Analysis of Urban Basic Services of Importance to Men and Women in Informal Settlements of Lagos and Kano, Nigeria

Despite decades of urban policy and poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria, informal settlements in Lagos and Kano continue to exhibit acute and persistent deprivation in access to basic urban services. This lecture presents findings from participatory action research conducted in these settlements, revealing that access to water, sanitation, energy, and mobility is not only insufficient overall but profoundly gendered -with women and girls bearing a disproportionate burden of service deficits. By mapping these disparities at the neighborhood level, the research challenges the assumption that informal settlements are uniformly deprived, showing instead that inequality operates within communities as well as between them. The lecture calls for a gender-responsive approach to urban service provision that treats equity within communities as a prerequisite for genuine urban inclusion.