Lagos 25th Most Innovative City In The World - Global Liveability Survey

Lagos may soon overtake Johannesburg as Africa's business hub, the organisation said.

Despite being weighed down by decaying and inadequate infrastructure, Lagos State has made the shortlist of the 25 most innovative cities in the world. Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, made the final cut from an initial pool of 75 cities.

The search to pick the world's most innovative city in 2012 is organised by Urban Land Institute (ULI), an authoritative and widely quoted source of objective information on urban planning, growth, and development in the world. The competition is sponsored by Citi Group, with media support from the Wall Street Journal.

According to ULI, despite the global financial crisis, each shortlisted city has "maintained innovative mindset, and the capacity to adapt and re-imagine itself."

It's Fashola's performance .A statement from the organisers indicates that the effort of the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, and is team, is the main reason for the state's positive rating.

"These 25 cities have stepped up to the challenge - the scale and scope of avenues they have pursued since 2008 exhibit a sustained and growing commitment to development," ULI said.

Mr. Fashola has been the state governor since May 2007.

The institute stated that the shortlisted cities have provided "new avenues, whether in structure, scope or timing, reflect remarkable, forward-thinking decisions on the part of municipal leadership."

City of Potentials

Lagos made the cut due to what the organisation described as the city's economic potential, progress and investment climate.

ULI described Lagos as one of the "Big 5" cities in Africa and projected the city to soon over take Johannesburg as the continent's business hub.

"The city is Nigeria's 'gate to the sea' accounting for 80 per cent of national seaport activity. Lagos GDP is $33 billion (N5 trillion) and accounts for roughly 25 per cent of Nigeria's overall GDP."

With 18 million inhabitants, Lagos is the most populated of the 25 cities. The only other African city that made the cut is Cape Town in South Africa. Other cities on the list are London (UK), Shenzhen (China), Medelin (Colombia), Copenhagen (Denmark), Raleigh-Durham (USA), Toronto (Canada), Melbourne (Australia), Bratislavia (Slovakia), Hong Kong, San-Francisco (USA), Chicago (USA) and Berlin (Germany).

Completing the list are New York, Shanghai (China), Hamburg (Germany), Atlanta (USA), Tel Aviv (Israel), Boston (USA), Vancouver (Canada), Seattle (USA), Vienna (Austria), Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Singapore. ULI will announce the final shortlist of three on October 25 while the winning city will be announced January 24, 2013.

City of contradiction

This generous assessment of the city by ULI will certainly cheer the state government. However, many Lagos residents will take it with a pinch of salt. Lagos is notorious for heavy traffics. Residents can spend up to six hours in traffic during rush hour. This they blame on decaying road network and congestion. The government has embarked on road rehabilitation in recent years, but with the absence of a viable mass transit plan, their efforts have been inadequate.

Though it is the country's financial hub, Lagos suffers from mass unemployment, insecurity, poor infrastructure, and so on.

In April, The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city as the third worst/least liveable city in the world in its Global Liveability Survey.

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Lagos Is Third Worse City To Live In - Report

A new ranking has rated the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria and centre of excellence Lagos, as the third worst place to live in out of 140 cities surveyed. This report was compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit in its 2012 Global Liveability Survey.         
The liveability report which surveyed 140 cities around the world to assess the best or worst living conditions gave Lagos the 138th position. This was a drop from its 137th position in the 2011 ranking. Following closely after Lagos was Port Moresby which took the 139th position and Dhaka, Bangladesh as the 140th position making it the worst liveable city in the world.



Ranking first on the list as the city with the best living conditions is Melbourne, Australia with an overall rating of 97.5. Vienna, Australia ranked second while Vancouver, Canada ranked third. Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa took the 92nd and 96th positions respectively.
London, UK is ranked 55th, while Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the next host of the Olympics also shares the 92nd position with Johannesburg.

The liveability report surveys 140 locations around the world to assess the best or worst living conditions. Cities are scored on political and social stability, crime rates and access to quality healthcare. It also measures the diversity and standard of cultural events and the natural environment; education (school and university); and the standard of infrastructure, including public transport.
The Economist Intelligence Unit produces regular reports on the “reports on the liveability”, and  cost of living, of the world’s major cities, which receive wide coverage in international news sources.
With the efforts of Governor Raji Fashola, Lagos state should rank better next time or what is your take on this latest ranking? Eko oni baje o!

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Police Rescue Man From Abductors Den!

The police in Lagos, yesterday, rescued a 45-year-old man, who was allegedly at the verge of being killed in a criminal hideout in Iba, Ojo, area of Lagos, arresting seven suspected members of the gang in the process. Although the suspects, claimed their victim, one Arinze Igboagba, was abducted, following his refusal to refund N10 million, which they claimed he collected to facilitate their visas to China, but the police said they were yet to substantiate their claim, adding that investigation would establish the truth.

During interrogation, the victims claimed they were on a revenge mission, explaining that after an endless wait for Arinze to give them their visas to China, he took them to a hotel in Festac Town, Lagos, where he assured them that his manager will refund their money but he never fulfilled his promise. The victims, it was gathered, took Arinze to their abode in Iba area and reportedly locked him inside a room, threatening to kill him if he failed to refund their money. After three days in their custody, Arinze reportedly scribbled a note for help and threw it out of the window. Fortunately for him, someone picked it and contacted policemen at Ojo, who stormed the apartment and arrested the suspects. Police sources said a cheque of N5 million and a knife were recovered from the suspects.

