Shanty Towns in Sub-Sahara Africa

1. Shanty Towns in Sub-Sahara Africa Presented By Bolanle M. George Master Public Health

2. Urban informal Settlements Poverty is associated with millions of slum dwellers around the world. The International Labor Organization estimates that the proportion of the urban work force engaged in the informal sector is highest in sub-Saharan Africa, and accounts for more than 50% of urban employment in two-thirds of the countries surveyed in 1999.

3. Poverty Increasing poverty, high population growth and migration, especially into urban areas, and political/institutional constraints are the underlying causes for environmental degradation in the country.

4. Policy and Planning The main policy challenge is how to support and regulate the urban informal sector in order to promote employment, productivity, and income for the poor, and at the same time ensure a safe, healthy and socially acceptable environment.

5. Policy and Environmental impacts • The policy dilemma appears to be how to contain the adverse environmental impacts of many of the activities of the urban informal sector without disrupting livelihoods, and causing social distress; how to promote environmental awareness and guarantee the right to the city, while protecting especially women, children, and apprentices, from harm and exploitation.

6. Nigeria Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation; on out of every five people in sub-Saharan Africa lives here. Its population growth rate is above three percent and rural to urban migration is making the country's cities some of the largest in the world.

7. Nigeria and Oil • Following the discovery of oil in the Niger Delta in the 1950s and the rapid development associated with that, significant economic progress was made in the 1970s and 1980s. Coupled with the continuously increasing population that exerts increasing pressure on urban and rural land and water resources, serious consequences • have ensued.

8. Environmental Threats Halt desertification In the northern and central states, coordinated physical, biological, educational and political actions are needed to stop this threat Mitigate industrial and urban pollution. The health and quality of life of almost half of the nation's population are • threatened by the decreasing quality of water, air and soil resources in urban areas __ Reduce land-based

9. Environmental Threats Reduced land-based sources of pollution of the marine environment Vegetative and fishery resources along Nigeria's 879 km of coastline are increasingly threatened by pollutants entering the country's air and watersheds

10. Diminishing Agriculture Nigeria's diminishing agricultural land base needs to be aggressively conserved and programs promoting biotechnology carefully scrutinized for potential negative impacts Improve management of protected areas.

11. Migration • The overcrowded conditions that posed such a problem for Lagos planning authorities were in large part caused by the constant influx of out-of-state migrants to Lagos in search of jobs.

12. Loss of revenues drove people to urban settlements Loss of agricultural land to erosion, or desertification, or polluted rivers, lakes and lagoon which made fishermen to give up means of livelihood and migrate to urban areas without access to electricity, safe water supply , sanitation and other basic services in those cities.

13. Urban Planning • . From the 1950s onward, overcrowding became the salient feature of life in Lagos. As of 1972–73, the city boasted an average of 4.4 persons per room, with 76.4% of households living entirely in one room, more crowded than any other Nigerian town or city (see Olu Sule 1978:67–85). In a study of five major Lagos slums in 1977, M. A. O. Ayeni found that the average number of persons per house ranged from 14.8, in Isale Eko, to 27.6, in Mushin (Ayeni 1977:78).

14. Partial Compensation for some slums • For many slums, such overcrowding was partially compensated for by better provision of toilets, electricity, and pipe-borne water than might be found in other towns (although still not at anywhere near satisfactory levels), but for slum areas along the suburban fringe, even these amenities were lacking.

15. Economy Development • Like so many African countries, Nigeria structured its economic development plans in favor of industry rather than agriculture. Nigeria‘s population grew faster than its agricultural sector did, pushing rural Nigerians into the cities.

16. Constant irregular power supply • It is no longer news that Nigeria is plagued by perennial energy crisis deriving from declining electricity generation from the national power hegemony called the Power Holdings Company of Nigeria Plc (PHCN). No electricity, depressed economic activity, anger and frustration.

17. Global Electric Power Supply • The total global electric power supply is 3,400,000MW capacity and developing countries with 80 per cent of world's population have 1,500,000MW capacity. Advanced countries with 20 per cent of world's population paradoxically have electricity three times more than the developing countries' 80 per cent population.

18. Power Supply in Nigeria Out of 1,500,000MW capacity shared amongst the developing countries, Nigeria, with the largest population in Africa, coupled with its enormous natural resources, has a ridiculously 1,000MW capacity.

19. Previous Government promise • The Government initiated several projects, including the Independent Power Projects (IPPs), which were expected to contribute about 3,000MW to the national grid by 2007. It was his government's intention to increase the national electricity generation from 4,000MW in 2003 to about 10,000MW by 2010.

20. Use of Generators • All over the country, there is indiscriminate use of generators as the main source of power in homes and offices. This comes with very high cost, pollution and discomfort to the citizenry because they inhale carbon monoxide which has adverse effect on the health of the population.

21. Cost of irregular electricity • Manufacturing industries are feeling the heat as a lot of them have been forced to shut down. For those that are still operating, generators have become the main source of power while PHCN has become the stand-by.

22. 2020 Visions • The economy is worst hit. Without electricity there can be no industrial development and all the grand visions of becoming one of the world's leading economies by 2020 cannot be realized.

23. Conclusion • Nigeria is endowed with vast human, mineral, intellectual, natural resources that I believe human race can benefit from but for the lack of electricity. Nigeria can boast of world’s grandest British architectural designed houses for the rich and slums for the poor but they all have one thing in common, they turn to generator for lights in the dark because of lack of electricity.

24. References: • allafrica.com/stories/200906240433.html • http://www.fmst.gov.ng/physcial_department.php • Family and Social Change in an African City: A Study of Rehousing in Lagos. Chicago: Northwestern University Press. Moore, Jonathan. 1984. ―The Political History of Nigeria‘s New Capital.‖ Journal of Modern African