Town planners seek implementation of 30-yr-old urban planning law

The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) has urged governments at all levels to activate the law on urban and regional planning, which was enacted in 1992 and set up relevant structures to promote the planning and development of human settlements. 

The institute advocated the creation of the Ministry of Physical Planning to guide the location of land uses for economic and social benefits. 

The institute also urged governments at all levels to urgently activate the law on urban and regional planning, which was enacted in 1992 and set up relevant structures to promote the planning and development of human settlements. 

NITP National President, Mr Nathaniel Atebije, made the call at a quarterly press conference on Saturday in Abuja. 

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He said in the past 18 months, the institute had gone around 27 states, and held town hall meetings and press conferences to call on all stakeholders to adhere strictly to town planning law but they had all paid deaf ears to physical planning. 

He said without physical planning, economic planning and development would remain a mirage, while the country’s population continues to grow exponentially. 

This, he said, may result in a disaster of high magnitude.

Atebije said, “We are faced with insecurity, insurgency, lack of safety, flooding, desertification, diseases, slum, environmental filth and squalor making it difficult for Nigerians to live a good life.  

“And because the leadership of Nigeria has paid deaf ears to physical planning, they have opened their ears to being reactionary by standing by to combat disasters through humanitarian services. This is a grossly misplaced priority. 

“Prosperity is achieved where the environment is orderly, functional, aesthetically pleasant and safe. These are the attributes that any planned space is endowed with.”

He, however, said the institute would continue to engage governments at all levels to develop and implement national, regional and local area master plans respectively to tackle and mitigate flooding and other environmental disasters.

Atebije also enjoined both federal and state governments to ensure that land is not dispensed and shared among people as a reward for political patronage.