Lagos to replace Cairo as Africa's biggest city

New York, 24 Nov-(ANA)-Nigeria's city of Lagos is to overtake the Egyptian capital Cairo as Africa's biggest city, a UN report says.

In 2015 it is estimated Lagos will have 12.4m inhabitants.

UN-Habitat's Joan Clos said Africa needed to invest urgently in housing as city populations would more than triple in the next 40 years.

He said sub-Saharan Africa could learn from North Africa as Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia had almost halved slum areas in the past 20 years.

According to UN-Habitat’s State of African Cities 2010 report, Africa is the continent most rapidly becoming urbanised and in 2030 will no longer be predominately rural.

Mr Clos, UN-Habitat's executive director, said that cities were attractive places. (ANA)

FA/ANA/24 November 2010--------