The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners has urged the Federal Government and other tiers of government to pay more attention to physical planning to save the country from future problems.
The National President of NITP, Nathaniel Atebije, stated this at the 9th edition of the lecture series named after a former president of the institute and former chairman of the African Planning Association, Waheed Kadiri, held in Abeokuta recently.
Atenije and other stakeholders’ advised the incoming president to focus on physical planning to develop the country.
According to him, it is only when the physical planning problem is solved that the country can progress.
The national president, who argued that Nigeria was not a developing country, lamented that despite the efforts of Nigerians, the country was still stagnant.
He explained that “Nigeria has made a lot of efforts but there is no progress. It is still moving in circles. Nigeria is not moving. It is stagnant.
“This is not being negative. It is not being pessimistic; it is not being derogatory but the reality of what is happening. We would have gone far beyond where we are, in terms of economic growth, environmental development and physical development.
“Over the years, from the first National Development Plan to the fifth one and up to the rolling plans, governments have been trying to bring out the infrastructure they can develop.”
According to him, thinking about infrastructure is not equivalent to physical planning. “Physical Planning should give birth to the infrastructure you need and because the government has been considering infrastructure without a physical plan, everything became unrealistic,” he asserted.
Speaking on the theme of the annual lecturer series, a professor of Economics at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Prof Sherifdeen Tella, said, “There is nexus between physical plan and national plan.”
Tella, who lamented the unorganised state of the country, submitted that Nigeria can only be a better place with a better economy if there is planning for everything.
According to him, lack of adequate national planning is the reason many Nigerians are in hardship.
He added that focusing more on physical planning would reduce or eradicate hardship in the country.
He said, “Look at the United States of America, they are well organized. Their market is well-structured and everyone moves in peace. But look at Nigerian markets, streets, and roads, everything is not in order; everything is always disorganised.
“However, focusing more on physical planning would help in restructuring the country. Physical Plan remains an integral part of a national plan, though it can be a stand-alone document. It has to do with spatial resource identification and utilisation.”
