UNHSP/16/02

Tibaijuka calls on NEPAD to mainstream Human Settlements issues in its programmes

Monday 4, November, 2002: The Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Mrs. Anna Tibaiujka, has called on the Executive Council of the African Union to establish a Committee on Sustainable Urbanisation, Housing and Human Settlements Development in order to address, amongst other things, the issues of urbanisation, slum upgrading and housing finance on the continent.

Mrs. Tibaijuka made the call in Abuja, Nigeria, on 4 November 2002, while addressing African Heads of States Implementation Committee (HISC) of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) to enable them present a common front on Urbanization, Housing and Human Settlements.

Present at the occasion were President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, President Festus Mogae of Botswana, President Isais Aferwoki Zenawi of Ethiopia, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President Abdullahi Wade of Senegal and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, among others.

In her address, Mrs. Tibaijuka thanked President Obasanjo for inviting her to speak to the distinguished African leaders on such an important issue as human settlements development, for his continued support of the Human Settlements Sector in Nigeria, and for opening the doors to the mainstreaming of human settlements issues in NEPAD.

While in Abuja, the Mrs. Tibaijuka also performed the commissioning ceremony of the Africa Regional Council of the Global Parliamentarians on Habitat which is headed by the Speaker of the Nigeria House of Representatives, Hon. Ghali Umar Na'Abba.

The Africa Global Parliamentarians on Habitat was established by African parliamentarians to promote the implementation of the Habitat Agenda in Africa. Over the past five years, the members of this body have drafted and passed relevant legislation and introduced policies to encourage decentralization and solve problems relating to land, housing, urban planning and poverty alleviation.

Mrs. Tibaijuka congratulated the parliamentarians for their proactive work in improving the legislative environment for human settlements in African countries.

The Executive Director pointed out that the reason why it is important for African leaders to address the problems of urbanization is that in the next two decades 200 million additional people would move to cities and towns in the continent.

She stated that half of this urban population, about 100 million, will be added to those African cities with populations of less than 500,000. Sixty million will be added to African cities that now have a population of between one and five million. Sub-Saharan Africa's megacity, Lagos, will, by 2015, grow by 10 million people to become the third largest city in the world, after Tokyo and Mumbai.

The Executive Director stated that in spite of this rapid urbanization and the fact that cities in Africa already contribute 60% of the GDP, cities had been neglected by policy makers and planners. The result is that city slums in Africa are growing at twice the rate of overall urban growth. What is worse, she stressed, is the “urbanization of poverty” with over 300 million urban dwellers living without adequate shelter and basic services.

She stated that it was in recognition of this impending problem that world leaders, in the Millennium Development Goals, committed themselves to improving the living conditions of at least 100 million slum dwellers and endorsed the UN-HABITAT and World Bank “Cities without Slums Initiative”.

Mrs. Tibaijuka emphasised that UN-HABITAT's experience shows that it is possible to meet these goals through proper planning. This would include equipping local authorities to manage the participation of all civil society actors, including the urban poor.

She added that to encourage strategic investment in slum upgrading, security of tenure as well as sustainable housing finance mechanisms were important.

For further information, please contact: Mr. Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson or Ms. Zahra Hassan, Press & Media Liaison, Press & Media Relations Unit, Tel: (254 2) 623153/623151; Fax: (254 2) 624060, E-mail: habitat.press@unhabitat.org, Web site: www.unhabitat.org