NIA targets $1m grant to develop Makoko slum
Makoko, often seen as one of the neglected slums within the Lagos metropolis, may be getting some face lift as the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) says it is making moves to raise $1million through grants from a US-based foundation for the community’s development.
The Makoko waterfront is a community on the Lagos mainland where majority of the residents live in clusters on water, in conditions best described as beneath acceptable standards for human living.
Fitzgerald Umah, NIA’s chairman, disclosed this at a news conference recently in preparation for the institute’s 2018 Architect Forum in Lagos, saying , “we have been able to get a foundation in the United States and Uganda where we are trying to raise funds to do something in Makoko, and it is about $1million”.
Umah noted that though modalities on how this will be used have not been concluded, the design for the project will start in June when discussions would have been held with the foundation making the funds available.
“However, before the end of this year and first quarter of 2019, a proper plan would have been made to see how the funding would be done as the first tranche of the funds will be going to Uganda, while the second tranche will be coming to Nigeria,” Umah said.
The chairman also noted that the 2018 edition of the Lagos Architect Forum will be focused on how slums in these affected areas (Makoko and Ijora Bhadia) can be taken care of and how their residents can be integrated in the society rather than relocating them from where they are since most of them are fisher men.
He also said the forum’s outcome will give the Lagos state and federal government a policy document that will help the country build well and join the entire world in terms of sustainability.
The three-day event, holding from May 9 to May 12, 2018 is expected to be an avenue to explore some of the interesting ideas in architecture as they relate to the environment.
Sessions will highlight contemporary issues such as regeneration of architectural designs and practices in view of the current economic challenges, issues surrounding incessant building collapse and new directions for building material technology.
Umah added that the motive was to regenerate the environment and for operators in various professions to be exposed to new trends and global realities.
According to him, considering the population of Lagos State, there is a need to start building vertically and no longer horizontally to accommodate the rising population.
Samson Akinyosoye, the Secretary of NIA, said the forum would focus on how professionals in the industry could come together to build a sustainable livable environment using the latest technology across the globe. He said that the 2018 LAF would spend quality time building the capacity of the professionals in the built environment to meet international standard.
He listed professional development sessions, planned seminars, exhibition of architects’ works, post-conference site tours and building product manufacturers expo as lined up activities of the forum.
“And at the end of this forum, we hope to give the State Government a document that will help end building collapse not just in Lagos but throughout the country,’’ Akinyosoye said.
MICHEAL ANI