nigerian Institute of Building during a walk against building collapse in Lagos in March 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-nigerian-institute-of-building-in-conjunction-with-news-photo/1239147206?adppopup=true">Adekunle Ajayi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Buildings in Lagos state, Nigeria’s economic hub, have in recent years been collapsing in greater numbers than ever. Between 2000 and 2021 the city <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tqem.21781">experienced 167 reported cases</a>, with significant <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2022/04/06/quantifying-frequent-building-collapse-and-disaster-risk-reduction-in-nigeria/">human and economic losses</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/09/lagos-records-30-collapse-buildings-in-7-months-lasema/">latest data</a> from <a href="https://lasema.lagosstate.gov.ng/">Lagos State Emergency Management Agency</a> showed that between January and July 2022, Lagos recorded 24 cases of total building collapse, six of partial collapse and one of impending collapse. <a href="https://punchng.com/building-collapse-84-lagosians-killed-in-two-years/">Eighty-four Lagosians have been killed</a> in building collapse incidents in the last two years. </p>
<p>Ghana’s capital, Accra, in contrast, had only <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Some-of-the-Reported-Cases-of-Collapsed-Buildings-in-Ghana-Post-2000_tbl2_325269397">eight building collapses</a> between April 2000 and February 2016.</p>
<p>This grim Nigerian data reflects the failure of the Lagos state government to protect its citizens.</p>
<p>Drawing from my <a href="https://theconversation.com/building-collapses-are-all-too-common-in-lagos-heres-why-165674">previous research</a>, I have identified that high-rise residential buildings make up most of the collapses in Lagos. The reasons include the use of substandard materials and unqualified or unskilled builders. </p>
<p>Other factors include non-adherence to the <a href="https://estateintel.com/reports/national-building-code-of-the-federal-republic-of-nigeria">National Building Code</a>, illegal conversion of existing structures and ineffective monitoring by regulatory agencies. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://punchng.com/why-buildings-continue-to-collapse-in-lagos-ex-physical-planning-commissioner/">recent spate of building collapse in Lagos</a> presents an opportunity for the government to get tough on the construction industry and prevent future incidents. Citizens also have a part to play.</p>
<p>In this article I set out five critical issues I consider indispensable for building safety, stability and sustainability. They are all germane, given the disastrous <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tqem.21781">state of building development</a> in Lagos in the past four years. </p>
<h2>1. Test the integrity of all high-rise buildings</h2>
<p>The starting point is to recognise that <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2022/04/06/quantifying-frequent-building-collapse-and-disaster-risk-reduction-in-nigeria/">high-rise structures are at the highest risk of collapse</a>. This is due to structural inadequacies and professional ineptitude on the part of the developers. </p>
<p><a href="https://fig.net/resources/proceedings/fig_proceedings/fig2018/papers/ts02j/TS02J_oyedele_9284.pdf">Previous studies</a> suggested that government didn’t implement the recommendations from past integrity tests of buildings in Lagos. This was likely due to a lack of political will to ensure fundamental standards were maintained. It suggests the government might only be paying lip service to building safety.</p>
<p>Urgent and frequent integrity tests of all high-rise buildings in Lagos are needed. Those built more than five years ago are in particular need of testing. A structural integrity test confirms the stability of buildings and determines whether they are fit for people to live in. </p>
<p>Government must also ensure that buildings that are not structurally habitable are either strengthened or demolished immediately. </p>
<h2>2. Identify and prosecute offenders</h2>
<p>Government must identify and prosecute landowners, investors, consultants, architects, quantity surveyors and engineers involved in previous cases. It must also publish all permits received during those projects and all documents related to safety testing. </p>
<p>This will show its commitment to putting an end to the loss of lives and property. It will also enable a thorough investigation into the causes of building collapses and ensure there are consequences for failures. </p>
<p>It will encourage more responsible practices in the construction industry.</p>
<h2>3. Overhaul and restructure agencies and ministries</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://punchng.com/lagos-commissioner-resigns-over-building-collapse/">recent resignation</a> of the Lagos State Physical Planning and Urban Development commissioner was a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, the agencies and ministries responsible for monitoring the construction process appear overwhelmed and handicapped in enforcing building regulations. This is due to ineffective monitoring, lack of human resources and corruption among officials in charge of building approval. </p>
<p>There is also a serious governance issue that must be addressed. Building control should be a local government responsibility. In Nigeria, however, it falls under the state government. Nigeria currently runs a three-tier federal system comprising federal, state and local governments. </p>
<p>As a result of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24734693">constitutional reforms</a> made between the 1970s and 1990s some of these tiers of responsibility were arbitrarily altered. The building control function was transferred from local to state governments.</p>
<p>Thus, a total overhaul and restructuring of all the agencies and ministries responsible for monitoring the construction process is urgently required. This could be done by prosecuting complicit government officials involved in the approval of previous collapsed buildings. </p>
<p>Improved tactics and logistics in monitoring construction could also be deployed.</p>
<p>Building control must be returned to the local governments and they must ensure that they have enough qualified, quality personnel.</p>
<h2>4. Integrate governance of the construction industry</h2>
<p>Governments, professional bodies and citizens all have essential roles to play in preventing building collapse in Lagos. The starting point is the sensitisation of citizens and building developers by the emergency management agencies and professional bodies. They should focus on the need to obtain planning permission, engage professionals in the construction of their buildings and report cases of illegal construction activities in their community. </p>
<p>Government must also collaborate with professional bodies and make sure that individuals or building developers consult certified professionals like engineers.</p>
<h2>5. Enforce laws and policies</h2>
<p>A review of enforcement and <a href="https://epp.lagosstate.gov.ng/regulations/LSURPD_LAW_2010.pdf">building control regulations in Lagos state</a> shows the problem is not inadequacy of relevant laws and monitoring agencies. Rather it’s a lack of proper enforcement of building regulations. </p>
