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The government added that the processing of building permits would henceforth be done within ten days after submission of application.

The State’s Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Wasiu Anifowoshe, who disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Lagos, said that the state government would not demolish houses but sensitize residents on the need to have title documents on their properties.

He said:”People shouldn’t be discouraged; they should come and apply for their building planning permit. That is the only reliable way to go. Apart from the fact that it is the only document recognized by the government to notify us that your building exists, a planning permit can also serve as a verifiable document that you can tender in banks for your building.”

Anifowoshe said that efforts are ongoing to expedite processing of the title documents for property owners in the state.

The commissioner, who decried low application rate in the state, in spite of the growing population and building development, said most residents build without approval and permits.

Earlier, in the interview, the General Manager, Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, Remi Oni-Omisan lamented low level of compliance with building plans application in the state.

He added:”Making Lagos a more enviable city in Nigeria and of course globally is our collective responsibility. Population influx should not have a negative impact on the Development Plan and so there is a collective responsibility to strictly adhere to planning laws and regulations of the state.”

The General Manager tasked residents to urgently submit their planning permit for their existing buildings and those under construction, describing that as the only legacies they could leave for their children.

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The Chairman of the NITP, Lagos Chapter, Mr. Wasiu Anifowoshe, at a meeting to inaugurate events for the institute’s 50th anniversary, said the development of sustainable human settlements in the country so far was not satisfactory.

He said, “We are particularly worried that inspite of our efforts at emphasising the values of achieving sustainable human settlements, the nature of development of many cities or towns is less than satisfactory.

“Who takes the blame for this? To us, it is all the stakeholders in the development of settlements, but more importantly, government at the three tiers.”

Anifowoshe, who is also the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development in Lagos State, said that as professionals, town planners had for many years been emphasising the benefits and values of orderliness and well-planned communities, not only for the health of the citizenry but also for economic well-being.

“This, we believe, will be better achieved if and when economic planning at state and the Federal Government levels is treated as mutually exclusive,” he said.

According to Anifowoshe, since 1966, the NITP has witnessed a lot of development, and will use the 50th anniversary to reflect on how the profession of town planning has fared and the impact its members have had on national development across various sectors.

“As professionals, we believe we should cooperate with the government towards the attainment of better living and working environment in towns and cities,” he added.

He said a major aspect of the 50th anniversary celebration would be to reach out and hold consultations with groups and associations.

He added that in addition, there would be visits to less privileged groups, with other programmes such as public lecture, quiz competition for town planning students in tertiary institutions in Lagos State, a football match and city walk.

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Olomola said the document would be ready before the institute’s national conference and annual general meeting coming up in Ilorin in October.

“Be rest assured that a draft of the LUPAR will be prepared and made available in time for our next conference in Ilorin in October. All suggestions bothering on comments, observations and corrections made during this MCPDP and the previous ones in Port Harcourt and Ibadan will between now and October be looked into and possibly adopted so that we will have a robust LUPAR that we will present to a full house of the NITP in Ilorin,”Olomola was quoted as saying at the institute’s 17th Mandatory Continuing Professional Development Programme held recently in Kaduna.

A statement by the institute said the theme of the MCPDP was “Development of a multi-user template for Land Use Planning and Analysis Reporting (LUPAR) in Nigeria”.

Describing LUPAR as a novelty to expand the frontiers of site analysis report applications beyond the tradition of planning approvals, Olomola said that the MCPDP was aimed at building consensus on the new template among the practitioners and to allow for input before the report would be presented in October.

The LUPAR, which he said was conceived by his administration, would also build on the existing SAR processes and procedures, as well as add details of geographic references and further information relating to building types and conditions, title deeds, the local land use and development setting, and the permits granted on property.

He said the expanded areas of its application cut across various sectors of the economy, many of which have direct relevance to the financial sector and regulatory agencies.

According to him, the new format LUPAR, in addition to other benefits, can become a very useful and authentic instrument that supports applications for opening of corporate bank accounts, process bank loans, make requests for Insurance cover, and incorporate/register new companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

He said, “It will also address the traditional requirements of applications for building plan approval/permits, issuance of certificates of occupancies, and potential value to security and regulatory agencies with oversight functions on crime and enforcement of standards, among others.

“With LUPAR, it is hoped that 95 per cent of all problems related to lack of data, inadequate personnel and stress on development control will be significantly addressed. This shall lead to situations where our colleagues in government can now rely on LUPAR as a companion in their decision making process. A combination of two or three LUPARs in the same neighbourhood will, if carefully joined together, provide an updated base map of the neighbourhood at zero cost to the town planning authority.”

The Chairman of the Kaduna State Chapter of the NITP, Muhammad Ubale, was quoted as saying that Kaduna had been fortunate since its inception in having plans for the development of the state.

He added, “The first plan was drawn in 1913. Kaduna master plan was prepared in 1967 to cover the planning period from 1961 to 2017. In 2010, the master plan was reviewed and the Kaduna Spatial Development Framework was prepared for a planning period from 2010 to 2050.

