Many of those who live in the industrialized city of Lagos face a common problem: money. It seems strange that, as areas become more industrialized, the more impoverish they become. Although that appears counterintuitive, it makes more sense when one reasons the tendency people have to drift towards industrialized areas. They go looking for opportunity, and even if they fail, they might as well try. Lagos’ government is attempting to fix this issue by improving the city’s infrastructure. Improvement in infrastructure will help alleviate the effects of Lagos’ economic ‘lottery’. Due to this perceived lottery, where luck means everything, the industrialized city of Lagos is continuously growing in population and forming a megacity; though the lottery is just as it sounds, near impossible to win, people still go because they have nothing else but the hope that they will.

Even the extreme poverty plaguing Lagos is not enough to stop new people from immigrating. Those in poverty are not simply poorer than the rich; they are poorer than the poor. Poverty occurs when people are lacking the basic necessities for life because they cannot afford it. Although poverty is indeed a worldwide phenomenon, Nigeria, and therefore Lagos, has been classified as one of the most impoverished parts of the world (Dosunmu). The average worker is unable to support their families because of inflations on food and transportation. Though there is a minimum wage implemented by the federal government, not only do many states not follow this wage, the wage itself is below the necessary amount for basic necessities such as healthcare, food, and education (Dosunmu). This issue, especially inadequate education, is causing many to fall even further into poverty, if that is even possible. Much of the population’s descent into poverty is fueling yet another issue in Lagos: the wealth gap. Upwards of 70% of the population is spending less than N320 (equivalent to approximately 1.7 USD) (Dosunmu). The rest of the population is not necessarily rich (though some are), but they are not in the same unlivable state as the 70% mentioned previously. A major way the wealth gap issue can be solved is through proper education, which leads to yet another complication.

The lack of Education is a key factor towards the near unbreakable cycle of poverty many Lagosians are stuck in. Often times, education appears tedious to privileged students. In fact, it is illegal in many places for people not to attend school at a certain age interval. Yet for Lagosians, school is not so easy to attend, and those who do, display tendencies towards juvenile delinquency and teenage pregnancy, greatly affecting their performance (Dosunmu). In a study of 250 students attending schools in the slums of Lagos, 79.2% of them attested that they were not helped at all by their parents in their studies and often did not have the proper textbooks for their studies either (Rhoda). On the other hand, only 11.5% of the students attending private schools said the same thing (Rhoda). This may be correlated to parents of poorer households coming home from late jobs (simply to make ends meet with their low pay) and not having enough time to help their children. From this breeds a greater saturation of poorly performing students in the poorer areas of Lagos. The increase in grade deficiency in turn pushes parents into influencing their children to quit school and find a less skillful job to support the family.

Instead of continuing school, many children tend to search for a job instead. It can be said that this is a completely bad thing, but the Lagosian job of filtering E-waste can be more helpful than it seems. E-waste is electronic waste, and in this day and age, technology is knowledge. Knowledge, besides money, is what makes the world go round. Therefore, workers hope to break out of their continuous cycle of poverty through the information gained from E-waste (Sullivan). Through this salvaging of waste, many Lagosians have become experts at electronic repair, and their economy takes full advantage of these skills. Yet, as great as this sounds, there are obvious detrimental effects as well; the major one being health. The dumping of E-waste and the open handling of electronics have been shown to poison the landscape along with the humans living there. For example, flatscreen TVs contain mercury, and the unregulated handling of mercury along with other dangerous elements such as arsenic cause the poisoning of well water, soil, and most importantly, the human body (Sullivan). Even those who do not work these jobs are indirectly affected through drinking the water and eating the plants grown from the soil. Knowledge for the few is not worth it if it detriments the needs of the many living in Lagos.

Despite all these issues, it is clear that people still choose to go to Lagos. They go because they hope that, even disregarding the health issues that may plague them, it is still better than dying without trying (Packer). The reason they do not simply stay in Nigeria is because Lagos is where most of the knowledge-rich E-waste goes. This is due to lower shipping costs and Lagos’ loosely regulated environmental protection laws (Sullivan). As this happens, people with no other chance drift towards Lagos looking for a job. In essence, they go hoping to strike it rich no matter how low the chances are, just like winning the lottery.