<p>The state government must quickly take decisive steps to implement existing building control regulations and measures for transparency and accountability in its processes. Simple but important things like information display boards at construction sites should be enforced. There is also an urgent need for public awareness of the regulatory requirements for buildings. The public should demand transparency from developers and landlords.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190470/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olasunkanmi Habeeb Okunola does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital city, is notorious for frequent building collapses. A risk reduction expert offers five recommendations on how to prevent these disasters.Olasunkanmi Habeeb Okunola, Visiting Scientist at Global Change Institute and Institute for Environment and Human Security, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1878732022-08-14T08:07:38Z2022-08-14T08:07:38ZSouth Africa doesn’t need new cities: it needs to focus on fixing what it’s got<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476515/original/file-20220728-28742-9v621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Shenzhen, in China's southern Guangdong province. A village until 1980, it's a rare new city success story. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Jade Gao / AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa is a dominantly urban country, with almost <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/455931/urbanization-in-south-africa/">70%</a> of the population living in cities and towns. But urban services and infrastructures are coming under increasing strain from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/small-towns-are-collapsing-across-south-africa-how-its-starting-to-affect-farming-162697">collapse of infrastructure</a> in many smaller and medium sized towns and <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-06-19-more-than-quarter-of-sas-municipalities-are-on-brink-of-financial-collapse-warns-ag/">deteriorating levels in the large cities</a>. </p>
<p>A common response to a gathering urban crisis is to imagine starting afresh with new cities. The impulse crosses the political spectrum. </p>
<p>In his 2019 state of the nation address, <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/2SONA2019">President Cyril Ramaphosa envisioned the construction of a new smart city</a>. He has since announced new cities at <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/property/560744/government-announced-plans-for-3-new-cities-in-south-africa-what-you-should-know/">Lanseria</a> (north of Johannesburg), Mooikloof (east of Pretoria), and along the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape. </p>
<p>In April 2022, former opposition leader Mmusi Maimane argued that <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2022-04-24-we-need-new-cities-now-to-address-urbanisation-and-its-housing-and-poverty-crises/">South Africa should be building many new cities</a>, doubling the number of metros from eight to 16. </p>
<p>New cities are a catchy idea. But that doesn’t make them a good one.</p>
<p>What would it take to create a sustainable new city without bankrupting the national fiscus? Are they a viable prospect or white elephants in the making? </p>
<p>There is, fortunately, a history of new city thought and practice that we can draw lessons from. </p>
<p>New cities may be appealing since newer, smarter, more sustainable infrastructure can be put in place. But in South Africa, this expenditure competes with the need to improve the deteriorating infrastructure of existing cities, which do in fact have the capacity to accommodate projected urban growth for decades to come. </p>
<p>While carefully planned new city development may play a role in South Africa’s urban future, it would be a critical error to divert attention and resources from the country’s primary urban challenges. </p>
<h2>New cities</h2>
<p>Most large cities globally have evolved over long periods of time, responding to growth in the local economy. But there are cities that have been consciously designed from scratch for many different reasons – including political egos, land speculation, colonial expansion, post-colonial developmentalism, and attempts to relieve existing cities of over-population and congestion. </p>
<p>In modern times, there was a surge of <a href="http://transformationjournal.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/T95-6-Harrison-and-Todes.pdf">new city (or, rather, new town) development in Europe after the second world war</a>. This was done to decentralise development from heavily bombed large cities and to create better living environments for working class families as part of a larger welfarist programme. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/may/15/sterile-or-stirring-britains-love-hate-relationship-with-new-towns">British new town programme</a> was the most extensive and well known, but new towns were also built in France, Italy, Sweden and elsewhere. </p>
<p>Western countries turned away from new town development but, from around the 1990s, new city development gained momentum in other parts of the world, including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2019/jul/09/cities-from-scratch-100-and-counting-new-cities-rise-from-the-desert-jungle-and-sea">East Asia and the Middle East</a>. </p>
<p>In China, for example, new cities were built to accommodate some of the additional 590 million people in cities from the 1980s. Saudi Arabia has an astonishing plan to build a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/27/saudis-unveil-eye-popping-plan-for-mirrored-skyscraper-eco-city">100-mile-long megacity called Neom</a> which would be only 200 metres wide.</p>
<p>In Africa, Egypt has a long history of new city development. </p>
<p>Elsewhere there were three recent waves of new city development. Just prior to the <a href="https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great-recession-and-its-aftermath">2008/09 financial bust</a>, an ambitious first wave was launched (for example, Konza Tech which is 64km south of Nairobi, Eco Atlantic on land reclaimed from the sea outside Lagos, Cité du Fleuve on an island in the Congo River outside Kinshasa, and Kigamboni across a large estuary north of Dar es Salaam).</p>
<p>Most faltered. The late South African academic Vanessa Watson called them “<a href="https://www.africancentreforcities.net/african-urban-fantasies/">urban fantasies</a>”. </p>
<p>The second wave was initiated by property developer <a href="https://www.rendeavour.com/">Rendeavour</a>, which targeted the rising black African middle class (for example, Tatu City outside Nairobi, King City near Takoradi port in Ghana, and Appolonia City near Accra). The developments were more modest in size and have had some market-based success. </p>
<p>The third, most recent wave is diverse, ranging from Lanseria Smart City in South Africa to Akon City in Senegal, an attempt by an African American rapper to recreate the fictional Wakanda. Most recently, in May 2022, <a href="https://elonmuskpower.com/elon-musk-is-building-a-20b-city-in-africa/">Elon Musk made an extraordinary announcement</a>. He intends to build a US$20 billion new city, called Neo Gardens, outside Gaborone in Botswana. </p>
<p>This international story offers many lessons, but so does an earlier South African history which includes the establishment of nearly 80 new towns under apartheid for ideological reasons. These included Welkom, Vanderbijlpark, Sasolburg and Secunda, which were created to support new single-industry economies.</p>
<p>These did well for a time. But they did not diversify substantially and their industries have suffered in recent years from international competition. </p>
<p>These patterns mirror those evident internationally, where the picture is more often economic vulnerability and instability over the long term. </p>
<h2>Conditions for success</h2>
<p>There are some places where new town economies have thrived – such as Shenzhen in China, Abuja in Nigeria, and Milton Keynes in the UK. These are quite specific cases: Shenzhen was one China’s first initiatives to open up to the private sector in the 1980s and is close to Hong Kong; Abuja is a national capital; Milton Keynes houses a major university and a cluster of dynamic industries. </p>
<p>New places do sometimes develop around new or emerging economic activities, although often the attraction of existing economic cores remains strong. </p>
<p>New towns have had a better track record in places of rapid economic and population growth such as in east Asian countries, where large-scale resources have been available for infrastructure development and growth is rapid enough to divert some economic activity into new cities. </p>
<p>So the prospects for new cities depend significantly on the context in which they are developed. </p>
<p>New cities are costly as new infrastructure must be developed from scratch. And they have high risks in terms of outcome. At the same time, they do not replace existing cities, which continue to grow.</p>
