Introduction

In the last two decades Lagos has become the largest city of Africa,
yet with its current 21 million people metropolitan area it is expected to
double in size in 15 years according to The Guardian (Chigiozie 2016). In
February the British newspaper published a series of articles regarding the
Nigerian city where one could learn either about the fully private funded
project of Eko Atlantic City, or the construction of a public school built in a
floating structure for Lagos maritime slum, Makoko. At first glance, it seems
unbelievable that such different kind of projects present themselves as a way
to tackle the fore coming consequences of strong sea-level rise that the city
is supposed to experience during the decades to come. One could think these
projects come from very different actors that hold diverging interests, yet
both of them take part in the same reality. Journalist Martin Lukacs praised
the floating school project as an alternative that could give a solution to
housing and environmental problems in Lagos (Lukacs 2014).
As much as it seems to humbly propose a solution for the major
problems that Lagos is lagging to resolve, is the small pop-up project fit to
respond to big terms like social justice or climate change in a State where
democracy is still very young and, foremost, weak?
Right from the beginning we want to briefly review both projects to
come with the possible advantages and disadvantages they carry. This will
allow us to get a better hint of the possible consequences of these two
projects. As a second part, wed like to match these consequences inside the
political and economical frameworks that stand as a background for these
projects.

I. Very different projects with the same purpose but only one is promissory?
Makoko is a 100,000 people slum community built in the south western
waterfront of the Lagos Lagoon. Only ten percent of the houses are owned,
and they are pretty often overcrowded with an average household of 4 to 6
members. People with an educational level above secondary only represent a
quarter of Makokos population. The community also lacks of sewage and
waste disposal infrastructure and major flooding occurs from three to four

times a year (Riise & Adeyemi 2015, p. 58). In fact, Lagos is ranked as one of
the cities to be the most affected by sea level rise: a 0,3 m rise could result
in 2 millions of people displaced (Ajibade & McBean 2014, p. 78)
The floating school is presented as an innovative solution to these
conditions. It is built over a watercraft with a triangular-shaped structure that
was supposed to prove more resistant to extreme weather conditions. The
school is made out of recycled materials and disposes of technology fit to
recycle, manage waste and use renewable energy. Therefore, the project not
only aims at giving a better access to education to the community, but also
to propose a possible technical solution to the flaws that will bring climate
change into the city (Riise & Adeyemi 2015, p. 59).
Simultaneously, the Eko Atlantic City project acts on a much more
ambitious scale as it will build an entire district on reclaimed land over the
Atlantic waterfront of Victoria Island. The only relevant data in the project
website is that it should bring housing infrastructure for 250 000 people
(Eko Atlantic 2016a). Other than that, it is supposed to reverse coastal
erosion, to give Lagos a better space for economical activities and a
sustainable infrastructure (Eko Atlantic 2016b).
The project becomes an easy target for critics: there is very little data
about the benefits of the project; it is fully private-funded and doesnt
present any sign of investment in public services or infrastructure; its been
planned with a modernist urban design that is more likely to encourage car
use; and it probably wont be very helpful in solving Lagos housing problem
since the 250 000 people capacity seems insignificant for a city that is
expected to double its already 21 million inhabitants in 15 years.
II. The institutional framework that stands behind
At first glance, Eko Atlantic certainly embodies a speculative project
that is set to be unaccomplished because of its unrealistic ambitions. The
Makoko floating school should have a much promising future since it is acting
in a much smaller scale, involving fewer actors and with a sensitive purpose
2

