•laments long duration of land cases in court
A Group under the auspices of the Association of Women Town Planners in Nigeria (AWTPN) FCT Chapter, has called on the general public to stop the dumping of refuse in drainages as one of the ways to prevent flooding.
Speaking on Thursday in Abuja while sensitizing students of Government Secondary School (GSS) Maitama and Wuse, Zone 4, the Chairperson of AWTPN, Oluwayinka Bello charged the students to be ambassadors of a good environment.
She said, Urban and Regional Planning is a profession that ensures proper planning of the land in order to create a good environment.
“The Town Planner has the responsibility of what the city should look like, where to build a school, where to have commercial buildings, residential buildings and where to have the market”.
She said, that building without following the marked plan, like building on waterways has brought about avoidable losses of property and even human lives.
The Chairperson therefore called on the public to always follow due procedures or process before buying land, in order to ensure that they are buying authentic land that is in a planned area and is also original.
Also speaking, Morenike Babalola said it was important for the public to ask questions before buying any land, as land cases take too long to arrive at a judgement in the country.
“If you take a land case to court, Ten (10) after you are still in court, they will say it is a civil case whereas, within that period, a lot of money will be wasted on the case.
“In many cases, the genuine owner of the land will end up dying and leaving the case behind. These are the implications of not doing the right thing when acquiring land” she stated.
She called on the government to put policies in place that will ensure speedy dispensation of land cases in Nigeria. “That is why we are doing this sensitisation because people don’t know that it is wrong to just go to a community Chief, buy a land and build without following due process”.
AWTPN seeks to promote due process in the use of land, encourage tree planting for a healthy environment and reduce cases of land conflicts.
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