<p>In our view, South Africa needs to engage with the realities of existing towns and cities and make them work better for their residents and the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187873/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Harrison receives funding from the National Research Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Todes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New towns have had a better track record in places of rapid economic and population growth, such as east Asian countries.Philip Harrison, Professor School of Architecture and Planning, University of the WitwatersrandAlison Todes, Professor, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1828672022-07-24T15:48:27Z2022-07-24T15:48:27ZLifesaving maternal health services are so close, yet so far for pregnant women living in sub-Saharan Africa’s largest metropolis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475138/original/file-20220720-26-4561hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C3035%2C1847&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A pregnant woman arrives at Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, Nigeria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year around the world, <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Maternal_mortality_report.pdf">295,000 women die</a> due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Seven in 10 of these maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. These deaths are usually caused by excessive bleeding, infection, high blood pressure, obstructed labour and abortion. Many are preventable, especially when pregnant women can get prompt access to critical maternal health services, otherwise known as <a href="https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1016/j.ijgo.2004.11.026">emergency obstetric care</a>.</p>
<p>When complications arise, pregnant women need to travel to health facilities that can provide emergency obstetric care. Any delays in travelling to such health facilities affects pregnancy outcomes for them and their unborn child. However, some women need to travel <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czab099">long distances</a> from outskirts of town to large hospitals or over a <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/1/e004318">prolonged time due to traffic congestion</a> in urban areas.</p>
<p>There is a misconception that women living in rural areas experience more challenges in travelling to care compared to those in urban areas. However, research has shown that there are <a href="https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-020-00996-7">significant challenges with geographical access</a> even for women living in urban areas.</p>
<p>The past few decades has been characterised by the emergence of many large, densely populated, sprawling cities in sub-Saharan Africa. By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas and 40% of the projected additional 2.5 billion urban residents are likely to concentrate in Africa. As such, it is imperative to fully gather evidence on care outcomes in sub-Saharan African urban areas.</p>
<h2>Some pregnant women live close but…</h2>
<p>In an <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/4/e008604.full">April 2022 study</a> published in the journal <em>BMJ Global Health</em>, we mapped journeys of pregnant women who had an emergency to public hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa’s largest metropolis, Lagos. To do this, we extracted data from patient records reflecting their journeys to reach health facilities while in an emergency. These data were inputted into Google Maps, which had been shown to be able to provide <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/1/e004318">closer-to-reality travel time and distance estimates</a> for journeys of pregnant women to care.</p>
<p>Results from the study showed that almost two-thirds of maternal deaths occurred among pregnant women who travelled 10 kilometres or less directly from home and arrived at the hospital in 30 minutes.</p>
<p>Also, there was a higher likelihood of maternal deaths with a 10 to 15 kilometre distance from home. Travel of pregnant women to a hospital located in the suburbs was almost four times more likely to result in a maternal death compared to those in the city. On the other hand, travel to a hospital located in the outskirt towns was more than two times more likely to lead to a maternal death compared to those in the city. For pregnant women who were referred, the likelihood of maternal death was significantly higher even when travel of 10 to 29 minutes was required.</p>
<h2>Addressing inequalities in care access</h2>
<p>Indeed, the so-called “urban advantage” might be disappearing in sub-Saharan Africa. As such, there is a need to consider geographical access to health facilities with an urban versus rural lens in the region.</p>
<p>In citing services, it is not enough for governments to say health facilities have been <a href="https://www.publichealthinafrica.org/index.php/jphia/article/view/717">“strategically located”</a>. Functional health facilities within 10km of every woman, supported by robust referral systems that can transfer women promptly if care elsewhere is deemed more beneficial must be available. Furthermore, pre-hospital services have to be able to support pregnant women in crisis, as was the case for a pregnant women who <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/04/how-lagos-health-officials-rescued-stranded-pregnant-woman-in-labour/">fell into labour while in public transport</a>.</p>
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À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/geographic-access-to-critical-maternal-health-services-in-an-african-megacity-142607">Geographic access to critical maternal health services in an African megacity</a>
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<p>As part of birth preparedness planning, pregnant women along with their care companions need to be proactively encouraged to commence journeys to the hospital early in the event of an obstetric emergency. If an emergency occurs, structures need to be in place to support her access to a hospital. This needs to be done while making consideration for <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12939-020-1123-y">pregnant women who are poor and those who live far from hospitals</a>.</p>
<p>At a global level, the World Health Organization has long recommended that health facilities with capacity to provide emergency obstetric care should be <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/44121/9789241547734_eng.pdf">“available within two to three hours of travel for most women”</a>. Evidence from our research suggests that this two-hour access benchmark warrants careful review, with many maternal deaths involving women who travelled less than an hour. These global guidelines also need to reflect delays permissible at referring facilities, recognising that some women still face additional delays even if they make it to hospitals that can provide the care needed.</p>
<p>In conclusion, pregnant women living in urban areas (city or suburb) and even next to a hospital are not precluded from the risk of poor adverse outcomes in pregnancy. Priority needs to be given to fixing areas of access inequalities, especially in the suburbs. This will be crucial for efforts geared toward the realisation of the “leave no one behind” mantra of the sustainable development goals.</p>
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<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has been supporting nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers from 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the <a href="https://www.axa-research.org">Axa Research Fund</a> or follow on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/axaresearchfund?lang=fr">@AXAResearchFund</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182867/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Every year, seven in ten maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. A study examining sub-Saharan Africa’s largest metropolis find that inequalities in access play a key role.Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas, Senior lecturer, University of GreenwichLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1818732022-05-16T14:31:16Z2022-05-16T14:31:16ZSocial media can be a force for good in a crisis: lessons from Lagos<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461228/original/file-20220504-20-kl250i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Social media can be used to share important information in times of crisis.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hello World/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In times of crisis, it is especially crucial that governments share accurate, up to date information with their citizens. Social media can play an important role in disseminating urgent information. </p>
