The Emerging Pattern of Metropolitan Governance of Lagos, Its Neighbors and Environmental Sustainability in the 21st Century Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examines the emerging pattern of governance in metropolitan Lagos and its neighboring settlements taking cognizance of environmental sustainability in the 21st Century with its attendant challenges. The work specifically highlights the metropolitan status of Lagos as a megacity and the issue of having to cope with its incessant population growth vis-à-vis the paucity of basic amenities needed to shove off such a highly vulnerable and competitive milieu.The work employs secondary data to elicit necessary information for its analysis and findings. Such data includes (but not limited to) textbooks, journals newspapers, magazines, periodicals, World Bank and UN-Habitat reports, etc.The findings are that governmental and non-governmental actors are involved in the metropolitan governance of Lagos and its neighbor howbeit in a perfunctory manner. Ogun State government is ostensibly proactive along provision of housing that can add value to the environment but these housing estates are deficient in basic infrastructure such as constant water supply, sewage, refuse pack, security, etc.The paper recommends a synergy among the federal government, Lagos and Ogun States as a means of ameliorating the sufferings of the people living in the area in question, as the population of the area may leap to thirty (30) million in 2025 according to population analysts. Hence, governmental and non-governmental interventions become expedient.