 

Source Vanguard

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Lagos Seals Off Distressed 3-Storey Building

The Lagos State Government has sealed off a distressed three-storey building and evacuated its occupants on Ajayi Road, Ogba area of the state in Southwest Nigeria. The three-storey building has eight flats with over 50 occupants while a church, City of Divine Grace International uses the ground floor of the building for worship. A printing press and a diagnostic centre also use the building for their businesses.

A Boys’ Quarter, a storey building with three flats is at the back of the building, was also sealed off.
Officials of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, led by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Oluwatoyin Ajayi visited the distressed building on Monday and passed a vote of no confidence on it.


P.M.NEWS observed that the building is already sinking, while several cracks were seen on the building which is already tilting towards the left side and might collapse at any time.
Occupants of the building made a distress call to the government intimating it of the near collapse of the building, while government moved in on Sunday, evacuated everyone in the building and sealed it off.

According to Ayayi, government moved in yesterday to evacuate every occupant of the building to avert loss of lives and sealed off the building, saying that government would demolish the building any time from now.

“We have sealed off the building and ensured that nobody enters into it again. We also have taskforce officials here to enforce compliance. We have seen the level of distress of this building and we will bring it down without allowing it to affect other buildings around.

“There are eight families in this building and the building is also being used for commercial purposes. We have a mini-church and a printing press here,” she said.

She added that “our material testing laboratory has been here and they said the building has lost its integrity and our engineers have certified that the building is not repairable. We have to move in tomorrow (today) and bring it down.”

The permanent secretary lamented that the building was being used for a printing press which could also affect the integrity of the building because of the serious vibration it generated, adding that the building had begun to sink.

One of the workers at the printing press, Mr. Solomon Olajojo told P.M.NEWS that the cracks in the building were first discovered three weeks ago, saying that the caretaker of the house was informed but that nothing was done about it.

He said on Friday night, they discovered that the building having more cracks and that on Saturday it became dangerous to dwell in it.

“One of the occupants who locked his door and went out could not open it when he came back because the weight of the building tilted toward the left where his flat is located,” he said.

P.M.NEWS gathered that the building was erected 35 years ago, while the owner was dead and his three children are living abroad.

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Plane Crash In Lagos!

A Dana air commercial aircraft from abuja to Lagos just crashed around Iju in Lagos with abouth 153 passengers onboard! Details are still sketchy but will keep you updated.

UPDATE 1. It crashed into a powerline.

UPDATE 2! Pictures from the scene.

Update 3: To see more pictures click HERE

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Fashola Recalls Sacked Lagos Doctors

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, has broken the deadlock over the 788 sacked doctors in the state. He announced today that the doctors can have their jobs back, as their suspension and sack have been lifted.

Governor Fashola announced the good news following the intervention of the national leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, which mandated Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to meet with Fashola to find ways of resolving the lingering crisis.


Tinubu met with Fashola at the State House, Ikeja, this evening and briefed the press on the outcome of the meeting with the governor, while Fashola agreed to recall the sacked doctors to pave way for more dialogue on the crisis on ground.

According to Tinubu, “I have been meeting with the governor and the breaking news is the fact that I have brought the appeal of all the leadership of the party and well meaning Nigerians and other organisations who are committed to the welfare of our people for him to be more flexible, for him to really look at the issue of the doctors on strike critically and I can announce to you that he has agreed to suspend the question of the dismissal of those doctors.

“We must work hard and be committed to build our institutions, to develop our people, to prioritise the welfare of our people, because all along, I have not seen a problem where we don’t have resolution; he has agreed to suspend the dismissal and advise that they should go back to their work.”
Tinubu added that “to follow the procedure, get back to their jobs, I don’t see a point of no return here and since people are the cornerstone of the progressive policy of the state, I want to thank the governor for looking at it from the point of view of the people, the general public concerned and it’s now left for the doctors and I want to advise and appeal to them to immediately resume their work in earnest and forget this intractable position.

“We can solve all those problems; I don’t want to comment further until all parties respect this outcome. The governor all along has not been inflexible, it’s a question of the institution that we all have developed; he has repeated it several times, the hiring and firing of the doctors is in the hands of the Health Service Commission.

“I am very much aware of it and I have to understand him. I have reviewed with even the Honourable Commissioner concerned and I don’t see any area that is irresolvable.
“We are trying to build great healthcare system in the state and I don’t see why we can’t resolve it and he has agreed to be more flexible and be more accommodating and be the leader for all.”

Fashola said “the issues are disputes about institutions and nothing more and how we could work together to provide better healthcare. One could not hear those appeals and also the appeals of the ordinary people of the state and remain unmindful of all the responses to them.

“And it is in that light that I have consulted with the Health Service Commission and they have assured me that the issue of dismissal will be suspended immediately. It is now left for the doctors to return to their locations and to regularise their status with the Health Service Commission and I hope that in the interest of our people, they will seize this opportunity of this olive branch and let us get on with developmental work that we are tasked with at this time.

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