Paper short abstract:

This paper examines social interventions, their processes and parties involved in Lagos. It also outlines suburban survival strategies among residents of Lagos' suburbs. Using Right to the City approach, it advocates for good urban governance to transform Lagos into an inclusive city in Nigeria.

Paper long abstract:

Using diverse approaches, such as Right to the City (RTTC), scholars and students have inquired about the lives and works of urbanites worldwide, but most findings had little, if any impact in addressing the multidimensional poverty (economic, basic social and capabilities needs) suffered by suburb dwellers in the multipolar African cities. This is serious in Lagos, a city-name rooted in Portuguese words, 'lagoons' or 'lago de Curamo' (lakes) courtesy of Rui de Sequeira in 1472 and home to 11,547,000 (in 2012) people, whose busy business and hustling styles accord it the status of the only megacity in West Africa, second fastest growing city in Africa and seventh in the world. The under-reporting of the suburbs is possibly influenced by less pro-active studies on the nature and extent of social schemes expended to its suburbs (Badagry, Epe and Ikorodu), especially on the context, content, course and caretakers of the interventions. Against this background, this paper examines social interventions, if any in housing suburbs, the processes and parties involved in Lagos. The paper also outlines suburbanite survival strategies (SSS) that characterised life coping mechanisms in Lagos. Need arises to integrate the RTTC in urban governance to foster urban justice, growth and development in Lagos, an age-long migrant city; home of pre-colonial Portuguese explorers and slave traders, settlement of creoles and ex-slaves from Brazil, Liberia and Sierra Leone; Christian missionaries' headquarters, British colonial capital, Nigeria's former capital, now 'centre of excellence', 'port' and 'new migration' city in Africa's most populous country.