- New govt to address the disconnect
Nigeria needs to adequately integrate physical plans in its national development plan in order to achieve desired objectives of sustainable and comprehensive development.
Experts called for urgent review of the nation’s development plan to include physical plans and to establish a consultative process that include physical planning professionals and other relevant groups in the development of the national plan.
They spoke at the 9th Waheed Kadiri Lecture Series organised by the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Ogun State Chapter, in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The theme of the lecture was: The Nexus Between Physical Plan and National Plan.
President, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Tpl Nathaniel Atebije, said Nigeria has been moving in a cycle over the years due to the disconnect in the country’s national plan due to absence of an inclusive process that understands the imperative of professional inputs in every aspect of the plan.
He noted that despite many efforts at developing and implementing development plans, the development process has been slow and there has been no correlation between the objectives and achievements.
According to him, physical plan should give birth to infrastructure plan, which alongside other variables, will form the nucleus of the nation’s development plan.
Atebije called on the next president to give utmost attention to the role of physical planning in national planning by putting in place the right consultative process that embraces relevant professionals.
He noted that at the heart of sustainable living standards is proper organization of the country, including matching infrastructure with projected growths and proper assessment of socio-economic impacts of projects.
Speaking on the theme, a global consultant and Professor of Economics at the Ogun State University, Professor Sheriffdeen Tella, said there is a need for review of the National Planning Commission Act to correct what he described as “grave error requiring urgent and deliberate consideration” and to ensure that the commission is well structured to meet its responsibilities.
According to him, while the Act establishing the commission recognized the need for it to have relationships with regional and continental economic communities, it did not give such recognition to national agencies and departments with some functional relationship beyond mobilisng them for support of government policies.
He noted that the absence of such interaction with particular reference to National Physical Development Plan or Ministry of Works and Housing must have been responsible for recent national plans that are devoid of physical plans for the country.
He emphasized that a “national development plan without adequate attention to physical plan is an incomplete document” that requires amendments.
“The problem is that, in most cases today, as in recent past in developing countries, the national development plans concentrate on identifying and utilizing natural resources within and above the land without adequate provisions for the land space itself,” Tella said.
He pointed out that most earlier national plans had physical plans integrated into them but the disconnect started with the adoption of the rolling plans in 1990s, calling on the government to reverse the negative trend and engage with relevant stakeholders to develop all-inclusive national plan.
“The well-organised urban and rural centres found in many emerging and developing countries are the outcomes of integrated or comprehensive national development plans executed in the past in those countries. It is important to reiterate that the best for Nigeria, like other developing countries, is to strengthen its institutions, develop a home-based development agenda based on existing local human and material resources rather than relying on experts from outside to develop national economic blueprint for growth and development. No one knows your environment better than you do,” Tella said.
Olowu of Owu, Oba Saka Matemilola, a Professor, commended NITP for organizing the lecture noting that professional associations have important roles to play in the development of their immediate and larger environments.
He assured that the Palace of Olowu would always support all initiatives aimed at developing the society, calling on all stakeholders to join hands to quicken the pace of national development.
The Waheed Kadiri Lecture Series was instituted in honour of Tpl Waheed Kadiri, a former president of NITP and a well-acknowledged administrator.
Olowu eulogized the contributions of Kadiri to societal development noting that the institution of such lecture series in his honour was a pointer to the invaluable roles he has played in national development.
Kadiri said the lecture series has become an annual melting pot of ideas for national development and commended all stakeholders that have continued to voluntarily support the hosting of the event annually.