Lagos is once again ranked the third least liveable city in the world; should we be concerned?

Yes we should. Lagos has only manage to rank consistently higher than war-plague Syria and has faired no better than third place from the bottom as far back as I checked (since 2013).

Of concern is the City's continuous poor ranking in education, healthcare and stability. If FDI and GDP figures were to be a yardstick, the City is growing, but so also is inequality growing if the number of school-aged children hawking petty items on the street is to be used as a yardstick. Significant number of school-aged children and youths can be found at along almost any busy road hawking items. This is a disturbing trend that should concern residents in the state. Inequality is the outcome as well as the cause of the City's poor ranking in the live ability scale.

The City's government should ensure it pursues policies that bring about more inclusive growth. One area of interest is the City's utility companies. Truly the City's effort at privatisation and commercialisation of some of the City's most lucrative utilities has been a masterstroke in driving economic growth and improving service delivery. I am concerned that these assets have been placed in the hands of an elite few running well-veiled companies. The City's road, waste and soon-to-launched railway services come to mind.

I think it's in the City's best interest to unveil the ownership of these companies and push for these companies to be publicly listed with an emphasis on being socially-responsible. Improved transparency and socially-conscious utilization of revenue that will come with the public listing of utility companies will go a long way in bridging the inequality gap and in the City.

Another area the state needs to critically assess to tackle the growing inequality is taxation of the City's massive informal economy, but that's a story for another day.

How do you think we can make Lagos more liveable?

Cc: lalasticlala
Seun
Jarushub