Nigeria @60: Former AMMC coordinator hail Nigeria, says the country has achieved a bit in the area of town planning

Nigeria @60: Former AMMC coordinator hail Nigeria, says the country has achieved a bit in the area of town planning
 
The immediate past coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Umar Shaibu has expressed satisfaction in the country’s performance in the area of town planning as it has evolved over the past 60 years.
Umar who explains that Nigeria has come along way and has done a bit-well, considering where it started from, also noted that house affordability remains a challenge in Nigeria and that financing is required. He said whenever the buying capacity of Nigerians improve, then house affordability will become a less issue.
According to him, the government is trying its best in terms of town planning but the non compliance of Nigerians has been an impediment and that the people need discipline to abide by government rules and regulation. He stressed further that planning is not the problem but the implementation and compliance.
In his word, “well, at 60, even if its a human being, he would have been an old man by now. We have come a very long way. Prior to our independence, it was not all cities in Nigeria that have master plans, except for the colonial cities that had master plans at that time. But hardly you have a local government headquarter today in Nigeria that doesn’t have a master plan. So, we have achieved a lot in terms of planning. Even the Institute of Nigerian Town Planners is more than 50 today. So, we are somewhere.
“But we have challenges. It’s not the plan. We produce the plans, but the implementation, the financial wherewithal for the implementation of the plans are what is giving us problems today. Imagine, like the capital city of Abuja, we have plans for phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, phase 4 and up-to phase 5, but we can not provide infrastructure to all these phases, what will be happening in state capitals and local governments?
“Our major challenge is not the plan, but the implementation of plan. When you plan, before you start building the houses, infrastructure are supposed to be on the ground. And that will guide the issue of non-compliance with the plan because, by the time you put a road, nobody can develop where you’re supposed to have the road because the road is already on the plan; the plan is there, the infrastructure is also there. It’s only the passing the developers are going to be restricted to their various plots.”
The town planner also highlighted control as part of the challenges facing the implementation of town planning in Nigeria. He opined that Nigerians should discipline themselves in adherence to plans and avoid floodplains, and that efforts should be made for the Country to meet up with other nations who got independence within the same period with Nigeria.
“The next issue is control, because in planning, we say planning without development control is just like a wishful thinking. So, you have looked at the plan and refused to control. Why is it that we have problems with flood areas? no floodplain. Definitely, there is no town planner that will plan and bring out a layout in a floodplain. We reserve floodplains for landscaping and for beautification, so that whenever you have any disaster, people will not be there. People don’t live there. But, unfortunately, today you see our floodplains being built without proper planning, is a product of violation of the plans and we must enforce. So, we have to provide infrastructure plans and we must enforce whatever is there and prevent people from developing where they are not supposed to develop in order to, first of all, save lives before the state itself.”
In response to what the leaders should do in fixing the Nigerian housing sector, he revealed that the onus of having a functional housing sector is not just on the leaders but every citizen of Nigeria. “You see, not only the leaders, all of us have a stake in making sure that things go the way they are supposed to go in Nigeria. We must be disciplined, because, no matter how much a leader shouts, no matter how much he tried his best, if the led are not disciplined, things will not happen.
“Of course, anybody that develops an area that is not suppose to develop, he knows that he has not been given permission to do that development. People know that you must be given, first of all, a location. If you have a location, you must have building plan for approval. Those areas that people build, flood-prone areas, usually almost 99 percent of them are not allocated because they are not planned.
“So, people must have discipline to know that, yes, I am not supposed to build here. When the disaster strikes, it is the lives that are going to be affected. Many don’t even ask us questions, they don’t even value their own lives. You see a floodplain, definitely, you know, somebody is trying to prevent the flow of water, maybe in a river, no matter how strong your retaining wall is, by the time water comes, it clears it. It has happened before. we are not born today. In our history, you must have seen a flooded area.
“The government is trying, but also we must be disciplined to know that we are also supposed to compliment whatever government is doing in making sure that we abide by the rules are regulations.
“Planning is an expensive activity. We must finance it. We have to have people that would finance the building of these houses. And no matter how affordable are houses, we are talking in terms of millions. But how many people have the money today? That is the challenge. And you see, the investors themselves are not investing for charity, they are also investing for profit. Yes, they will plan and will have at least fairly affordable houses even in Abuja here.
“But there is no any fairly affordable house that you have that you would not talk in terms of two million, three million and four million. And you have to go outside the city. But all the same, it is money. So, whenever the buying capacity of the citizens improve, I believe we are going to get there.
“Yes, Nigeria has developed for so many reasons, if you look at our population, is not comparable to other countries that have developed so well, in any case, we must also equal those our peers that got independent within the same time with Nigeria. I believe we are doing our best. And I believe the sky is going to be our limit. All what is there is, we must have purposeful leadership, honest, accountable, and leadership that has the heart and desire of bettering the welfare of the ordinary citizen,” he said.