Samuel O.

Dekolo
Dept. of Town and Regional Planning
Lagos State Polytechnic,
Lagos State, Nigeria.
01-8043485, dekolo2@yahoo.com

IMPLEMENTING GIS FOR LAND USE PLANING

AND MANAGEMENT IN LAGOS STATE

Abstract: We all know that some GIS will fail, however, when failure do occur
and a re-appraisal is performed, the lessons can be published so that other users
may profit from the experience. This paper appraises the GIS implementation in
Lagos State; it identifies the reasons for its present failure and suggests ways for
a successful implementation that could be more generally applicable, especially
in developing countries.

INTRODUCTION

Geographic Information System is gaining an increasing importance and widespread

acceptance as tools for decision-making in urban and regional planning. In developing
countries, it is a liberating force enabling access to large volumes of data and to
manipulate such in order to select, update, combine, model and display the information.

Despite the advantages of a GIS in land use planning and management, urban planning
and management departments of cities in many developing countries that have spent large
sums of money in acquiring computer based system presumptuously have been faced
with disappointment. Such investment have been largely unutilized, particularly in
situations where there was little or inadequate understanding of the capabilities of such
computer based systems and the data required to operate and manage them (Mumtaz
1996). The implementation of such technologies as GIS has been hindered by a lack of
skilled personnel, inadequate techno-scientific structures, and difficulty in transferring
information to end-users and by insufficient international cooperation to boost local
research and improve information flow. The incapacity or the political unwillingness to
modify economic and social conditions, has often slows down or hamper the
implementation. Lagos State could be grouped in this category, though much has been
invested in its Land Information System Support Unit (LISSU), the unit lies underutilized
and most GIS infrastructure are fast outdating.

BACKGROUND

Nigeria is the most populous black nation and Lagos being the largest city. The city
covers about 33% of the 3,577 sq. km of the entire state, out of which 39% are wetlands.
Within a space of a century the population of the state increased from 32,508 in 1891 to
5,685,781 in 1991. It is also projected that by the end of the end of the first quarter of this
century, the citys population would have reached 25.7 million making it the 3rd largest
city in the world.

There are two main agencies responsible for land use planning and management in Lagos
State; the primary agency being the Lands Bureau (LB) and secondarily Ministry of
Environment and Physical Planning (MEPP). Lagos State has 20 Local Governments
with each having a Local Planning Authority (LPA) that are responsible for the day to
day land use planning and management at the grass root level. Each of these LPA
continue to function amidst what seem to be a chaotic situation planning without data.

With the help of a loan from the World Bank, the state attempted implementing a Land
Related Information System (LRIS) capable of providing basic GIS functions. The first
phase was a pilot that covered 40 Square km of the metropolitan area and small-scale
mapping and orthophotographs covering the entire city. The project was design to run
without networking even though end-users are located miles apart. Even though the
project had cost a fortune yet no significant impact has been felt.

THE PROBLEM

There are seven major issues to be concerned with in the present way the various
agencies carry out their activities, they are:
- Lack of Focus and continuity
- Record keeping Issues
- Data management issues
- Operational arrangement
- Information technology Infrastructure
- Personnel issues
- Inadequacy of Pilot

Lack of Focus and Continuity

Even though much have been invested in the Lagos GIS project, the moment the
donor/consultant left, the project has been on the stand still.

Record Keeping Issues

Lack of data standards and poor record keeping procedures
Lack of vision and Innovation
Insecurity of Records
Deteriorating Records
Fear and uncertainty in Land Transaction

Data Management Issues

Inconsistency in Standards for Land Management Data
Outdated map Data
Limitation in Data Sharing and Communication

Operational Arrangement
The operational arrangement of the MEPP and the LB contributes to the poor
implementation. This arrangement has not facilitated easy data flow, access, retrieval,
and sharing. Presently, the LISSU is located in a different place from other directorates it
is meant to serve, since it was not design to support networking, the distance affects
information transfer and sharing.

Lack of GIS Infrastructure

Not a single Local Planning Authority or other offices of the Lands Bureau and Ministry
of Environment have computers, not to say GIS infrastructure. Except for the few
systems acquired in the first phase of the implementation.

Personnel Issues
The staffs of the Ministry of Environment and Lands Bureau have not been trained in
modern information management technology as a survey carried by the author revealed
only few senior level staffs have been trained.

Inadequacy of pilot
The pilot used for the Lagos project is not capable of revealing the true complexities of
data management in Lagos State. The area of coverage is quite small and the choice of
location is a government-planned area where data are available or easily collected and
maps developed. Whereas, the private lands, informal settlements and unplanned areas
amounts for over 70% of the land mass in the state. Even though pilots are good they can
sometimes give a false impression to policy makers or the senior managers in the user
department.

APPROACHES TO SUCCESSFUL GIS IMPLEMENTATION

Many researches have been done to determine success factors of any GIS implementation
(especially in developing countries), these include: Clear focus and project champions;
Project site and environment; A well articulated Organizational and Operational Plan;
Educational issues and Training; Executive commitment; Local relevance and Socio-
Technical Approach; Ongoing Strategic Planning and continuous re-appraisal; People
and Staffing Issues (See Somers 2000, Lombard 1999, Gallaher 1999, Davis 1999,
Somers 1999, Kevany 1998, Somers 1996, Shalaby et al 1996, Somers 1994, Pearce
1991, Mahoney 1991 and Masser 1989). Some of these factors have been outline as key
issues to considered in the implementation of GIS in Lagos State.

