An analysis of well-being in urban Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Improving the well-being of Nigerians is the aim of Nigeria Vision 20:2020, the key development policy document in Nigeria. However, as well-being is an emerging and contested concept, this article explores how the well-being of urban citizens is understood in Nigeria, and identifies key trends affecting urban well-being as expressed by a selection of strategic elite stakeholders in Nigerian society. These included senior civil servants and politicians, and various senior members of civil society groups and academia. The analysis also reveals characteristics underpinning policies for urban well-being.

L'amélioration du bien-être des Nigérians est l'objectif de Nigeria Vision 20:2020, le plan de développement clé du Nigeria. Cependant, le bien-être étant un concept émergent et contesté, cet article examine comment celui des citadins est compris au Nigeria, et identifie les tendances clés affectant le bien-être urbain, telles que démontrées par un choix d'acteurs issus de l'élite stratégique de la société nigériane. Parmi ces derniers figuraient des hauts fonctionnaires, des politiciens et divers membres expérimentés de groupes issus de la société civile et du monde académique. L'analyse révèle aussi les caractéristiques sur lesquelles s'appuient les politiques sur le bien-être dans les villes.

El principal documento de políticas de desarrollo de Nigeria, “Nigeria Vision 20:2020”, apunta a mejorar el bienestar de sus ciudadanos. Sin embargo, dado que el de bienestar es un concepto emergente y controvertido, el presente artículo examina cómo es comprendido el bienestar de los habitantes urbanos en este país. Al respecto, y según lo expresado por ciertos actores estratégicos seleccionados entre la élite de la sociedad nigeriana, se identificaron ciertas tendencias clave que afectan el bienestar en el ámbito urbano. Entre dichos actores se encuentran altos oficiales de cargos públicos, políticos, así como figuras reconocidas de grupos de la sociedad civil y el ámbito académico. El análisis realizado da cuenta de los elementos que sustentan las políticas instrumentadas para lograr el bienestar a nivel urbano.

KEYWORDS:

• Aid – Development policies
• Governance and public policy
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Acknowledgements

This research is part of the Urbanisation Research Nigeria (URN) initiative, a four-year (2013–17) DFID-funded urban research programme being implemented by a consortium of Nigerian and UK universities and consultancies. This article is drawn from scoping research (Rigon et al. 2015). For more information on the URN programme, see http://urn.icfwebservices.com. A special thanks to the Government of Nigeria, whose civil servants and elected officers at every tier of government have been very open in meeting with us. Many thanks to colleagues at Ahmadu Bello University, Benue State University, University of Lagos, and University of Ibadan. I would also like to thank the entire research team in Nigeria and in the UK (Steve Abah, Sylvanus Dangoji, Julian Walker, Alexandre Apsan Frediani, Olusegun Ogunleye, Laura Hirst). I am grateful to Sarah White and Michael Mattingly for their useful comments. Many thanks to both Dr Robin Bloch and Nikolaos Papachristodoulou at ICF for their continuing support and coordination.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Andrea Rigon is a lecturer at the Development Planning Unit of University College London. His work analyses how social and political conflicts among different actors shape the implementation of development interventions, particularly in informal settlements.

ORCID

Andrea Rigon http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4615-4537

Notes

1. Nigeria is a federal republic made up of 36 states. Each state is divided in a number of Local Government Areas (LGAs), currently 774 in Nigeria.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Department for International Development UK under the Urbanisation Research Nigeria (URN) initiative.