A NEW report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has classified Lagos as the least safe city globally where above 50 per cent of its residents reside in slums.
Of the 60 states across the world ranked in the report titled Safe Cities Index 2019, Lagos was the only city in Nigeria included and that was the first time. It secured the least position.
Tokyo, Japan’s capital; Singapore and Osaka were the top three safest cities respectively.
The cities were ranked based on digital, health, infrastructure and personal securities.
On digital security, the report checked the privacy policy, citizen awareness of digital threats, level of technology employed, dedicated cyber-security teams, percentage of computers infected and percentage with internet access.
The infrastructure security considered the enforcement of transport safety, pedestrian friendliness, road network, power network, rail network, the percentage living in slums, and air transport facilities.
The indicators used to measure health security are including environmental policies, access to healthcare, number of beds per 1,000 population, number of doctors per 1,000 population, access to safe and quality food, quality of health services, air quality, water quality, and emergency services in the city.
The level of police engagement, community-based patrolling, available street-level crime data, the prevalence of petty crime, gender safety (female homicide), and rate of drug use were the measures used in speculating each city personal security.
The report stated that the proportion of people living in the cities were 58 per cent but would increase to 68 per cent by 2050.
It stated that some of the developing countries would struggle to deal with the “extent of change”.
“Indeed, the challenges of urbanisation, if unmet, can entail substantial human and economic risks.
“On the other hand, if they are effectively addressed, the growth of cities may become an essential part of how emerging economies find a way to catch up to those in more developed countries and how humanity as a whole creates more sustainable ways to live,” the report read partly.
It noted that urban management would play a fundamental role in defining the quality of life of most human beings in the coming years.
“A look at the top five cities in each pillar—digital, health, infrastructure and personal security—yields a similar message. In each area, leading cities got the basics right, be it easy access to high-quality healthcare, dedicated cyber-security teams, community-based police patrolling or disaster continuity planning.”
But Lagos earned below-average scores in all the four measures.
On digital security, Lagos was score 42.2 per cent, thereby secured the 56th place, only leading Dhaka, Cairo, Ho Chi Minh city and Yargon.
For infrastructure security, Lagos dropped to 58th spot with 37.4 scores, leading only Dhaka and Caracas.
In both the health and personal security table, Lagos had the lowest scores, thereby ranked poor in both security matters.
And at the overall list, the largest city in Africa earned the 60th position, the least, after securing the lowest score of 38.1.
The Economic intelligence report also estimated that half of the Lagos residents LIVE in the informal settlements, a situation Alioune Badiane, president of The Urban Think Tank Africa (TUTTA) described as main harbinger of insecurity.
He said the growing number of Lagos slum dwellers arose not from a growing population per se, but from poor or insufficient planning.
“It is not acceptable. We have a lot to do, but the number one priority is improved urban planning and better city management, Badiane was quoted in the report.