as giving education to poor children. But while there is no apparent literature

announcing the end of Eko Atlantic, last June The Guardian advertised that
the school collapsed only three years after it was built (Okoroafor 2016).
Technically, this could be solved easily by building another school with
more resistant infrastructure to extreme weather conditions. However, the
case for public services, like education, is much larger and complex than the
construction of a school. NLs project is meant to be a prototype that
could be improved and extended to other uses like housing, but the NGO will
doubtfully achieve to get relevant results as long as the Nigerian State
doesnt collaborate.
Like Boer and Minkjan defend (2016), pop-up projects are a good way
to propose and experiment innovative solutions to political, social and urban
problems, however they depend on institutional frameworks and the good will
of the economical and political actors involved. For instance, Nigeria inherited
the traditions brought by the English rule during colonisation back when
investment in urban infrastructure was exclusive to the Lagos, Ikoyi and
Victoria Islands where British people settled (Ajibade & McBean 2014, p. 78).
This lead to an increasing informal urban sprawl around these areas that
hasnt stopped yet. Despite some attempts at giving a solution to the
problem, Nigeria is recognized as a State with a tradition of demolition hence
perpetuating what the authors call a dual city (Ajibade & McBean 2014, p.
78).
Boer and Minkjan state it clear: arent we simply distracting from the
lack of structural public provision in these areas and worse still, normalising,
even glorifying, its absence? What they propose is a politicisation of
projects like NLs in order to create political movements that could influence
the Nigerian authorities.
III. The economical landscape
Nevertheless, the analytical framework of this debate could be scaled
up to the international scene. David Harvey gives an insight about how the
3

major urban developments that western cities have gone through, like Paris
with the Haussman reform or the American cities and the process of
suburbanization, were always a way to adapt the urban landscape to the
economic model (p. 4). This would go along with Sassens claim (1991) that
the emergence of financial districts in the 1980s such as Manhattan in New
York or The City in London is the necessary transformation cities need to go
through in order to integrate the global economy and therefore become what
she defines as Global Cities.
This could certainly be the case for Lagos Eko Atlantic City. Watson
(2014) flies over similar cases of urban development projects that have
recently emerged in major African cities, Lagos included. Trying to seek an
explanation for this new wave of foreign investment in African cities, Watson
suggests it as a possible consequence of the 2008 financial crisis: investors
would be seeking new prosperous markets after the European and American
ones were heavily damaged (2014, p. 8). Again, the author goes even further
by evoking that State funding is likely to be increasingly oriented to this kind
of projects in these countries (2014, p. 15).
This economic landscape gives a, certainly debatable, insight of the socalled downfall of the State and financialisation of the economy that come
with the process of increasing globalisation. These are large phenomenon that
a pop-up project like NLs wont solve on its own. Watson refers to Acutos
label for projects like Eko Atlantic as gated communities for the rich
creating the dual city dynamic we mentioned before (2014, p. 10): the
physical separation of the ruling elites that are set to live in Eko Atlantic
against the communities living in slums like Makoko would certainly undermine
the chances of creating strong political and social movements capable to
orient State funding towards the basic needs many Lagosians lack of.
The floating school project may succeed in the future, but as long as
the global economic trends and the institutional framework in Nigeria we
described dont evolve into something new, the pop-up project wont be
the solution for poor housing or bad education in Nigeria. Not if the political
4

and economical actors that hold the strongest power in decision-making live
in a gated and exclusive community.
Conclusion
The initial interest that brought us to study this case was the parallel
undergoing projects of Eko Atlantic City and NLs floating school for
Makoko: both projects present themselves as a solution to environmental
issues, and foremost to housing problems in Lagos. However, the first project
easily stands out as a speculative one that doesnt seem to truly intend to
solve Lagos problems, whereas the second one gave a better hindsight of
its intentions and possible results.
We asked ourselves if the school project was a possible answer to the
problems Lagos has to face in the coming years. After a brief review of both
projects we suggested that NLs wont solve these problems if the
institutional framework, influenced by Nigerias colonial past, doesnt change.
In a global economic framework, the project doesnt seem to work since the
withdrawal of the State allows the emergence of urban projects like Eko
Atlantic that will only exacerbate the already tough conditions for many
Nigerians.
NLs project is as much a consequence of globalisation as Eko Atlantic
City, and unless it decides to politicise like Boer and Minkjan (2016) propose
it is very unlikely that it will achieve relevant results.

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