 Also, in Lagos, the urban development and physical planning in the state no doubt has been faced with lots of challenges. As far back as the 1980s, there was a regional metropolitan master plan in the state which did not include the clusters of informal settlements. In this report, the culture of our most own land is said to be a huge problem to urban development. Jacinta Obuco tells us more. A rapid population growth in Lagos metropolis has resulted in shortages of housing, inadequate funding and an increase in slums. This in turn has led to the failure of the urban community, a former commissioner for physical planning and urban development in the state who is also the national president of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planner. Olu Toi Ayinde says the influx of people into Lagos goes beyond the resources Lagos can cope with. He points that individuals all in land pose lots of challenges in managing resources. Many Nigerians have been made to believe that you have to have your own house and the only way to have your own house is to get your own land. Fine, there's nothing wrong with having your own place to live, an apartment but most you have a land. So we must address our culture that thinks you must get land. Planning truly answers to governance, answers to good governance and where good governance has established public housing policy. You see corporations, you see governments like council, you see cooperatives building condominiums for citizens to access. However, the founder of Rethinking Cities, Deji Akimelu, has another view on urban development and planning. He says the Lagos plan is not inclusive. The issue with those who govern us is that they want to build what you call probably the next New York. No, Lagos shouldn't be the next New York or the next Dubai as it has been called. Let us create a Lagos that is the next Lagos that takes into cognizance the reality, the reality of the people. Ayinde also spoke on the issues of floating in the mega city. There's a technique to development. Everybody thinks they know about construction but there are invert levels for drainage. So when there's a drainage here and there's a road here, the technique is that your development must always be higher than your road system so that your development can drain. But we have seen on many occasions where people build lower than the road system. So their site can never drain. The thrust here is that allocating more plots of land for building is encroaching on arable lands which will increase food insecurity. It could also spread to wetlands, culminating in a high incidence of floating. Jacinta Obuco for PLOS TV Africa. So you get notified about fresh news updates.