“You may also wish to know that Kaduna became the administrative capital of northern Nigeria from 1917 to 1959. It became the regional headquarters of northern Nigeria from 1960 to 1966. In 1969, Kaduna became the capital North Central State up to 1975. Kaduna also became the capital of old Kaduna State which included the present Katsina State. Finally, Kaduna became the capital of the present Kaduna State from 1989 to date.”

According to Ubale, the experience of Kaduna as a regional capital and the role it is playing in the North and the entire country in general cannot be overemphasised.

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According to the association, the rate of socio-economic advancement of the country has been held down as a result of the attitude displayed towards physical planning by policymakers.

The outgoing President of ATOPCON, Mr. Moses Ogunleye, who spoke on the sidelines of the association’s annual general meeting, noted that the country had failed to appreciate the symbiotic relationship existing between economic planning and physical planning.

He said, “It has been shown at the global level that countries, which hinged their development strategies on sound physical planning principles, tend to have faster economic growth than those that did not. Now is the time for governments in Nigeria to review their efforts and concerns for physical planning.

“For instance, if a state government has about 10 towns, it could say it wants to start with two in the first year. It is not about putting figures; it is first of all accepting the value of development plan and knowing what these development plans will cost and do what we call a rolling plan. When you do physical development plans, there are also micro development plans. For instance, in Lagos, if you do a broad plan for Ikeja, you can do a plan for the central business district but it is better to start with a district or town plan or a master plan.”

He added that any government that resolved to do a development plan and follow it would benefit immensely from it.

“Our cities have been growing without any guide and that is why Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, will go to Kaduna and demolish. If there is a place earmarked for schools, you don’t go there and build residences.

“When investors come in, we should be able to say, ‘this is the development plan’. If you plan to have an airport in a place, for instance, you just move in and start the project,” he said.

Ogunleye noted that the high incidence of crime, homelessness, chaotic traffic and abuse of natural resources such as surface water, wetland and forest in towns and cities had been traced to poor or weak planning.

He added, “There is a need for effective funding of physical planning matters by all tiers of government. Besides, physical planning should be strengthened at the local government level, with some functions devolved to the local government areas.

“As the nearest form of government to the grass roots or communities, the councils ought to be able to carry out so much in physical planning. The various aspects of the 1992 Urban and Regional Planning Law with regard to the functions of the LGA should be implemented by all concerned.”

He said local governments had a role to play at some level, but lamented that they were not doing anything.

“Some of them don’t know the responsibility that rests on them; so, we are challenging them to look at the various laws. Let every city manager be convinced that they need to do development plans. If there are no development plans, we have not started; when there is a plan, the government is taken more seriously,” he said.

The President, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Mr. Femi Olomola, said the institute planned to pass down the culture of planning to the coming generation.

According to him, professionals are doing everything possible to advance the practice of town planning as well as create awareness about its importance in national and economic development.

He said, “The mission statement of the present council of the NITP is that between us and the next generation, there is a contract. We owe it to the next generation to create an environment that will make the young ones believe that once they register and practise, they do not only have a good living but also access to fortunes.”

Olomola said that based on this, the council aimed to create about five million units of jobs in consulting in the next few years.

The President, Town Planners Registration Council, Prof. Layi Egunjobi, noted that there was a need for town planning professionals to adopt the three ‘Ls’ (learning, leadership and law-abiding).

Egunjobi said these qualities would help to advance the practice of physical planning in the country as well as improve the level of professionalism in the industry.

“Professionals should see themselves as leaders that require patience, integrity and peaceful co-existence; no one should feel they know it all. We should continue to adapt to development in the world at large and the profession in particular,” he said.

According to Ogunleye, the association has reached out to state governments and some government agencies at the federal level to expose them to the values of planning.

“People travel abroad and see the layout of their cities; we can convince government that instead of allocating billions of naira to projects, they should first accept that they need to do a plan. The cities are growing without plans,” he said.

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He stated that the abuse and distortion of building and town planning regulations, such as building or farming on water ways, erecting toxic and dangerous structures or carrying out dangerous activities near residential buildings increased the impact of disasters.

Sidi, who was represented by the Zonal Coordinator, Minna Operations Office, NEMA, Mr. Slaku Bijimi, stated this during NEMA’s workshop on ‘Better implementation and enforcement of law for safer cities,’ in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

He stated that the recurring cases of building collapse, building along or close to water courses, environmental degradation resulting from either flood or illegal mining among others in Nigerian cities called for a rethink.

He said there should be better implementation/enforcement of laws such as building codes and regulation, planning and environmental laws to mitigate disasters.

Sidi said, “The world is witnessing a rapid increasing impact of disasters caused by the combination of natural hazards and vulnerability, which constantly threaten people’s lives and sources of livelihood.

“Town planning, building and environmental management lawmakers should be sensitised on the importance of disasters and most of the existing laws need to be reviewed to suit the changing trend in urbanisation, development and civilisation.

“This cannot be left in the hands of the government alone; communities, private sectors, non-governmental organisations and individuals must join hands to know and implement them for safer cities.”

The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, said the abuse and distortion of building and town planning regulations such as building or farming on water ways, erecting toxic and dangerous structures or carrying out awkward activities near human habitations would aggravate the impact of disasters.

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