Urban Issues and Habitation

News : Urban Issues and Habitation

Kenya: Slum Dwellers Battle Covid-19 Downturn With Virtual Currency

[Thomson Reuters Foundation] The blockchain-based technology helps struggling families afford the essentials and avoid becoming victims of loan sharks (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Infernos - Govt to Audit Oil Tank Farms, Establish 109 New Fire Stations

[Leadership] Worried by the growing loss of private and public assets to infernos in the last 12 months and as part of renewed efforts to reduce fire incidents in the country, the federal government has concluded plans to establish fire stations across the nation's 109 senatorial districts. (AllAfrica)


Mozambique: Hundreds Evacuated As Cyclone Hits City of Beira

[AIM] Maputo -- As forecast, Cyclone Eloise hit the central Mozambican city of Beira early on Saturday morning, with winds of 140 kilometres an hour and gusts of up to 160 kilometres an hour, according to the independent television station, STV. (AllAfrica)


Kenya: Bungoma to Get Sh1 Billion Grant as Town Boundaries Redrawn

[Nation] The County Government of Bungoma will receive additional funds for development following creation of two more municipalities and expansion of existing town boundaries. (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Covid-19 - Governors Raise the Alarm Over Rising Cases

[Leadership] Governors of the 36 states of the federation under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) have raised the alarm over the rising COVID-19 cases. (AllAfrica)


Kenya: NMS to Launch Monthly Clean-Ups as Garbage Piles in City

[Nation] Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) will launch monthly clean-up exercises from next month as it steps up efforts to rid the city of garbage. (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Covid-19 - Kano Will Not Impose Lockdown Again - Ganduje

[This Day] Kano -- The Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has clarified that his administration had no intention to impose another lockdown in the wake of the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic disease. (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Students, Landlords Tango Over Rent During School Closure

[Vanguard] When schools at all levels were closed last March as a result of the outbreak of coronavirus disease in the country, nobody envisaged that the closure would take nearly a year. (AllAfrica)


South Africa: Sowing Dissent - Use of Land for Food Garden Divides Bo-Kaap Community

[Daily Maverick] Residents of the tight-knit Bo-Kaap community in Cape Town are torn over the use of a plot of land for a food garden, started to provide food security during the pandemic. The dispute comes before court on Friday. (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: SAN Faults Lagos Govt Over Illegal Building Constructions in Lekki Estate

[This Day] Former Chairman of AMCON, Dr. Muiz Banire (SAN), has condemned a situation where trespassers build on other people's lands without any authentic survey plan or building approval while Lagos State government officials saddled with the responsibility of stopping such anomally look the other way. (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Lekki Homeowners Send SoS to Sanwo-Olu Over Illegal Constructions

[Vanguard] Homeowners and land allottees in Alma Beach Estate, Lekki have raised the alarm over ongoing construction of several buildings without government permit by landgrabbers terrorising their community with hired policemen and thugs. (AllAfrica)


South Africa: Salt River Market - an Affordable Housing Project Stonewalled By the City of Cape Town

[Daily Maverick] Salt River Market could have been perhaps the most well located and socially mixed affordable housing development in South Africa - instead, it appears that no one at the City of Cape Town is driving the development forward. (AllAfrica)


Zimbabwe: Heaps of Uncollected Garbage in Bulawayo CBD As Council Workers Strike

[New Zimbabwe] BULAWAYO Central Business District (CBD) has become any eyesore with heaps of uncollected garbage now a common sight along some avenues and streets. (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Three Dead, Four Injured As Fuel Tanker Explodes in Abeokuta

[Vanguard] Abeokuta -- Three persons have been confirmed dead, while four others sustained varying degrees of injuries following a tanker explosion that occurred along the Presidential Boulevard, Kuto axis of Abeokuta metropolis, the Ogun state capital. (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Covid-19 - Kano Reintroduces Ban On Viewing, Event Centres

[Premium Times] The Kano government directs civil servants to stay at home as COVID-19 related deaths rise to 70. (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: AMAC Relinquishes Power to Collect Outdoor Advert Revenue

