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| Welcome to Guardian Lagos Week – live | Welcome to Guardian Lagos Week – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 9.24am GMT | |
| 09:24 | |
| No one knows how many people live in Lagos | |
| Nick Mead | |
| Estimates of the population of Nigeria’s commercial capital range from 12 million to more than 21 million. The later estimate – from the Lagos Bureau of Statistics – would place Lagos above Cairo as Africa’s largest city, and among the top five in the world. | |
| There is no dispute that the city’s population growth has been staggering. In 1970, the United Nations estimated the city’s population at 1.4 million. By 1990 that had more than tripled to 4.8 million. The latest UN World Urbanisation Prospects report reckons the population of Lagos will double over the next 15 years – from 12.6 million in 2014, to 24.2 million in 2030. | |
| One problem with Lagos’s population statistics is that 70% of Nigerian new-borns are not officially registered at birth. “The value of birth registration as a fundamental human right is often overlooked due to the continuing lack of awareness that registration is a critical measure to secure the recognition of any person before the law, to safeguard his or her rights and to ensure that any violation of these rights does not go unnoticed,” Unicef says. Many deaths go unregistered too. | |
| The UN says Lagos is the fastest growing megacity in the world in absolute terms – adding 730,000 people a year. That’s 2,000 new people a day. Many are migrants from other parts of the country looking for better prospects in the big city, and most end up living in slums. | |
| One of the best known of these is Makoko, a floating slum in the Lagos lagoon which may be home to anywhere between 40,000 and 300,000 people, according to the Heinrich Böll Foundation, an NGO active in the area. Look out for Tolu Ogunlesi’s in-depth report from Makoko tomorrow. | |
| 8.59am GMT | 8.59am GMT |
| 08:59 | 08:59 |
| So Lagos Week is ... what exactly? | So Lagos Week is ... what exactly? |
| Chris Michael | Chris Michael |
| As the world urbanises with unprecedented speed, Africa’s cities are at the forefront – and led, as in so many other ways, by the great megapolis of west Africa, Lagos. With the UN predicting that the Nigerian megacity could double in size in just 15 years, the Guardian is spending a week exploring the realities of life in this legendarily bustling, ambitious and chaotic place. | As the world urbanises with unprecedented speed, Africa’s cities are at the forefront – and led, as in so many other ways, by the great megapolis of west Africa, Lagos. With the UN predicting that the Nigerian megacity could double in size in just 15 years, the Guardian is spending a week exploring the realities of life in this legendarily bustling, ambitious and chaotic place. |
| For five days, we’ll be looking at how Lagos is coping with its transportation and electricity nightmares, facing up to climate change and thriving as a cultural and economic powerhouse. From “dialectical rap” in Yoruba, Igbo and pidgin, to the young women leaping across the city’s generation gap, we’ll be celebrating life here by hearing from locals who know it best. | For five days, we’ll be looking at how Lagos is coping with its transportation and electricity nightmares, facing up to climate change and thriving as a cultural and economic powerhouse. From “dialectical rap” in Yoruba, Igbo and pidgin, to the young women leaping across the city’s generation gap, we’ll be celebrating life here by hearing from locals who know it best. |
| Two opposing visions of the urban future stand out – Makoko, the world’s biggest floating slum, and Eko Atlantic, billed as Nigeria’s Manhattan and set to be protected against rising waters by a towering seawall. As celebrated Lagosian architect Kunlé Adeyeni tells our writer Tolu Ogunlesi for our interactive feature on Makoko: “Eko Atlantic is about fighting the water; [here in Makoko] we’re saying – live in the water!” | Two opposing visions of the urban future stand out – Makoko, the world’s biggest floating slum, and Eko Atlantic, billed as Nigeria’s Manhattan and set to be protected against rising waters by a towering seawall. As celebrated Lagosian architect Kunlé Adeyeni tells our writer Tolu Ogunlesi for our interactive feature on Makoko: “Eko Atlantic is about fighting the water; [here in Makoko] we’re saying – live in the water!” |
| Related: Lagos is expected to double in size in 15 years. How can it possibly cope? | Related: Lagos is expected to double in size in 15 years. How can it possibly cope? |
| Corruption remains a big issue in Lagos, so we’re shedding some light on the “area boys” who extort drivers, and running an open Q+A with the activists who exposed former Lagos governor Babatunde Fashola for embezzling public money. Social media has come into its own over the past year as a force for political change, including the mass #NoToSocialMediaBill movement that helped overturn an oppressive media law. Every wedding couple now has a hashtag – and we’ll go inside those weddings, as well as asking Lagosians to pick the city’s 21 most influential entertainers, campaigners and opinion-makers. We’ve also got exclusive photographs by Andrew Esiebo from inside the city’s must-be-seen-to-be-believed pentecostal megachurches, and will be saluting Lagos’s best Instagrammers. | Corruption remains a big issue in Lagos, so we’re shedding some light on the “area boys” who extort drivers, and running an open Q+A with the activists who exposed former Lagos governor Babatunde Fashola for embezzling public money. Social media has come into its own over the past year as a force for political change, including the mass #NoToSocialMediaBill movement that helped overturn an oppressive media law. Every wedding couple now has a hashtag – and we’ll go inside those weddings, as well as asking Lagosians to pick the city’s 21 most influential entertainers, campaigners and opinion-makers. We’ve also got exclusive photographs by Andrew Esiebo from inside the city’s must-be-seen-to-be-believed pentecostal megachurches, and will be saluting Lagos’s best Instagrammers. |
| Lagos Week is a collaboration between Guardian Cities and the Guardian’s Africa Network, with whose local partners – including Sahara Reporters, a citizen journalism network focusing on corruption, and Y Naija, the home for all things young and Nigeria – we’ve worked closely. We’ve also timed our focus to coincide with Social Media Week, also kicking off in Lagos today, a gathering which reminds us that cities are more connected than ever – yet also exposes the lack of in-depth coverage by international media of this crucial west African megacity. | Lagos Week is a collaboration between Guardian Cities and the Guardian’s Africa Network, with whose local partners – including Sahara Reporters, a citizen journalism network focusing on corruption, and Y Naija, the home for all things young and Nigeria – we’ve worked closely. We’ve also timed our focus to coincide with Social Media Week, also kicking off in Lagos today, a gathering which reminds us that cities are more connected than ever – yet also exposes the lack of in-depth coverage by international media of this crucial west African megacity. |
| Related: The Lagos power list: 21 people in 21 million | Related: The Lagos power list: 21 people in 21 million |
| Above all, we want to hear from you – if you live or work in Lagos, tell us what you love and what needs to change. Booker prize nominee Chigozie Obioma has gotten the conversation started: do you think he’s right that Lagos is about to “spoil”? | Above all, we want to hear from you – if you live or work in Lagos, tell us what you love and what needs to change. Booker prize nominee Chigozie Obioma has gotten the conversation started: do you think he’s right that Lagos is about to “spoil”? |
| Let us know – join the discussion at #GuardianLagos on Twitter and Facebook, or contribute to our special GuardianWitness callout. | Let us know – join the discussion at #GuardianLagos on Twitter and Facebook, or contribute to our special GuardianWitness callout. |
| ... and be vocal! In Lagos, it’s the best way to be heard. | ... and be vocal! In Lagos, it’s the best way to be heard. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 9.02am GMT | at 9.02am GMT |