Town planners lament infrastructure collapse

National President of the institute, Chief Steve Onu who spoke in Abuja last week ahead of NITP conference in October said the bad situation is compounded by lack of development plan at the local government area level. He said, “In most towns in this country, you can’t turn your tap and get water from public service […]

National President of the institute, Chief Steve Onu who spoke in Abuja last week ahead of NITP conference in October said the bad situation is compounded by lack of development plan at the local government area level.
 He said, “In most towns in this country, you can’t turn your tap and get water from public service other than the private boreholes people sink here and there.
“And most of these private boreholes, people have not tested the water to find out whether the water is good for human consumption or not.
“We think organizing the conference on this area, we’re in position to let Nigerian populace, and people in government know that this is what we should be doing.”
This year’s conference looks at ‘Management of Cities in Emerging Economy: Issues, Prospects and Challenges’ and speakers from England and the US will attend.
 Onu announced that on Oct. 29, 2014, NITP will launch a book which is a documentary on the state of Urban and Regional Planning in Nigeria for students of Urban and Regional Planning in Nigeria.
 The NITP president maintained that there is aberration in Nigeria’s building sector.
 He explained, “Eighty percent of cities and settlements in Nigeria aren’t planned.
“Even if planned, we have the problem of people developing not in accordance with approved plan.
“Even if development were in accordance with the approved plan, there’s what’s called management of the city.
“We lack the institutional framework that’s required to ensure that our urban settlements are planned, developed and managed. The greatest problem is on management of human settlements.
“As president of the institute, I consider capacity building, research effort and networking with international agencies as hallmark of my administration’s effort.”
Concerning the incidence of building collapse in Nigeria, he said, “In civilized countries, before a development takes place, the planning agency must know that you’re starting development and you must report to the planning agency at every stage of your development process.
“But in our own case here, somebody will submit development building plan to a planning agency.
“Immediately they start development without letting people in the planning agency know that development has started and they continue.”