<p>At its simplest, for instance, it allows people to mark themselves as “safe” after natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, or during terrorist attacks and insurgencies.</p>
<p>Social media platforms can also be used to share critically important information about disaster management. And it’s a powerful tool for authorities to tackle misinformation and disinformation that may arise.</p>
<p>This sort of communication is becoming ever more important. The COVID pandemic has <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23748834.2020.1806459">particularly highlighted</a> how vulnerable densely populated cities and urban areas are in responding to and navigating disasters and emergencies. </p>
<p>This is especially true in densely populated cities on the African continent. <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/urbanization-new-health-crises-by-tolullah-oni-2021-07">Many of these cities lack</a> large infrastructure and reliable service provision. These issues, alongside under-equipped local and national authorities, mean cities struggle to absorb and adapt to crises as they unfold in real time. </p>
<p>We set out to assess the role that social media played in driving public engagement with COVID health measures in Lagos, Nigeria. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23748834.2022.2073540">We analysed</a> public engagement on Twitter between January and August 2020 that related to the city’s lockdown protocols. </p>
<p>One of our key findings was that the public responded most to public health information being shared by prominent individual social media influencers. These included sportspeople, comedians, musicians and business-people. </p>
<p>It was also clear that people responded most positively to the use of satire, humour and messaging that drew on influencers’ everyday lived experiences of the lockdown.</p>
<p>Traditional survey methods are unavoidably subject to time lags. That negates cities’ real-time or near-real time responses to disasters. As our research shows, social media enables authorities and researchers to collect a vast swathe of nuanced, contextual data in near real-time. That can be used to ensure messaging campaigns respond quickly to public concerns.</p>
<p>These findings offer useful insights for future emergencies and disasters. Of course, social media does not adequately currently represent society as a whole. But it is – and should be – regarded as a valuable supplementary tool for public health and other public interest practitioners who seek to ensure that public responses to disasters are successful. </p>
<h2>Key findings</h2>
<p>Modern market research tools mean researchers can now analyse important metrics on topics that are making an impact both globally and closer to home, almost in real time. These tools create data visualisations and summarise key insights, so researchers can quickly access a structured set of data to extract rich, useful information on any topic. </p>
<p>We used the commercially available <a href="https://www.brandwatch.com/platform/">Brandwatch</a> platform for this research. The date range – January to August 2020 – allowed us to find and compare data from Lagos’s pre-lockdown, lockdown, easing and post-lockdown phases.</p>
<p>For context, national responses to the pandemic were guided by a <a href="https://africacdc.org/download/adapted-africa-joint-continental-strategy-for-covid-19-pandemic">continent-wide strategy</a>. The overarching strategy was implemented differently in various countries and along different timelines according to their contextual specificities and needs. The strategy acknowledged that lockdowns come with issues, including people not seeking healthcare for other conditions. Other <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7480567/">unintended harmful effects of lockdowns</a> include increasing food insecurity, reducing physical activity and loss of livelihoods.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-nigerians-told-us-about-their-mental-health-under-covid-19-lockdown-166760">What Nigerians told us about their mental health under COVID-19 lockdown</a>
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<p>Our data analysis allowed us to assess how public perceptions and conversations around lockdown were unfolding on social media as the pandemic – and commensurate government responses – unfolded in Lagos. </p>
<p>We initially hoped to conduct a similar analysis about Yauonde in Cameroon. However, we focused on Lagos due to the small volume of tweets from Cameroon. This is likely because Cameroon is a much smaller country than Nigeria and has fewer internet users. To put it in context, our data query yielded 312,627 tweets from Nigeria but only 7,696 tweets from Cameroon.</p>
<h2>Applying these lessons</h2>
<p>A number of social media influencers were actively disseminating public health information online of their own accord, with no clear link to Nigeria’s health authorities beyond as a source of some information. </p>
<p>One particular Twitter account, <a href="https://twitter.com/aproko_doctor">@Aproko_doctor</a> (Dr Chinonso Egemba, a doctor, actor and editor) had as many followers as the <a href="https://ncdc.gov.ng/">Nigeria Centre for Disease Control</a> (NCDC) – just over one million at the time. Our analysis found that this account enjoyed significantly more engagement than the NCDC. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-pandemic-lockdown-measures-were-hard-on-informal-workers-177466">Nigeria's pandemic lockdown measures were hard on informal workers</a>
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<p>This isn’t to suggest that large health organisations like the NCDC, Lagos Ministry of Health, UNICEF Nigeria, Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization shouldn’t be using social media. We found that these bodies played a significant role in sharing health messaging.</p>
<p>However, organisations and governments can learn from understanding how individual influencers were able to better reach the public. For example, ordinary Lagosians responded better to the use of satire, humour and messaging grounded in influencers’ daily lives than they did to dry facts and figures.</p>
<p>Personalised messaging that leverages social media influencers can be used to amplify government and organisational messaging. This is a way to reach more people. It can also mitigate against mis- and disinformation. </p>
<p>Our findings suggest that those who enjoy a greater degree of engagement with their content from followers can play the role of grassroots communicators to significantly influence how society responds in times of crisis.</p>
<p>Social media happens in real-time, or close to it. This means authorities and governments can quickly monitor how messaging campaigns are being absorbed and responded to by the public. </p>
<p>For instance, they may find that people perceive contradictions and inequities in government’s disaster management strategies and measures. These concerns can be rapidly addressed. Or they may identify issues that are dominating public discussion over the different stages of disaster management but that are not flagged in existing communication strategies.</p>
<h2>Flexibility and innovation</h2>