Clear Focus and Project Champion

Gallaher (1999) had identified one of the three major killer of GIS is loosing focus or not
remembering the reason for such investment. A guiding principle of a GIS is that it must
be needs based and as part of planning element there must be a clear cut vision in which
users should be involved in all the planning stages (Somers 1996, Somers 1999). To keep
the vision and focus the role of project champions cannot be overlooked (Speer 1997,
Mahoney 1991), i.e. someone single-mindedly committed to the cause of the project
preferably among the users or local people.

Project site and environment

The project site and environment (technological and organizational) are crucial to
successful implementation of any GIS (see Speer 1997 and Somers 1996). The
organizational environment of any project has its own peculiar politics, constraints and
opportunities; this should be a major consideration for success. Looking at the physical
environment, erratic power supply and unreliable telephone services are the common
experience. These have been some of the major hindrances to the Lagos GIS project.

Organizational and Staffing Issues

The introduction of GIS in an organization of can have a very significant effect on its
activities, therefore the strategy should consider the structure of the agency to adopt the
GIS, the skills of staff to manage and operate the systems (see Somers 1994). One of the
hidden risk for a GIS is inability for organization to deal with their own organizational
and political problems, since appointment of consultants and staffs are still based on
some local politics rather than for the benefit of such projects success may be out of
reach.

Educational issues and Training

This involves training the current staff of the Land Bureau and MEPP on necessary skills
and education to be able to work in a GIS environment. It also involves setting a standard
for recruitment in which new staff from technical level upward must have attended a
minimum training in GIS.

Since the key issue for success in GIS project lies in the people responsible for managing,
implementing and using the systems (see Somers 1994). Without properly trained
personnel with vision and commitment to the project, little will be achieved (Shalaby et
al, 1996).

However, training schemes may be done as suggested by Shalaby et al (1996) below; the
training should be in different phases:

Before acquisition of the GIS system so as to encourage participation during

design stage.

During implementation to improve the GIS application

Regularly after the scheme is completed to updated GIS knowledge and

monitor progress.

Executive commitment

Except a GIS project receives adequate support from the decision makers and politicians
i.e. political will, such project will not work. Professional in government should be
collaborated and their active support should be solicited through the project development
and implementation stages. To get executive commitment Davis (1999) identified some
keys: Managing expectation of the executives and make them realize the benefits of the
investment at short term bases i.e. at every stage of the implementation plan; Making
decision makers to be involved in planning and integrating them in the project; Educating
them and creating more awareness.

Local relevance and Socio-Technical Approach

Most projects in developing countries like the LISSU project are donor-designed and
implemented by consultant. The moment the consultant leaves the local end-user is now
left without the technical capability to operate or manage the project. It has been
established that technology can only operate successfully within some social or
organizational context. In GIS technology shapes organization and organization shapes
technology, therefore end users should be involved in the GIS application development
and other aspect of the implementation process.

Ongoing Strategic Planning and continuous re-appraisal

Planning is the most important phase in GIS implementation. However, many try to
overlook or create short cuts due to some political or administrative pressure (Somers
1996). More so many problems that arise at various stages in the GIS development and
operation can be traced back to inadequacies in the strategic planning process, lack of
follow through and failure to oversee the plan (Somers 2000). In the Lagos GIS project, a
good plan was proposed for the LISSU, but due to lack of follow up the plan has not been
actualized. Strategic planning is crucial to any GIS success but beyond the initial plan it
must be an on-going process repeatedly perform throughout the projects life cycle. There
is need for a continuous re-appraisal and re-evaluate its situation and directions at given
intervals through annual reviews, full re-examination of project achievements during the
implementation process (See Kevany 1998, Somers 2000).
Geographic Information Policy and Standards

To implement a GIS for land use planning and management legislation is often required.
Such legislation should include compulsory registration of land, documents, urban plans
etc.; also data collection and communication standards. Standards for data flow;
exchange and organization should be developed.

Also, an officially recognized policy will ensure institutional support if the

implementation span over many years and there is a change in the political or economic
climate.

Communication, Data Access and availability

Communication is vital and important to the successful implementation of a GIS.
Presently, there is lack of accurate and current data for urban areas. Where data is
available, they are viewed as a commodity and are hoarded. Consideration should be
made to give incentives for data sharing and disincentives or penalty for Hoarding. Also
low cost but high-tech solution should be applied for data gathering.

Appropriate Pilot
In designing a pilot to be used a GIS project, it is necessary to clearly understand the
scope and area will the total project cover so that pilot area gives a good representation of
the total project. The LISSU project had used the top-bottom approach in which the local
government was not considered as an entity when designing the pilot. Since the
application is for land use planning and management, which is the responsibility of both
on the state and local government, a bottom-top approach is desired and the pilot should
be designed to cover at least one of the 20 LG areas in order to get a true picture of the
situation when it becomes operational.

CONCLUSION
The paper had presented a number of issues faced by Lagos State in its implementation,
which is believed to be common with most developing counties. Institutional and socio-
economic issues are the most salient to be considered. One major point this paper stresses
is how consultants and vendors in the west could assist in providing a sustainable GIS in
third world countries now that doors of opportunity are opening and the technology is
gaining more acceptance. Educating the society and making GIS a tool for socio-
economic development after introducing the technology can play this role.

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Acknowledgements
My gratitude goes to My sponsors, Mrs. O. T. Ogundele of Environmental Initiatives
Associates, Mr. George Ayoka of the British Telecommunications and the Lagos state
polytechnic.