Why is lagos a megacity

It would be a gross injustice to leave out the latter. This city is characterized by its vigour and an intensely motivating atmosphere. Everyone seems to be going somewhere fast, always on the move, always on the go. Irking to leave their footprints on the earth of this gorgeous city.

Sometimes if you listen close enough on a typical Monday morning rush, you could hear the pounding hearts of men and women who have to somehow get somewhere in time. The combination of these heartbeats is what make Lagos the blood supply of the nation. The center of excellence it is called, but if the nation was human, Lagos would make up its entire circulatory system. Lagos bustles with abundant energy not simply from dawn until dusk, but to another dawn again — the cycle never breaks and its residents love to describe it as the city that never sleeps.

However, appalling slums and a housing deficit, ubiquitous traffic congestion, a high crime rate and ocean surges are just some of the issues bedeviling Lagos. But the city is changing and slowly but surely evolving for the better.

The story of Lagos is tightly knitted with that of Nigeria itself — the economic downturn of the early 70s and 80s led to a massive migration to urban areas.

This led to a huge overstretching of the city to what it is today — 21 million people crammed into a space of just , hectares. By , it had reached its point of elasticity — it had to reinvent itself or begin a fast decline. In , Babatunde Fashola — a lawyer and an official in the former government — became governor of Lagos and in a matter of months people began to notice the difference.

The simple fact that urban planning, which redresses the obsolescence of city spaces, could be applied to Lagos, shocked residents and non-residents alike. Within a short time garbage dumps were turned into gardens. One example is the ubiquitous traffic gridlock of places like Oshodi ; this area was transformed by demolishing illegal structures and evicting squatters. Thus Eko Oni Baje, 'Lagos must not spoil' in Yoruba, became the mantra on the lips of every man, woman and child. And the world took notice too, global brands and luxury franchises from Porsche, to Radison Blu and Ermenegildo Zegna all came flocking.

Innovation, creativity and financial power — Lagos has all the necessary ingredients for a thriving startup sector. Hackathons, boot camps and startup weeks regularly attract local and international participants.

Ayodeji Rotinwa, a freelance journalist, asks himself whether these are signs for a healthy growth potential. By Ayodeji Rotinwa. Kelechi's Quest: A Docu-Drama Series Kelechi Udegbe, a budding Nigerian actor in the city of Lagos, features in this 6 part documentary drama series where he weighs his option of finding a suitable accommodation within his budget, thereby sparking a debate about new ways of accessing affordable accommodation and about the equitability of housing policies of Lagos State.

By Phumelele Mkhize. Where is Lagos for everyday people? A modern city is a centre of opportunities for all — rich and poor — to reach their highest potentials, that is governed in an inclusive, collaborative and sustainable manner. Ademola Omoegun from the Department of Architecture, University of Lagos aimed at understanding how affected people cope with the effects of government interventions for replacing informality with formal structures and how Lagos fares in embracing creative and innovative strategies of inclusive development initiated and implemented by the affected people.

Temilade Sesan. However, it must be done such that it is in line with the broader socio-economic, political, cultural, lineage of the country. It is important that governments, through their ministries of health, and associated government structures, identify existing assets and resources, infrastructural, human or fiscal that could be easily accessed and used during an outbreak and in curbing a possible outbreak.

For example, once it was announced that there was a case of Ebola in Nigeria, the government instructed that available technologies that were in place for use in polio eradication program, be repurposed to support the Ebola response. It is important that decisions during an outbreak are evidence-based driven. During an infectious disease outbreak, lots of data is generated but is not used to guide decision making. This should not be the case.

During an outbreak, it is important that healthcare facilities make information on the epidemic available for use by policy makers.

The advantage being that, if information is available and properly generated, it could foster the potential for real-time learning and effective decision making. In an outbreak situation, the importance of technical assistance, especially in resource limited settings, cannot be overemphasized. International health agencies and non-governmental organisations such as the WHO, and MSF stand a good chance to support national governments to quickly respond to threats of an outbreak.

It is important that such a response be provided in a timely fashion taking into consideration local systems, organizational culture and political dynamics of the affected country. This can be best achieved if these organisations collaborate with local experts and national governments.

Source: Lagos State Ministry of Health. Lagos State Ministry of Health. Pictures of persons included in this chapter were taken by the Federal and Lagos State Ministry of health, Nigeria during its public health awareness campaigns against Ebola. Then the executive governor in , by law 13th of governor in the Laws of Lagos caps of Godfrey B.

Tangwa, Email: moc. Akin Abayomi, Email: az. Samuel J. Ujewe, Email: moc. Nchangwi Syntia Munung, Email: az. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Published online Mar Guest Editor s : Godfrey B. Tangwa, 1 Akin Abayomi, 2 Samuel J. Jide Idris 5 and Adesina Fagbenro 6.

Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Corresponding author. This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. Abstract Lagos State, Nigeria, is a mega-city with an estimated population of 16—21 million people.

Context Lagos State is a mega-city with an estimated population of 16—21 million people. Incident Management Approach: Existing Institutional Structures, Mechanisms and Capacity Plan The following are established mechanisms to ensure there is an effective health incident management plan which will mitigate risks to safety: Rapid Response Teams Lagos State Emergency Management Agency backed by law Functional and effective Emergency Preparedness and Response Committees in all the tiers of health care delivery.

Infectious Disease Hospital i. Open in a separate window. Commencement of active and immediate contact tracing regarding primary contacts Press conference held to sensitize Lagosians and indeed Nigerians on the arrival of EVD in the state and country Same day cremation of the corpse of the index case, following due preparation, decontamination, evacuation Decontamination of the affected hospital On-the-spot training of all relevant staff morticians and environmental health workers on evacuation.

Establishment of a Point of entry team at the Lagos airport The Screening of persons entering Lagos through the different national borders Development of screening instruments. Post-outbreak Immediate Measures-Response 5 Social Mobilization Team Initial Mapping — community, stakeholders including health workers , risk, political, incidence and contact. Development of messages in different formats public service announcements, jingles fan-tapes for motorized campaign and bulk SMS and in different languages to cater for the different population IEC materials fact sheets, FAQs, and hand-washing Media appearances to allay fears and address concerns which include possible cure, denial i.

Post-outbreak Immediate Measures-Response 5 Social mobilization Team Frequent press briefings on cases of Ebola and respond strategies Use of social media platforms communicate information on Ebola.