<p>The 21st century will continue to bring disasters and emergencies. Extreme events related to climate change are <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/">expected to intensify</a> in the coming decades. More flexible, innovative approaches towards messaging and information dissemination are required – particularly with respect to early warning and adaptation. These approaches can foster effective, meaningful public responses and collective action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181873/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tolullah Oni receives funding from the Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund COVID-19 Emergency Award, the British Academy Urban Infrastructures of Wellbeing Programme (Grant reference UWB190032) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (16/137/34) using UK aid from the UK Government to support global health research. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the UK government.. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Camaren Peter receives funding from the Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund COVID-19 Emergency Award. The Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC) also contributed funding to this research.</span></em></p>Social media platforms can be used to share critically important information about disaster management.Tolullah Oni, Clinical Senior Research Associate, MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of CambridgeCamaren Peter, Associate Professor, Allan Gray Centre for Values-Based Leadership, GSB, UCT; Executive Head,Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1769352022-03-15T16:11:39Z2022-03-15T16:11:39ZAs sea levels rise, coastal megacities will need more than flood barriers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452206/original/file-20220315-17-fjv5so.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new artificial wetland runs through the city of Ningbo, China. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wang961201 / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of the world’s poorest people live in regions most susceptible to flooding. In <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/run-rebuild-repeat-floods-eat-away-indias-indigenous-land-2021-12-28/">northeast India</a>, some residents have been forced to rebuild their homes at least eight times in the past decade. In Africa, the continent’s largest city, Lagos in Nigeria, may become <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/01/africa/lagos-sinking-floods-climate-change-intl-cmd/index.html">unliveable</a> due to severe floods, while a recent flood caused by tropical storm Ana affected <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/madagascar/cyclone-ana-floods-cause-death-destruction-and-power-outage-across-madagascar">hundreds of thousands of people</a> across the south of the continent.</p>
<p>The situation is expected to worsen in the next few decades, especially for many of the world’s largest cities in lower and middle income countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. This century, their population is projected to increase substantially. Lagos, for example, could reach a population of 88 million by 2100 according to one <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956247816663557">academic estimate</a>. </p>
<p>These cities are already improving their infrastructure. But most of the focus remains on big engineering solutions (like flood walls and embankments) rather than a more holistic plans that would involve every level of society. As we have recently argued in our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-021-00251-y">research</a>, these cities must instead become truly “resilient societies” – before it is too late. </p>
<h2>Blue-green infrastructure</h2>
<p>There have been some attempts to move beyond a simple focus on engineering. For instance, one approach is to put in place so-called blue-green infrastructure, which uses the planning system to integrate rivers, canals or wetlands (the blue) with trees, lawns, parks or forests (the green). This can involve anything from small-scale “rain gardens” that allow water to drain naturally through soil, through to much larger-scale artificial wetlands or ponds.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/sponge-cities-china-flood-protection-nature-wwf/">Sponge cities</a>”, an approach first introduced in China in 2013, are a nice example of this in practice. The idea of a sponge city is that rather than using concrete to channel away rainwater, it is best to work with nature to absorb, clean and use the water. So, much like a sponge, the cities are designed to soak up the excess stormwater without becoming over-saturated.</p>
<p>For instance, the port city of <a href="https://www.asla.org/2013awards/253.html">Ningbo</a>, where one of us is based, transformed a 3km strip of brownfield into an eco-corridor and public park. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452195/original/file-20220315-23-1ee0f6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Swampy land" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452195/original/file-20220315-23-1ee0f6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452195/original/file-20220315-23-1ee0f6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452195/original/file-20220315-23-1ee0f6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452195/original/file-20220315-23-1ee0f6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452195/original/file-20220315-23-1ee0f6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452195/original/file-20220315-23-1ee0f6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452195/original/file-20220315-23-1ee0f6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artificial wetland ‘eco corridor’ in Ningbo, a coastal city of several million people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lei Li</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202108/24/WS61245ea5a310efa1bd66ac3c_2.html">Shanghai</a> has also turned its new “Land of Starry Sky” park (so named because it neighbours an astronomy museum) into a sponge facility, using permeable materials to absorb rainwater. The Chinese government recognised sponge cities can achieve more sustainability goals than solely relying on traditional engineering structures. </p>
<p>In contrast, there is a more worrying scenario in <a href="https://www.ekoatlantic.com/latestnews/press-releases/eko-atlantics-great-wall-lagos-passes-6km/">Lagos</a> and other coastal cities which heavily rely on insufficient engineering systems to protect from flooding. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452201/original/file-20220315-15-11pkia1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People walk past cars on flooded street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452201/original/file-20220315-15-11pkia1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452201/original/file-20220315-15-11pkia1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452201/original/file-20220315-15-11pkia1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452201/original/file-20220315-15-11pkia1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452201/original/file-20220315-15-11pkia1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452201/original/file-20220315-15-11pkia1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452201/original/file-20220315-15-11pkia1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flooding after a rainy week in Lagos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mikayleigh Haarhoff / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>We need resilient cities</h2>
<p>In our new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-021-00251-y">research</a>, we studied existing practices and identified a lack of adequate engagement with key stakeholders (such as local industry, small businesses and communities) as the main problem. Engagement with stakeholders such as these is key to improving outcomes of blue-green infrastructure, and such engagement is easier than ever thanks to the widespread use of mobile and digital technologies. Ideally, climate resilient infrastructures should be considered a co-production of all these various groups. </p>
<p>For example, sponge cities have successfully integrated nature-based solutions with traditional engineering. Yet these cities often struggle to get everyone involved in proactively thinking about the risk of floods. We argue that the key to resilient flood management lies in getting the whole society engaged in preventing floods where possible, in adapting to their worst impacts and in ensuring a timely return to the pre-disaster state. </p>