[This Day] The Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) has relinquished the power to collect all revenue from outdoor advertisements on its behalf to the Department of Outdoor Advertisements and Signage (DOAS). (AllAfrica)


South Africa: Khayelitsha Shack Fire Victims in Relief Limbo

[New Frame] The City of Cape Town says it has no budget for relief efforts after a New Year's Day blaze in Khayelitsha's Taiwan shack settlement left about 500 people homeless. (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Exclusive - Tension in Maiduguri As Mob Kills Soldier Who Shot Four Civilians

[Premium Times] The soldier, attached to Operation Lafiya Dole, was allegedly drunk when he shot the four unarmed civilians. (AllAfrica)


Sierra Leone: Freetown Receives International Support to Help Migrants Amid Covid-19

[allAfrica] The city of Freetown has become one of five across the world to receive an award to help it expand a waste-management scheme aimed at helping young people in informal settlements to make a living and improve public health amid the challenges of Covid-19. (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Suleja's Headache - Markets Everywhere As Commuters Battle Congestion

[Daily Trust] SUB: Suleja and environs can be considered the commercial centre of Niger State and it has continued to witness congestion which has turned the metropolis... (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Estate Residents Battle Anambra Over Land Allotted for Recreation

[This Day] Residents of Anambra Housing Corporation Estate, phase two, have alleged that some officials of the Anambra State government are planning to grab a parcel of land designated for building of a recreational centre in the estate. (AllAfrica)


Kenya: Fire Burns Property Worth Millions in Isiolo Town

[Nation] Property worth millions of shillings has been reduced to ashes after fire burnt business premises belonging to five traders at Kulamawe on the outskirts of Isiolo town. (AllAfrica)


Kenya: Covid-19 Likely to Spur Housing Boom in Counties Neighbouring Nairobi

[Capital FM] In a recent media interview, Unity Homes Executive Director John Latham revealed that the Covid pandemic has triggered a rush for affordable houses forcing the Tatu City-based developer to complete 40 units per month to meet demand. (AllAfrica)


South Africa: Unemployed Fire Victims Can't Afford to Rebuild Their Homes

[GroundUp] National Department of Human Settlements Rapid Response Team to visit Overcome on Friday to find a solution (AllAfrica)


South Africa: Western Cape Human Settlements Erects Emergency Structures for Masiphumelele Fire Victims

[Govt of SA] Erection of emergency structures for Masiphumelele fire victims underway (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Will Kano Economic City Be a One-Fix-All Solution?

[Daily Trust] Kano -- With a population of over nine million people and daily influx of thousands for commercial and other activities, markets in Kano City are bedevilled by many problems, many of which have spiraled out of the confines of the markets. (AllAfrica)


South Africa: Westville Households Get Electricity After 10 Years

[GroundUp] Nomonde Gwedashe has been living in Westville for more than ten years. On Monday, her home was among 1,000 shacks to get electricity from the municipality. Photo: Joseph Chirume (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Former IGs Commence Nationwide Sensitisation Programme On Community Policing

[This Day] Former Inspector Generals of Police (IG) in Nigeria have commenced a sensitisation programme across the six geo political zones of the country on the implementation of community policing in order to stem the high rate of insecurity in the country. (AllAfrica)


South Africa: President Ramaphosa Addresses Efforts to Contain Covid-19 Pandemic

[Govt of SA] Fellow South Africans, (AllAfrica)


Nigeria: Govt to Complete Reconstruction of Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road Before 2023

[This Day] The federal government has said that a lot of progress is being made on the ongoing reconstruction work on the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road project, assuring that it would be completed before 2023, during the life of the current administration. (AllAfrica)


South Africa: Covid-19 and Rural South Africa

[MSF] The media's focus as COVID-19 has washed over the globe has largely concentrated on urban centers, a preoccupation that is justified by the high case numbers in cities. Yet, as the pandemic slows, it is increasingly clear that COVID-19 has not been a solely urban public health phenomenon. In September, photographer Chris Allen and writer Sean Christie documented the experiences, successes and lessons learned in the rural hinterland of South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, where a community ban (AllAfrica)