By Yinka Kolawole
The Lagos State government has charged property developers to ensure compliance with planning regulations when embarking on any project in the state.

Mr. Adesegun Ogunlewe, the State’s Head of Service (HOS), made the remark during a visit by the Lagos Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) to the State Secretariat in Alausa recently.

He asserted that the charge became necessary in order to curtail the emergence of slum settlements as well as the incidents of improper housing developments across the state.

Ogunlewe said that government is committed to improvement of physical planning in the state and urged developers to toe the line by ensuring that their developments conform to standards set through the planning rules and regulations. He said the state government fully acknowledges the challenges posed by rapid urbanisation and the need to balance the provision of decent human settlements for the people with growing the economy of the state.

He recalled that the Lagos Civil Service is the highest employer of town planners and other processionals in matters of physical planning in the country, adding that the state government sponsored 100 town planners to Singapore on a study tour last year.

In his remarks, Chairman of Lagos NITP, Mr. Moses Ogunleye, appealed for the full implementation of the various model city plans that have been previously made, while lamenting that previous administrations in the state had deviated from executing its regional and urban master plan. He noted: “By the nature of town planning, virtually all areas of endeavour are related to the services of the town planners.”

Ogunleye canvassed for the posting of town planners to ministries he described as major land consumers, such as agriculture, education, health, commerce and industry as well as sports, to ensure efficiency in the work of the ministries.

He also called for the employment of only those who studied town planning or urban and regional planning as town planners in the civil service, noting that, “we had instances of those who are graduates of other courses being employed and referred to as town planning officers. This contravenes the provisions of CAP 431 Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1990.”

The Lagos NITP chair commended the gesture of the Lagos State government in ensuring regular local and international training of its members to sharpen their skills. “As a state with so much dynamism and high population growth rate, our colleagues have had to grapple with challenges of managing rapid urbanisation. What the phenomena portends for the state is that this requires a cream of the best hands to ensure its orderly development.

It is therefore, worthy to note that the state government has realised the value of building its human capital, as shown in its readiness to constantly retrain its work force in the town planning field,” he stated.