<p>The absence of this social engagement exacerbates flood impacts especially in poorer and more vulnerable parts of the world. Our research stresses that any truly resilient city must have a flood management plan that integrates natural, engineered and social systems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176935/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Flood threatened settlements must get everyone involved in an effort to become truly resilient cities.Faith Chan, Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of NottinghamOlalekan Adekola, Senior Lecturer in Geography, York St John UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1757532022-03-01T15:04:50Z2022-03-01T15:04:50ZThe challenges of governing Lagos, the city that keeps growing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446769/original/file-20220216-13-k47zcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Kraus/EyeEm/GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From its historical origins as a fishing village and the site of a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pyELCBM6ORQ">pepper farm</a>, to today’s bustling metropolis, Lagos has evolved into a complex agglomeration of people, settlements and vested interests.</p>
<p>As the economic powerhouse of Nigeria and West Africa, Lagos is projected to become the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/africa-cities/">most populous</a> city in Africa within the next 50 years. Reaching a population of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/africa-cities/">100 million</a> from 15 million today. If recent waves of migration are anything to go by –- from those seeking economic opportunities or escaping the climate crisis and insurgency in other parts of Nigeria –- the projections may be <a href="https://www.coolgeography.co.uk/gcsen/Lagos_Causes_Growth.php">underestimated</a>. </p>
<p>Governing a city like Lagos is not a job for the fainthearted. It’s a city that is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/lagos">always growing</a>, and with deep-seated socioeconomic inequalities. </p>
<p>We are part of the <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/">African Cities Research Consortium</a>, a new initiative committed to addressing critical challenges in 13 cities in sub-Saharan Africa. Our recent <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/lagos_city_scoping_study">publication</a> sheds some light on the complexities of Lagos and why managing the city is a challenge in itself.</p>
<h2>Governance struggles</h2>
<p>Lagos faces many challenges; some are critical to understanding why metropolitan governance is so difficult. </p>
<p>Firstly, the geographical definition of what constitutes Lagos has become nebulous over time. The city’s urban land area continually spreads to absorb adjoining state, and now even national, <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2413-4155/3/2/23/pdf">boundaries</a>.</p>
<p>This means that it is difficult to gain accurate data for short and long-term planning policies.</p>
<p>Secondly, the city’s governance structures – from local to state level – are unclear and don’t necessarily align in the ways expected. The local government system is essentially an appendage of the state government. It lacks autonomy as well as the technical and fiscal capacity required to perform its constitutional <a href="http://internationalpolicybrief.org/images/journals/Ecology/Ecoogy%2010.pdf">functions</a>. </p>
<h2>Power dynamics</h2>
<p>Lagos bears the historical legacy of having been Nigeria’s longest established capital city. It started as a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265898128_Lagos_a_cultural_and_historical_companion_by_Kaye_Whiteman_review">protectorate</a> under the British colonial government and became capital of the colony and later of the independent Nigeria. It withstood the subsequent military coups, remaining the capital up until the movement of the federal capital territory to <a href="http://www.oaugf.ng/6thawam2016/index.php/about/abuja#:%7E:text=Abuja%20is%20located%20in%20the,the%20country's%20most%20populous%20city.">Abuja</a> in 1991.</p>
<p>Despite losing its administrative capital status, Lagos remains by far Nigeria’s preeminent economic powerhouse. The city’s economy more than <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/ff0595e4-26de-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0">quadruples</a> its nearest rivals –- across Nigeria and elsewhere in West Africa –- in productivity, capital and infrastructure. </p>
<p>Its historical status and ongoing economic power provide the background for the city’s uneasy, and often tense, relationship with the national government which is where the power, revenue and resourcing decisions are located. </p>
<p>Furthermore, Lagos has a history of different political parties controlling different levels of <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3636948">government</a> – those that run the state, and those that run the nation. As a result, policies and fiduciary allocations are often “lost” between conflicting governance systems. </p>
<p>The local government system is severely incapacitated. Instead, informal governance institutions have immense influence on everyday life in <a href="https://www.societyandspace.org/forums/massive-urbanization-forum">the city</a>.</p>
<h2>Inequality and informality</h2>
<p>For the average Lagosian, these conditions result in a lived experience which delivers poorly on infrastructure and quality of life. Yet the city remains one of the most <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/lagos-is-the-second-most-expensive-city-in-africa-to-live-in-19th-in-the-world-mercer/8sbegg7">expensive places</a> in Africa to live in.</p>
<p>The poor residents of Lagos live in sprawling informal settlements within the city core, or create new ones at the <a href="https://urbanage.lsecities.net/essays/vignette-the-spirit-of-lagos">peripheral areas</a>. The rest can be found in several gated communities that span the city. In both instances, self-governance is <a href="https://urbanage.lsecities.net/essays/vignette-the-spirit-of-lagos">common</a>.</p>
<p>Taxation from local to state level is poorly managed. Basic services, such as primary healthcare and public education, are under-resourced. </p>
<p>There’s an intricate web of informal governance systems that hold sway at the local levels. This results in a <a href="https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/part-3-the-power-of-naming-lagos-nairobi-johannesburg">class of powerbrokers</a> who oversee the provision of infrastructure in the city. Very few people or groups have the agency to engage with these gatekeepers to development.</p>
<h2>Marginalised youth</h2>
<p>Additionally, Lagos is a city of marginalised young people. The <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/nigeria-population/">average age in Nigeria</a> is 18.1 years. But many young citizens are not in <a href="https://www.ng.undp.org/content/nigeria/en/home/library/poverty/policy-brief-nigerias-youth-bulge--from-potential-demographic-bo.html">education, employment or training</a>. In Lagos, as in other cities, young people are confronted with poor governance, unemployment or underemployment, police brutality and a high cost of living.</p>
<p>The frustration of these young Lagos residents is visceral. Frustration-aggression and relative <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/comparative-studies-in-society-and-history/article/abs/youth-as-a-force-in-the-modern-world/9EC23FFF00AAA25A24D5FB98CCB2D816">deprivation theories</a> suggest that individuals turn aggressive when there are impediments to their route to success in life, especially when material basic needs are not met. The <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/nigeria/lessons-endsars-movement-nigeria">#EndSARS protests</a> that paralysed the city for days in October 2020, ending in bloodshed, showed what can happen when such frustration plays out in the streets.</p>
<p>The government’s inability to investigate what actually went on, and attribute blame, has further added to the underlying tensions in the city.</p>
<h2>People power</h2>
