TOWN planning consultants are asking the Lagos State Government to ensure full implementation of various development plans in the state to promote sustainable city growth.
The consultants, who appreciated the efforts of the state government in the preparation of these development plans, pointed out that the next step is the implementation of the blueprints.
Challenging members during the 2023 Annual General Meeting of the Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON), Lagos State Branch in Ikeja, President of the group, Muyiwa Adelu, urged consultants who had helped the state government in the preparation of the plans to also rise to the occasion of monitoring the implementation of the blueprints.
The AGM’s theme was “The Challenges of Effective Town Planning Service in the Rapidly Expanding City of Lagos: The Role of Consultant Town Planners in Perception,”
Adelu pointed out that where the state government is shying away from implementing its own plans, the role of consulting town planners should be to call the attention of the authority to it.
“Lagos State Government has fared well in preparation of development plans, the next stage is the implementation of these plans.
“For us as consultants who have helped the state to prepare these plans, our next point of call is to monitor the implementation of these plans.
“Where the state government is shying away from implementing its own plans, it’s also our role to call the attention of the state government to do the same. We must be willing to put the solutions and recommendations of our plans to test to help government achieve its duty of effective governance,” Adelu said.
According to him, it would amount to double jeopardy for government to spend several millions of taxpayers fund to prepare plans while the plans are not implemented.
He explained that poor plans’ implementation of cities in developing nations as a disservice to the citizenry, advising the Lagos State Government not to be part of that.
Adelu also challenged ATOPCON’s members on the need to improve their consultancy service delivery “as we ponder on the challenges of effective town planning practices,”
In his presentation, the Guest Speaker at the forum and former Commissioner for the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development in Lagos State, Dr. Idris Okanla Salako, pointed out that it is the duty of ATOPCON to ensure that town planners in private practice seek opportunities in innovative urban planning capacities and tools to confront the challenges of the Lagos’ expansion to properly manage the continuous growth and its attendant consequences.
According to him, consulting town planners must be experts in strategic planning.
He explained that the exploding rate of expansion of Lagos poses great challenges to urban planners, noting that the state is changing rapidly without appropriate planning; becoming increasingly chaotic, ineffective, and unsustainable.
He blamed the situation on consultant town planners, who he said struggled to effectively deliver their expected roles in the city’s expansion process.
“Hence, planning and management of the rapidly expanding city of Lagos has not been free from dynamic and increasing challenges.
“The expansion of Lagos has outpaced the capacity of government to plan for it; often, development occurs so quickly that government officials and the consulting experts do not have appropriate solutions to the rapidly expanding Lagos,” he said.
He listed urban environmental problems, inadequate basic facilities and services, overcrowding and traffic congestion among growth and developmental issues in Lagos, saying all these had resulted from the increasing demand for infrastructure due to population’s influx.
The former commissioner defined a town planner as “one that has acquired both academic and professional knowledge as well as certification respectively from accredited institutions and Town Planner’s Registration Council (TOPREC); hence bounded by a common seal and its obligation.”
According to him, the role of town planners in the physical and economic development of the state cannot be over emphasized in making Lagos a 21st- century economy.
Salako is looking forward to seeing vibrant and ambitious consultant town planners in Lagos State, who are keen to improve the long-term social and ecological health of the Lagos city expansion process involving compact, efficient land use; efficient resource use, less pollution and waste; and the restoration of natural systems; good housing and living in the state.
While listing some of the issues affecting town planning consultantd, he challenged them to rise above poverty- like mentality, low morale, bad perception, current tendencies inadequate knowledge and unethical practices in order to provide solutions to urban challenges
He advised them to evolve new strategy of solving multiplicity of urban challenges.
“As a consultant town planners, we have the power and the professionalism to design and determine the nature and extent of the rapidly expanding Lagos. “We therefore need to quiet our inner critics and strive to hear our confidant self as we shaped the Lagos’ expansion process,” he said.
Former President of the Nigerian institute of Town Planners (NITP), Alhaji Waheed Kadiri, stated that time has come for town planning consultants to begin to listen to their clients rather than talking to themselves alone.
“However, we need to stop talking to ourselves only, we should stop winking in the dark. I challenge us to start listening to our clients,” he said
He challenged consultants to raise the bar of individuals and corporate bodies in the area of communication including being good listeners, paying attention to details, people skills, time management and professional ethics.
“Not also forgetting the fact that most of the times we are consultants because our clients expects us to know more than they do and therefore guide them alright. We should be ready to give quality service that could be provided by members of ATOPCON only,” Kadiri said.
Earlier, Lagos’ Chairman of ATOPCON, Dr. Kola Olayiwola, explained that the AGM’s platform provided the opportunity for re-evaluation and re-assessment of the association’s performances in terms of accomplishments, opportunities and potential for future growth in town planning consultancy service delivery for members.
The choice of the theme of the lecture, he said was not only relevant, but appropriate to curbing the challenges posed by the rapid urbanization, that had taken its toll in the form of sprawling spatial growth of the city of Lagos.
This scenario, he said made the role of consultant town planners in curbing the resultant haphazard physical growth and development of Lagos not only important, but also critical to the socio-economic developments and overall well-being of citizens of the state.
“Again, the sprawling growth of Lagos on its contiguous communities has left a huge gap, which the consultant town planners’ contributions would help to fill, thereby setting the benchmark standard for spatial planning and management.
“The consulting firms will generate relevant physical planning documents (i.e Master Plan, Model City Plan, Regional Plan, District Plan, Action Area Plan, Local and Subject Plan) among others.
“These documents would guide the direction of growth and ordering of land uses for general urban management and development activities, if Lagos is to remain an investment destination for both foreigners and local investors in a sustainable manner,”Olayiwola said.
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