The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) has urged the Federal government and National Assembly to prioritise the implementation of the 1992 Urban and Regional Planning Law to address recurrent flooding and other environmental challenges across the country.
NITP National President, Dr. Ogbonna Chime, made the call in Abuja on Tuesday at the inauguration of the Presidential Committee on the National Assembly, which is tasked with liaising with lawmakers to ensure the full implementation of the Urban and Regional Planning Law.
Chime said the law, promulgated 33 years ago, contains provisions for a National Urban and Regional Planning Commission, which would bring together professionals such as town planners, engineers, architects, estate surveyors, builders, and water resources experts to manage the nation’s physical environment.
He noted that flooding, which claims lives and destroys livelihoods annually, could be mitigated if such a commission were operational.
The NITP president lamented that despite its potential to transform Nigeria’s urban landscape, the 1992 law remains dormant.
He said, “Every year we talk about flooding. We need to implement the law to ensure some of these issues are resolved. The National Urban and Regional Planning Commission, which the law said should be constituted, will comprise a group of professionals in different departments. These are planners, engineers, architects, law surveyors, estate planners, and builders. And what were these professionals created for?
“In their various capacities, they were trained to handle the environmental environment. Flooding is part of the problem these professionals will handle as soon as the Commission is set up.
“At our individual states, we know how many Rivers have their source from Enugu, from Kaduna or Kogi, so when professionals are handed over the management of the environment, these issues of flooding will be a thing of the past. From there, the national drainage plan will guide the construction of dams and drainage, and they will advise the government on what should be done.
“Our advocate for the implementation of the law is not for town planners but for Nigeria. We had flooding in Niger State, many people lost their lives, so unless we set up the National Urban and Regional Planning Commission, this thing might not stop.”
According to him, a review process initiated by the last administration stalled after the first reading in the House of Representatives.
The NITP president commended the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development for adopting a new urban development policy, but said full implementation of the existing planning law would ensure sustainable infrastructure, reduce slums, and attract investments.
“We felt that it would be better for us to go straight and implement the law as promulgated by the federal government. Then, in the course of the implementation of the law, if flaws are discovered, then I think it might be an appropriate time to call for a review. That is why we said that this law we’re talking about is where the life and expectations of younger town planners lie, even the consultants, because that’s the only law in the whole country that is indigenous to us”, he added.
On education infrastructure, the NITP president decried the neglect of campus master plans, which he said were critical to orderly development in higher institutions.
Chime expressed concern that the absence of vital physical guidance documents, especially the campus master plans, has continued to confuse the appointment of the director of physical planning in various higher institutions.
He further observed the incorrect approach by many state governments in their attempts to equate Geographic Information System (GIS) with urban and regional planning, land surveying, and land departments in the management of their land resources.
He clarified that the GIS as a system is not an end in itself but a means to an end, just like other components in land management.
Chairman of the committee and former Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, noted that the President Bola Tinubu administration has shown commitment to urban planning.
She said: “I will simply put it that the practice of urban and regional planning is governed by laws and regulations, including the urban and regional planning law of 1992, which unfortunately is not put into operation.
“And for the law not being operationalised, what law is Nigeria’s development guided by? That calls for concern by the institute, and it is a thing of concern for all professional town planners, and that also, I know, must be of concern to President Bola Tinubu, who is a man we already know is town planning conscious.
“From his administration and governing of Lagos State, he ensured the implementation of the Lagos State planning law, which effectively puts Lagos ahead of the others in development. You can see that Lagos is today organised, and it is leading to enormous resource generation for the state.
“So we are not making a mistake by again attempting to go back to lobby and solidify our relationship with the National Assembly.”
