Pulse.ng : BEACON Calls for Inclusive Cities That Protect Most Vulnerable

By Sani Idris Abdulrahman

As the world marks World Habitat Day, the Executive Director of BEACON of Transformative and Inclusive Development Center, a Kaduna-based NGO, Mrs Abigail Olatunde, has called for inclusive and equitable cities that prioritises the needs of the most vulnerable.

Olatunde said this year’s theme, Urban Crisis Response, reflects the harsh reality that many people live daily, as cities across Nigeria and the world face overcrowding, high rent, displacement, and broken infrastructure.

She noted that while many migrate to cities seeking opportunity, too often they find only exclusion, hardship, and insecurity instead of the better life they hoped for.

She lamented that people with disabilities, women, children, the elderly, displaced families, and low-income earners suffer the greatest impact of the urban crisis, often living on the edges of survival.

Olatunde explained that housing is not only about having a roof over one’s head but about living safely and with dignity, in a community where people’s needs are recognized and their voices respected.

She emphasised that every crisis is not merely a test of infrastructure but a test of inclusion, showing whether systems are truly built for everyone.

She said The BEACON has seen firsthand how people with disabilities are left out of emergency plans, how mothers struggle to carry children up stairs in buildings without ramps, and how families remain in overcrowded shelters for years due to unaffordable housing.

She added that many communities are forced to rebuild their homes after floods or fires without support or protection, revealing systems that were never designed with inclusivity in mind.

She stressed that to respond effectively to the urban crisis, governments and planners must design housing and public spaces that work for all, including wheelchair users, older adults, and children.

She urged authorities to guarantee displaced people’s right to settle safely, treat water, transport, and sanitation as public goods, and ensure communities have a voice in decisions that shape their lives.

She lamented that those who live closest to crisis situations are often excluded from decision-making, saying inclusion must be built into every stage of planning and budgeting.

Olatunde called for cities that include everyone, not just symbolically, but in design, funding, and implementation inorder to ensure equality and dignity for all.

"The real strength of a city lies not in its tallest buildings, but in how it upholds and protects its most vulnerable residents,"she stated.