Town planning consultants under the umbrella of Association of Town Planning Consultants Of Nigeria, ATOPCON, Oyo state chapter have converged on Ibadan, the state capital for a two day capacity building to promote professional standard and ethics.
The consultants who were drawn from both private and public sectors were led through series of paper presentations such as “Modified Physical Planning: Technical Report Writing on SARAP”; “EIA Template For Small Scale Commercial & Light Industrial Land Use” at the workshop that ended on Thursday, 14th August, 2025.
Others focus of discussion included “Emerging Technologies In Project Planning And Delivery”; “Regulations And Urban, Regional Planning Laws Guiding Town planning practices in Nigeria ”
One of the guest speakers and former assistant national secretary of the association, Dr. Duro Ogunsesan identified the need for town planners to be more thorough in the preparation of development plans especially in technical report writing, saying such report would guide the implementation stage of the plan
He said “There are certain aspects of the physical planning project that you may be able to represent graphically, but you still have to put a write up to explain what you put there , such that the implementation will be more easier.
“Today, You may have the documents prepared, tomorrow, another set of agency or committee would be called upon to execute that same document without your presence, it is the write up that you put to back up a graphical representation that will explain further how to implement the document.
Dr. Ogunsesan who challenged government to be dutiful in the area of environmental planning and management, said inappropriate town planning at rural and urban settlements was responsible for building collapse and inability to control flooding.
In his presentation, TPI Gabriel Oludapo said the compliance of guidelines on a project such as location, type of land use and architectural designs is one of the conditions the town planning office should consider before granting approval to building.
While Dr. Ademola Adeyemi from Lead City University, Ibadan said Nigeria cannot develop technologically and scientifically except geospatial technology is deeply entrenched into all sectors of the economy, TPI O. Oyewale advocated training and retraining of urban planning professionals.
Earlier in an address of welcome, the chairman, Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria, Oyo state, Pastor Aderemi Popoola who spoke on the theme of the workshop “Application Of Digital Technologies In Project Planning and Delivery” said the theme was borne out of the need for professionals to stay ahead of changes in the digital transformation and urbanization challenges.
Pastor Popoola said the theme was subtitled to take care of areas that needed to be improved upon, for a standard and professional services in SARAP and EIA reports writing.
In her goodwill message, the chairperson, Association of Women Town Planners in Nigeria, Oyo state, Dr Olaide Oladiran described the workshop as a laudable initiative that reflects ATOPCON’s commitment to promoting innovation, accepting data driven decision and strengthening best practices in physical planning.
Others in their separate goodwill messages, including the controller, Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban development, Oyo state; Chairperson/Coordinator Young Planners Forum, Oyo state TPl. Opeyemi Ojo and chairman, Forum of Directors, commended ATOPCON leadership for their dedication, urging members to take full advantage of the workshop to promote the profession.
Contributing, the chairman, workshop planning committee, TPI Taiwo Oyelami identified the importance of advancing in knowledge in the face of technological development.
