The Future of Lagos

Often times we dream of what we would look like when we are grey and old, we get curious about how many wrinkle lines we would get, how much grey hair or teeth would fall. Hence the craze about the mobile application, Face App that uses artificial intelligence to show us how we would look like when we are older. Don’t you wish there was a face app that shows you what Lagos would look like in 20-30 years? Well, let’s take a conjecture.

Lagos, the new Dubai?

This year, the population of Lagos is estimated to be 13,903,620. With a population projected to hit 32.6 million by 2050, Lagos might become the sixth largest city in the world in the next 30 years, according to the Global Cities Institute at the University of Toronto. With the consistent continuity in growth of the population, there’d most likely be more real estate developments; Housing, residential areas, tourist centres, apartments and sky scrapers like the Eko Atlantic towers, would go up in their teeming numbers. Lagos being the economic capital of Nigeria would have more investors pour in in folds and torrents, hopefully. The recently signed free trade agreement (AfCFTA) holds a promising future for the state and conversely the nation. This is so because Lagos accounts for over 60% of industrial and commercial activities in Nigeria. Obviously, any economic policy that facilitates imports and exports among member countries – with lower to no tariffs, free access to the market and market information and the elimination of trade barriers – offer numerous benefits to SMEs. The agreement being favourable to businesses in Lagos and more and more people migrating to Lagos, to a large extent, there might be a reduction on reliance on government and the “entitlement mentality”. Innovation and solutions to socio- economic problems would come from us, thereby placing us on the frontlines of Africa’s economic takeover. This is the hope and the faith.

Luxury Floating Homes

Hypothetically, it can be said that within this time frame, for projection sake, we could have luxury floating homes with prototypes like Makoko’s floating school or boat-like homes, such as the models found in Amsterdam or Chicago, suitable for habitation in all weather conditions. The boat-like homes could very well be used to travel from one place to another, plummeting the very issue of over population in Lagos. Innovators are coming up with solutions that could make this adaptable in a city like Lagos. A lot can happen in 20-30 years, especially for a city like Lagos that’s embracing innovating solutions. For example, the Makoko floating school; While admittedly, there has been some clogs in the wheel of progress for this project project, some claim that there’s hope for the prototype.

Container Homes

As of date container homes are attaining more and more popularity; due to the need for affordable housing for the lower and middle class in Lagos. Housing that is cost effective and environmentally friendly. Before the invention of container homes, container shops were in existence; people saw that the inside was cooler than that of a cement building and also cheaper and easier to move. This was when we started seeing container homes, people buying and setting it up for a fracture of the cost of building a house, trust Nigerians not to pass up on the opportunity. While we might say, it’s a great deal, it’s a relatively new entrant into the real estate sphere here in Nigeria. Who’s to say that won’t change in the next 30 years by a wide margin?

The mind twirls with possibilities of what a prosperous state like Lagos would look like in 20-30 years, and the glaring signs are there to see, all things being equal. If the work is being put in now, that is, the policies and processes that are required to grow is set into motion right now, then the future certainly looks glorious!