By Kingsley Adegboye

A former President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, NITP, Mr..Moses Olubunmi Ajayi has faulted the design of some Nigerian cities without taking the culture of the people into cognisance. He particularly faulted the design of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja, saying that  it didn’t take public transportation into consideration.

“For your planning to be meaningful, you must understand the culture of your people, you must understand the socio-economic circumstance of your people. Look at Abuja, it was designed without consideration for public transportation, and that is why the design is not compact. Where are the bus stops in Abuja? They are just coming now after almost 20 years. The railway is just being considered. This goes to say that the moment you plan without considering the people’s way of life, it is either they will not relate to it or they destroy it and that is the problem,.” he said.

Ajayi who spoke at the launch of his book, Perspectives on Urban and Regional Planning in Nigeria, also  faulted the urban renewal project of nine cities embarked upon by the Osun State Government. According to him, the scheme may be a fruitless effort if the implementation aspect which is the key part of the project  is neglected.

Human settlement
Ajayi  who is also a past President of the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria, APBN, opined that  “for Osun State to become another haven for human settlement in the Nigerian space, the urban renewal programme embarked upon by the present administration must be implemented to the letter”.

The former NITP boss explained that Osun State embarks on the urban renewal of the nine cities without first doing the master plans, it will amount to a wasteful venture at the end.

He declared: “I think Osun has taken a very bold step in doing what they are doing but I think the critical issue is the will to implement the whole frame. Let us congratulate them so far, and at same time we need to continue to sound it in their ears that a situation where you plan and do not implement, it better you do not plan at all. So, implementation is where  we will test their strength.”.

Ajayi said what influenced him into writing the book was the  reference to foreign authors by most academics..

“Honestly, I don’t really want to indict the Nigerian academics. I have attended more than 30 inaugural lectures and what I find is that everybody is trying to quote foreign authors. One third of the pages of an inaugural lecture are bibliography and this is rubbish. Why can’t we have our own experience documented so that other people can now make reference to it. That is why I made up my mind that my experiences, which I have garnered over the years, must be in book form,” he said.

The book, he said  “is more like something indigenous, something that will be relevant, something that Nigerian professionals will read and get benefit from rather than just cramming, copying things that will not work here. This is one of the reasons why a lot of planning things don’t work here because they do not relate to our situation. So, since this from the Nigerian experience, it can be useful to Nigerians.”

The settlement expert blamed his professional colleagues for the woes of the profession, alleging that some of them lack the expertise to come with functional planning.

Vanguard Homes & Property recalls that the Osun State Government under its urban renewal scheme commenced the renewal of nine cities which include Oshogbo, Ikirun, Ejigbo, Iwo, Ikire, Ede, Ilesa, Ila-Orangun and Ile-Ife.

The Osun State Commissioner for Lands, Rural and Urban Renewal, Arc. Muyiwa Ige, who spoke on the project at the book launch, said 17 cities were identified but the nine are currently being attended to in phase allotment. Population, he said, was a major consideration for the cities chosen.

Ige stated that historic and cultural centres would be preserved in the course of the renewal exercise. Said he: “Under this programme, we are preserving historic and cultural sites at the same time. That we are renewing does not mean that we should destroy our past and culture,” Ige said

Speaking on the book, President, of NITP,  Mr.Steve Onu said it came at a time that dependable text materials for professionals and in the academia were being sought after, especially from indigenous authors.

Similarly, President of Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria, ATOPCON, Mr. Moses Ogunleye, said: “going by experience of the author, I can say that the publication will be of immense value to the practice of the profession of Urban and Regional Planning”..