Besides the implications on human health, there is also the issue of inadequate government assistance. The government is working to combat poverty by improving Lagos’ infrastructural quality and quantity (New Africa). The state governor Raji Fashola is working to make Lagos a proper megacity, rather than just a megacity. These public works projects will not only improve the quality of life for Lagosians, but will also give many of the workers jobs. One of the major achievements of Fashola is the building of over 1,000 roads and multiple public buildings (New Africa). These new buildings will improve transportation and jobs, which will subsequently improve living standards. Though all these things appear great on the surface level, roads cannot be built for forever, and not everybody will get a job from this. Therefore, though the government is working towards a better Lagos, the greater 70% of the population is still living below the poverty line (LeBas).

The cycle of poverty much of the Lagosian population is stuck in is not easily fixed. It is made even worse by a continuous stream of people traveling to Lagos in hopes of winning the “lottery”. Like its namesake, this system is almost entirely based on luck, and therefore many of the people hoping to win, do not. Although there are attempts to fix this by enhancing the infrastructure of Lagos, this only gives jobs to a few people, and not for the long term. The wealth gap continues to widen, not only with the rich getting richer, but also with the poor getting poorer. There must be a regulation on the number of people allowed to live in Lagos, or the poorer population will only become poorer, especially when education is not of concern to many of the parents living there. Without adequate education, it is even harder for those in poverty to rise up.



Dosunmu, Simeon, and Rhoda Sowunmi. "Impact Of Deprivations In Childhood On The Academic Performance Of Secondary School Students In Ghetto Areas In Lagos, Nigeria." Online Submission (2013): ERIC. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.

This article discusses the effects on education in the poorer parts of Lagos. It investigates the differences between scores due to different schooling. This is relevant to why the lottery system is even a lottery. It in part explains the issues of not having adequate education, and how this does not allow people living in Lagos to rise up from their low economic status. The author is from Lagos State University, so it comes that he would be even more informed about Lagos education than he already is. This article comes from EBSCO. I used this article for the partial cause of the wealth gap.

LeBas, Adrienne. "Violence And Urban Order In Nairobi, Kenya And Lagos, Nigeria." Studies In Comparative International Development 48.3 (2013): 240. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.

This article explores the politics and government in Lagos (as well as other dangerous cities). It writes about how the violence is connected with politics as well as militia. This article is useful for the government aspect of the paper. This source is credible because the author, Adrienne LeBas, is the assistant professor in the Department of Government at American University. Her research interests include social movements, democratization, and political violence: these topics all relate greatly to this article. This article came from EBSCO. I used this article for information related to government action.

Packer, George. "The Megacity - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. N.p., Nov.-Dec. 2006. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.

Although this article is from 2006, it provides useful background information and anecdotes about Lagos. It also explains the whole concept of the lottery system and why the people in Lagos are so persistent in never giving up. This article is from the New Yorker. I based my thesis off of this article, as in the lottery system and hope concept.

Sullivan, Jack. "Trash Or Treasure: Global Trade And The Accumulation Of E-Waste In Lagos, Nigeria." Africa Today 61.1 (2014): 89. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.

This article writes about the e-waste being dumped in Lagos and the recycling methods the people who live there use to extract valuable materials. It also discusses the effects of this on Nigeria’s economic, ecological, and human health. The information in this article will be used for the social and human aspect of the paper. It summarizes the topic of what Lagosians do in order to survive if they are unable to win the lottery, as most people don’t. He also touches on the environment and therefore human health issue of this E-waste. The author concisely explains why this issue is so prevalent in Lagos in the first place. This article is from EBSCO. I used this for the human impact of people constantly moving to Lagos without real contribution.

Unknown. "Lagos State Under The Leadership Of The State Governor." New African 533 (2013): 56. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.

This article summarizes Lagos under the leadership of the State Governor and how he is improving the infrastructure of Lagos in order to bring it closer to the envisioned megacity. The article is taken from New Africa and writes clearly and concisely about what the State Governor’s achievements in his project to improve Lagos are. This is greatly related to what the government is doing in relation to the problem of Lagos’ lottery system. This article comes from EBSCO. It was used for the government action information.