<p>In all of these challenges, certain things are clear: the immense potential of the Lagos economy, the hope in the hearts of migrants that Lagos offers opportunities for a better future, and the community driven city-making practices of residents.</p>
<p>Our research at the <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/">African Cities Research Consortium</a> seeks to investigate how these factors interact with complex governance frameworks. By doing this, we aim to identify which structures have been able to successfully navigate the complex layers of Lagos governance. In particular the local structures which <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781849774772-13/lagos-urban-gating-default-condition-ola-uduku">support</a> and deliver physical and social infrastructure for communities.</p>
<p>From these analyses, we hope to examine how bottom-up systems in Lagos –- and ultimately in cities across Africa –- can be better supported to deliver development and infrastructural change in a challenging and complex landscape.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175753/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Governing a city like Lagos, with deep-seated socioeconomic inequalities, is not a job for the fainthearted.Ola Uduku, Professor, University of LiverpoolTaibat Lawanson, Professor of Urban Management and Governance, University of LagosLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1726582022-01-20T13:21:19Z2022-01-20T13:21:19ZOlu Jacobs: Nollywood’s elder statesman has always acted for his country<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440619/original/file-20220113-13-19bv3p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva at the 2014 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0">Ameyaw Debrah/Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, the Nigerian film producer and renowned actor, whose career spans more than five decades, belongs to that group of elders representing the best of Nigeria. He was <a href="https://www.legit.ng/entertainment/nollywood/1443447-pale-looking-veteran-actor-olu-jacobs-attends-afriff-with-wife-joke-silva-wins-lifetime-achievement-award/">recently presented with</a> the lifetime achievement award at the Africa International Film Festival. Jacobs is one of those who made good use of their skills to pursue a worthy career, benefiting their society and country. </p>
<p>Born on 11 July 1942 to Yoruba parents from Egba Alake, Abeokuta, Jacobs spent his early childhood in Kano. His Nigerian identity is captured by his words in the film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4452274/"><em>Oloibiri</em></a> (2015), “We are one people.” Now a dual Nigerian-British national, Jacobs has become a citizen of the world.</p>
<p>Jacobs’ acting talent showed up early. In secondary school, he joined debating and drama societies, trying out on stage and building his craft. This interest was later confirmed after he discovered <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hubert-Ogunde">Chief Hubert Ogunde</a>, the Nigerian actor, playwright, theatre manager and musician who founded the first contemporary professional theatrical company in Nigeria. Jacobs attended one of Ogunde’s annual concert parties in Kano and became convinced of his path. </p>
<p>Like the best of his contemporaries – at a time when Nigerian universities could not offer many options – he pursued his higher education abroad. In 1964, Jacobs travelled to Britain to study. He took up a spot at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, studying acting. He returned home in 1980, just like many other Nigerians looking to develop their home societies, to enrich the federation and encourage young talents to find local success.</p>
<p>Jacobs’ career had a highly focused and fruitful trajectory: he made his mark in innovation and mentoring, both in theatre arts and in Nigeria’s movie industry. Jacob also worked with various repertoire theatres in Britain and Ireland and starred in several British television series and international movies. Cinema wasn’t just work for Jacobs, it was life itself. In 1989 he married <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0798364/">Joke Silva</a>, a veteran actor and a graduate of the University of Lagos and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CFzhEx9JuNb","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>In 2007, Jacobs won the African Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in <em><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0938599/">Dancing Heart</a></em>. In recognition of his immense contribution to Nigerian cinema, Jacobs was also awarded the Nigerian national honours, as Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, in 2011. A multi-award winning actor and producer, he has been hailed by many as one of the greatest and most widely respected African actors of his generation. He is considered a bridge between the old and new breed of actors, paving the way for much emerging talent in the industry. </p>
<p>His company, the Lufodo group, opened in 1985 and now trains movie practitioners in acting, producing, directing, script-writing, photography and other film-related careers. He became one of the pioneers of Nollywood, acting as a father, an elder or a politician in more than 120 films, notably <em>Oloibiri</em> (2015) and <em>The Royal Hibiscus Hotel</em> (2017) in which his lead role successfully brought to the fore valued messages on national issues. </p>
<h2><em>Oloibiri</em>‘s elder</h2>
<p>One of Jacob’s most defining performances was in <em>Oloibiri</em>. With a script that runs close to the Nigerian reality, the film was a perfect fit for a man who has constantly demonstrated his commitment to his people. The movie focuses on Oloibiri, a southern Nigerian village devastated by oil exploration and exploitation in the Niger Delta. It starts with a text that appears on the screen and roots the film in the history of the Delta: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In 1956, oil was discovered in Oloibiri, Nigeria.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>From the beginning, <em>Oloibiri</em> confronts us with the dangers in the region. A man discovered in possession of money and ammunition is summarily shot dead on the road by rebels acting on behalf of the villagers. His vehicle is also set on fire. The second scene introduces us to the two central characters who will clash about the solution to stop the violence and corruption in the area: the leader of the rebels, called “Gunpowder”, and the elder Timipre Dobrat, played by Jacobs. Timipre, traumatised by 50 years of powerlessly suffering from environmental degradation, and torn by the loss of his wife who died after drinking polluted water, laments: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Oil exploitation. Our nephews turned kidnappers. If I had protested … in the 1960s, none of this would have happened … I let my community down. I could have fought. I could have fought.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CWPin2rK9YW","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>The Nollywood character bears some resemblance to Jacobs. After trying to warn the other elders of the serious consequences of oil drilling, he too emigrates to Britain. Returning some ten years later, in 1978, he can see the damage and losses he had envisaged. Eventually Gunpowder and Timipre strike a deal to force the oil company to clean up the area.</p>
<h2>Oloibiri’s legacy</h2>
<p><em>Oloibiri</em> triggered a new reflection on the Niger Delta’s crisis. During its 2016 movie screening <a href="https://guardian.ng/art/at-oloibiri-screening-richard-mofe-damijo-hails-nollywood-for-improved-filmmaking-technique/">event</a> in Abuja, the Nigerian minister of environment commented that the film “emphasizes that in its response to problems, violence has never succeeded in replacing diplomacy”.</p>
