Urban Dynamics and Everyday Hazards and Disaster Risks in Ibadan, Nigeria

The lack of systematic and homogenous records of people being impacted by everyday hazards and disaster events at all scales in many African cities is a major limitation to effective planning for risk reduction. A preliminary assessment of the nature, scale and vulnerability to everyday hazards and disasters in the city of Ibadan, Nigeria is examined in the context of population growth, urban dynamics and processes at the city level and the larger scale macro-economic, social and political situations of thecountry. Using a triangulation of methods, data on intensive and extensive risks resulting in serious illness, injury and premature death, property and economic losses in the city was collected from different sources including newspaper reports, hospital records and databases of government departments for the period 2000-2015. Analysis of risk data for the city revealed that the total number of reported deaths and losses resulting from everyday hazards and disasters (intensive and extensive risks) during the period 2000 to 2015 has been on the increase. Excluding public health risks for which data are scarce and incomplete, road traffic accidents, crime, violence and flooding in order of importance constitute the most serious hazards in the city of Ibadan. Key drivers of the changing risk landscape in the city include new economic, technological, socio-political and urban developments as well as the growing interdependencies between them which have led to an increasing accumulation of risk.