Introduction

Nigeria has experienced an unprecedented rate of urbanisation, from 10% in 1951 to 48.2% in 2010, a gain of nearly 40% over a period of 60 years. The current rate of urbanisation is 50%, with an urban population growth of 5.8%. This is higher than the average population growth of 2.8% (Ibrahim, 2012). The rate of inmigration into major cities in Nigeria has been so high that the pace of settlement development and housing provision could not, and cannot, accommodate it. Since the in-migrants must have shelter, all forms of informal procedures are being adopted to provide housing. This has resulted in non-compliance with physical planning regulations and development control standards. This, in turn, has culminated in slum development in most Nigerian cities. Currently, the slum population in Nigeria's urban areas is estimated at 66%, resulting in unplanned towns and cities, inadequate housing infrastructure, and so on.

Slums and squatter settlements in Nigeria are both the products of, and vehicles for, modernising activities. Lagos Mega City is no exception when it comes to this problematic impact of urbanisation. Agbola and Jinadu (1997) reported that a 1981 World Bank-assisted urban renewal project identified 42 ‘blighted areas’ in the Lagos metropolis alone and the State Urban Renewal Board has identified more in recent years. The majority of urban residents are crowded into these areas and other enclaves of low-income groups. Atere (2001) has shown that these areas are in dire need of upgrading or regeneration. Most often, the Nigerian government's response is demolition or slum clearance after the eviction of the residents. Such efforts are largely undertaken to improve the city's international public image, or justified for health reasons, or as maintaining standards. However, it could also be argued that this is about profit maximisation when a settlement is located on prime development land, which a number of slums are. After evictions and demolitions, such areas are often redeveloped into condominiums such that the former residents cannot afford the new properties. This transformation, I would argue, is a form of ‘gentrification’ in Lagos.

‘Gentrification’ is relatively a contemporary term that refers to an ongoing, cyclical process that is widespread in the developed Western world.