Future Cities Summit Seeks Stronger Collaboration to Accelerate Sustainable Urban Development

Bennett Oghifo

The President of the Green Building Council Nigeria (GBCN), Danjuma Waniko, has called for stronger collaboration among governments, developers, financiers, researchers and other stakeholders to bridge the fragmentation slowing the country’s transition to sustainable cities, saying Nigeria’s challenge is no longer a lack of innovation but the inability to connect existing efforts for greater impact.

Speaking at the opening of the fourth edition of the Future Cities Summit 2026 in Lagos, Waniko said the theme, “Building the Future: Advancing Sustainability for Greener Cities,” reflects the need to move beyond identifying urban challenges to understanding the underlying reasons sustainable solutions have yet to achieve nationwide scale.

He said although many people believe little progress is being made in sustainable urban development, evidence from across the country suggests otherwise.

According to him, state governments, private developers, financial institutions, researchers, innovators and professional bodies are implementing numerous initiatives aimed at promoting green buildings, climate resilience and sustainable infrastructure.

Waniko, however, noted that the various initiatives remain largely disconnected, limiting their collective impact.

“The real issue is not the absence of activity, but one of disconnectedness and fragmentation,” he said.

“We have many individuals and organisations doing remarkable work, yet there is no clear framework linking our efforts together. They remain scattered, not visible enough, and as a result, they fail to reinforce one another.”

He stressed that one of the summit’s primary objectives is to explore practical ways of connecting the many ongoing initiatives within Nigeria’s buildings and construction ecosystem to create greater momentum for sustainable development.

Welcoming participants to the two-day event, Waniko expressed appreciation to the summit’s partners and sponsors, including the Global Building Performance Network (GBPN), GNZ, PIKU and the Nigeria Energy Support Programme, for supporting the initiative.

He also commended the Lagos State Government for its sustained partnership with GBCN on several projects and praised Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration for providing leadership in sustainable urban development.

Waniko thanked the governor, represented by his Senior Special Assistant at the event, alongside speakers, exhibitors, volunteers and participants attending both physically and virtually.

Reflecting on the summit’s evolution over the last four years, he recalled that previous editions focused on issues such as decarbonisation, resilience, energy, water and smart cities.

This year’s edition, he explained, adopts a different approach by examining why years of policies, conferences and sustainability projects have not translated into transformational change.

According to him, stakeholders have spent considerable time identifying visible challenges such as weak regulation, inadequate financing, poor implementation and low public awareness without sufficiently interrogating the deeper reasons those problems persist.

He questioned whether awareness is truly the problem, arguing that communities already experiencing flooding, extreme heat and other climate-related impacts cannot be described as unaware of environmental challenges.

Instead, he suggested that the real questions should be why awareness rarely translates into action, why finance fails to reach viable projects, why policies remain largely on paper and why innovative ideas struggle to become mainstream practice.

Waniko said the summit has therefore been deliberately structured around critical questions rather than predetermined answers.

Among the issues to be examined are why institutions continue to struggle to keep pace with rapid urbanisation, why affordable and sustainable housing remains elusive, why financing gaps persist despite available capital, and why environmentally friendly building materials and construction practices have yet to gain widespread acceptance.

He also questioned why sustainability objectives are frequently weakened between the design and implementation stages of projects despite growing technological innovation.

Waniko said GBCN does not claim to possess all the answers to these complex challenges but believes meaningful progress can only emerge through open dialogue involving policymakers, professionals, developers, investors and ordinary citizens directly affected by urban planning decisions.

“We are here because we know we do not have all the answers,” he said. “We want to understand the deeper ‘why’ behind the challenges we face and identify solutions that work in real life.”

He urged participants to actively contribute to discussions throughout the summit, emphasising that successful urban planning must be informed by the experiences of people who live in the communities being designed.

According to him, sustainable cities cannot be built solely through expert opinions but by ensuring that policies, buildings and urban plans genuinely improve the quality of life of the people they are intended to serve.

He expressed optimism that the deliberations would generate practical ideas capable of accelerating Nigeria’s journey towards greener, more resilient and people-centred cities.