Members and Fellow Town Planners from all states of the federation and aboard gathered on Monday for the 50th National Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, NITP, in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital.
The 50th National Conference and Annual General Meeting tagged Regenerating Nigerian Cities For Sustainable Development is a 5-day program holding at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan from Monday 28th of October to Friday 1st of November, 2019.
While granting a Pre-Conference interview, National President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Tpl Lekwa Ezutah called on the government to put more attention on physical planning to avoid all sort of environmental disaster.
“Physical planing has not been giving attention to because our government don’t appreciate its right. Our challenges generally is that policy makers are not giving priority to physical planing arising from lack of knowledge of purpose.
“Economic planing can not take place without a good physical planing, land is a very critical resource because it is limited and there is a need to manage it. Country that takes physical plan in serious will advance faster than those that negate physical planing law” He said.
Chairman of the Oyo state chapter, Tpl Adeyemo Olajide while speaking noted that the only way to regenerate Nigerian cities is to plan according to the law because cities are just growing up without been planned and if planned at all, it’s not implemented because of the uncared attitude of the general populaces.
Adeyemo said “We are to plan the cities, we engage in settlement of cities in an orderly manner, we gave advise to the immediate past administration in Oyo state to provide a master plan of Ibadan which they yielded to but what left now is the implementation of the master plan.
He maintained that “Ibadan has been know to be a flooded area, so the master plan has addressed the drainage pattern of the city and we are trying to sensitized and educate the public on waste disposal method and this will reduce the tension of the flood and drainage water.
“It is for the benefit of the people if they can follow the master plan, we planned settlement that has been planned before but jeopardized by the people and turned to slum, and we redevelop such particularly settlement through urban renewer, total clearance, and others.”
National Chairman, Young Planners Forum, TP Rasheed Oshinowo while addressing newsmen highlighted the benefits of the institute as an avenue to inculcate more learning and improve one’s level of professionalism.
Oshinowo describe Young Planner Forum as a Youth Wing sect and an offshoot platform of National Institute of Town Planner (NITP) basically created for young men in the town planning practice for less than ten years.
He further advised non – members to join the association in any state they reside and contribute their quota adding that they would be given update on recent happenings as new development is emerging in this world of dynamism.
