Rivers State
FOLLOWING the recent award by Global Human Settlement Outstanding Contribution in New York recently on the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, Rivers State has been selected among 74 other cities across the globe to host the UNHabitat Urban Thinkers Campus Committee.
The Commissioner of Housing, Elder Chinedu Nwobueze Tasie who announced the selection in Port Harcourt yesterday expressed enthusiasm with the selection saying it was not surprising as the Governor’s passion for human settlement and sustainable cities development fetched him the prestigious award on Global Human Settlement Outstanding Contribution in New York recently.
He urged participants to deliberate to bring solutions to the pending challenges of slum upgrading, reduction of forceful evictions and construction of decent affordable housing for all through informed planning and design of The City We Need.
Speaking while hosting United Nations Habitat 3 Urban Thinkers Campus delegates in Port Harcourt, the Governor, reaffirmed its commitment to sustainable urban development as a critical step for realising the urbanization agenda of Rivers state through a coordinated manner that will involve the participation of all relevant actors.
According to Hon Kenneth Kobani, Secretary to the State Government who represented the Governor at the event, the theme of the Urban Thinkers Campus, The City We Need, is already being implemented in Rivers State with the upgrade of infrastructures such as roads, parks and gardens, medium and low income houses, market etc in line with the administration NEW vision urban and rural policy tagged, NEW Rivers Vision for Urban and Rural Development.
He said the UN urban agenda of rural development can further be noted in the state with the massive investment in road construction to ease traffic flow and connect other parts of the state is also ongoing.
Wike however, stated that the NEW urban goal is not without challenges as issues such as waste generation, slums with attendant criminality, overcrowded schools and hospitals were obvious challenges.
The Executive Director of International Women Communication Centre, Dr Limota Giwa during her briefing on Urban Thinkers Campus and importance of the meeting said, the “City We Need in Nigeria Project will take place in 5 states, Rivers, Lagos, Kogi, Kwara and Katsina States to give geographical spread of all regions of Nigeria.
She said objectives of the urban campus is centered on ” infrastructure, human capital development and human right through slum upgrading and desertification, safer city and security of land tenure, advocate for improving situation of poor dwellers and access situation of government action towards securing decent housing and safer city.
She noted that, following the world urban campaign steering committee instruction from 29 June 2015 to 20 February 2016, a series of 26 urban thinkers campaign were organised around the framework of the city we need 2.0 engaging 7,847 men and women from 124 countries and 2,137 organizations representing fourteen constituent groups. The outcome of the report from all UTC, the world urban campaign drafting committee developed and launched The City We Need 2.0 on 12 march, 2016.
The commissioner of Information and Communication, Barr Emma Okah, presenting his paper on The Role of Media in Domesticating the City We Need Project and World Urban Campaign stressed that agenda setting in actualising the Habitat3 Project cannot be ignored through the mass media to achieve behavioral and agenda setting.
Dr Constance Amadi, the Director General of Mind Development Initiative speaking on the Role and Place of Grassroots Women in City Planning stated that, the importance of women involved in city development through reproductive, productive cultural roles in society cannot be undermined.
Other keynote speakers include, Prof I Apriiku on City Resiliency and Youths in the 21st Century. Dr V C Obinna spoke on Sustainable Cities in Line with SDG while Mr Tonte Davids spoke on the Journey Towards New Urban Agenda and the Way Forward.
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