<p>This beautiful movie is a tribute to Olu Jacobs’ lifetime endeavour to improve his society. It’s a film celebrated by Nollywood and all Nigerians, as the industry recognises his leadership and continuous influence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172658/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Françoise Ugochukwu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As ill health besets the Nigerian film and theatre legend, a tribute is in order. In his career he has always placed his country and industry first.Françoise Ugochukwu, Senior Research Fellow, Development, Policy and Practice (DPP), The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1715042021-11-25T14:32:33Z2021-11-25T14:32:33ZYoung Nigerians are flocking to TikTok - why it’s a double-edged sword<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432591/original/file-20211118-21-lhdn3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">TikTok exploded in Nigeria during the 2020 lockdowns. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Social media plays a number of roles in people’s lives. These platforms influence the way people communicate, connect and transmit information. This is especially true for young people who <a href="https://www.myschoolr.com/blog/positive-effects-of-social-media-on-youth-myschoolr.html">revel</a> in social media’s speed, accessibility and public nature.</p>
<p>TikTok is one such space. It’s a micro-video sharing social media <a href="https://www.jmir.org/2021/2/e21463/">platform</a> where users can create short, usually funny, videos and share them with a broader community of individuals on the same platform and beyond. A report by Sensor Tower in December 2020 indicates that TikTok has been <a href="https://wallaroomedia.com/blog/social-media/tiktok-statistics/">downloaded</a> over 2.6 billion times worldwide. In January 2021 alone, it was <a href="https://sensortower.com/blog/top-apps-worldwide-january-2021-by-downloads">downloaded 62 million times</a>. </p>
<p>It’s very popular with young audiences – and Nigerians are no exception. Tiktok is <a href="https://african.business/2021/10/finance-services/tiktok-wins-over-africas-youth/">gaining dominance</a> by the day, and is gradually diverting young Nigerians from other social media platforms, like Instagram. Of all the social media apps in existence, TikTok gained a 31.9% <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1176101/leading-social-media-platforms-nigeria/">market share</a> within Nigeria in 2020. </p>
<p>Young people create and take part in viral challenges; they churn out funny and interesting videos such as short comedy skits and dance moves. And, as <a href="https://www.interacoes-ismt.com/index.php/revista/article/view/490">our new study shows</a>, it boosted the mental health of some young Nigerians in the earlier days of the COVID pandemic, when lockdowns and isolation were the norm. Some even described it as therapeutic.</p>
<p>As a 25-year-old respondent from Abuja, Nigeria told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t know what would have become of me if not for TikTok. When I make videos, I am surprised at the number of likes and comments I receive, and these likes and comments go a long way in making me happy… </p>
</blockquote>
<p>We believe that by harnessing some of the attributes of TikTok videos, such as pranks and related content, Nigeria’s psychologists and others in the mental health space could find a new method to manage young people’s psychological challenges.</p>
<h2>A source of wellbeing and wealth</h2>
<p>For our study, we recruited 10 young adults who used TikTok during the 2020 COVID lockdowns in Nigeria. All 10 research participants – aged 19 to 31 – were selected through a snowballing sampling technique across five different states in Nigeria - Abuja, Anambra, Delta, Enugu, and Benue.</p>
<p>Due to the difficulty of meeting face-to-face amidst the COVID pandemic, and the novelty of TikTok, the research population was scarce. A majority of the participants chose to speak virtually, conducting interviews via email, WhatsApp messenger and telephone calls. However, this meant we had enough time to spend with the respondents, digging deep into their experiences, and yielding extensive qualitative data.</p>
<p>We interviewed all participants, using the principle of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1049732315617444">information power</a>. All participants provided insights into how they coped with TikTok during the lockdown.</p>
<p>We are aware of the subjective nature of our study. Subjective-self entails knowing the qualities that will enhance the current study as well as the belief the researcher have about using TikTok amidst the pandemic. We believe that these attributes and their firm understanding and knowledge of using TikTok, put them in the right position to conduct the current study. </p>
<p>It’s not just young Nigerians who see TikTok as a form of therapy. Mental health content is burgeoning on the platform. For instance, the hashtags #mentalhealth and #therapistsoftiktok have 15.3 billion and 318 million views, respectively. Even <a href="https://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/under-pressure/the-top-mental-health-tiktok-influencers-and-why-theyre-important/">licensed therapists</a> are using it to provide professional counselling and mental health support. </p>
<p>Bryony Porteous-Sebouhian, a writer for <a href="https://www.mentalhealthtoday.co.uk/innovations/how-is-tiktok-changing-the-way-young-people-relate-to-their-mental-health">Mental Health Today</a>, writes that the COVID pandemic accelerated the space’s evolution towards being an accessible and affordable space for mental health education use by therapists. She also credits its growth to the broader de-stigmatisation of mental health issues and the app’s young <a href="https://www.omnicoreagency.com/tiktok-statistics/">users</a>, who are more comfortable disclosing mental health problems. </p>
<p>There is no doubt, however, that social media is a double-edged sword: while it has benefits – <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10796-018-9848-5">reported</a> in more than just our study – it has its downsides, too.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/">Pew Research Center</a> reports that social media is “nearly omnipresent” in the lives of young people. Social media benefits young people by helping them share thoughts and ideas, develop communication skills, and pursue their careers of interest. </p>
<p>However, as with most technologies, there are also downsides. Specifically, the <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness#part_155771">National Institute of Mental Health</a> warns that social media can negatively affect people who are vulnerable to mental illness. Furthermore, the institute states that young adults (aged 18 to 25) have the highest prevalence of mental challenges of any adult age group.</p>
<p>Also, social media could be addictive to young people. Thus, students’ access to social media has been <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3183850">shown</a> to affect their academic performance negatively. With the current movement of almost all human endeavours into the virtual space, social media has become a paradise for cybercriminals; information and data theft is becoming <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336853481_Social_Media_A_Paradise_for_Cyber_Criminals">rampant</a>.</p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>Our research shows that young Nigerians, who are renowned for their <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/4096/nigerias-entertainment-industry-the-unsung-hero-of-youth-employment/">ingenuity</a> in entertainment spaces, can and do use TikTok as yet another positive space to build their personal brands, create connections and bolster their mental health.</p>
<p>To curtail the harmful effects of social media, educators and other stakeholders should run campaigns in schools, places of worship, and community centres to create awareness. Focus needs to be placed on responsible use of digital platforms. Security apps like Famisafe can be deployed to detect suspicious photos, and alert parents if their children receives any. </p>
<p>Stronger anti-cybercrime laws ought to be passed and implemented. And to regulate social media use, institutions of learning should enact rules curtailing social media usage during lectures and library sessions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>TikTok has exploded in popularity among young people in Nigeria. Here’s why it’s such a hit.Silas Udenze, Ph.D Research Trainee, UOC - Universitat Oberta de CatalunyaChinwe Elizabeth Uzochukwu, Head of Department, Mass Communication, Nnamdi Azikiwe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.