To kickstart this edition, TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele Joseph, on behalf of the program, paid tribute to an icon in the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, one of the founding fathers in the profession, TPL Adebisi Kumapayi, who passed away recently. Born in Ekiti, he was a national asset, he was trained in Sierra Leone, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. He was a fellow in the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, a member of a town planners registration Council for Ekiti and Ondo State. He was one of the past presidents of Town planners Registration Council from 1999-2005. He started his professional career as a townplanner in ministry of lands and housing in Ibadan, in 1971, he was the director of urban and regional planning ministry of lands and housing in Old Ondo State in 1990. He was Executive director of Ondo state environmental protection agency from 1993-1996, Executive director of Ekiti State environmental protection agency from 1996-2001, General Manager of Ekiti State environmental protection agency through 2002-2004, he was also the adviser to Ekiti State team of the world summit on sustainable development Johannesburg South Africa from August – September 2002. He retired from Ekiti State civil service in 2004, then moved back to Rufus Giwa Polytechnic as a Lecturer on a contract appointment. Thereafter, he became one of the members of visitation to universities and polytechnics that are seeking approval for urban and regional planning as a course. He was a member of registration and disciplinary of NITP, he was also the past chairman for accreditation and visitation committee TOPREC Abuja. He was awarded the bedrock of planning by ATOPCON, Ondo State chapter on 22nd of September, 2022. TPL Chief Raphael Adebisi Kumapayi FNITP died at the age of 83. The program says “May his soul rest in peace”.
The host decided to enlighten the audience on what a Community Development Association is, TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele Joseph said Community development association are usually a group of people within the same area who agree to come together and work together in order to build the area in which they have found themselves so that the area can be easier and safer for all of them to live in. When people in the same community agree to work together, they always consolidate on what is on ground and plan for the future in order to have everyone benefit from each other’s efforts. They also become an avenue for the Government to reach the people at the grassroot level and also become a force when they speak with one voice. By doing all this, they can form their own organisation with executives that will be taking decisions on their behalf. They come together to protect the interest of the area, and also security of the area in which they reside.
When asked what the benefits of a community development association are in a society, TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele said they provide security, which includes profiling the residents to know their occupations and one or two of their relatives. They also work on community development projects, for instance, in some well developed countries, they have their government work on projects for them, whereas for Nigerians the citizens are the ones that work on their communities themselves. Situations like this is where we find the importance of a community development association, for instance, the electricity issues in a community, where the transformer either was faulty or got stolen, or wires needed to be replaced, the community is the one that gets that situation rectified. Another benefit is they help to build a bond, it creates a religion and social interaction within the community.
When asked the benefits of a Community Development Association to Physical Planning and if it can be used as a tool to shape the community, TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele answered that, “Yes, it can be used as a tool in shaping the community”, he said the approach must be Bottom-top approach, however the government uses a Top-Bottom approach, for instance, the government changing the policy on CofO without getting Associations involved can be seen as a Top-Bottom approach. Critically, during the election period, the candidates have meetings to enlighten the people on what they can do, what they plan to do when voted for, however they didn’t meet with them when they started making some decisions which could have had a positive or negative impact on the citizens. When the community speaks as one voice to a professional, have a sit down where the issues are discussed so a solution can be proffered.
On Planning Advocacy, a listener of the program asked, regarding change of land use, where a residential building is now being used as a commercial building, it was once a house now converted to a beer parlour/guest house the caller asked what can be done. TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele said he went to the area, on his investigation he discovered that the original building owner sold the property to a new owner who now used the land as a beer parlour/guest house. He said he spoke to the neighbours who had called him, who said they weren’t aware that was what the building was going to be converted to when it was sold. He said the new owners should have gotten an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) done before changing the building use, i.e. a survey should have been carried out to know if the people within the neighbourhood are in support of the building being converted to a beer parlour, in which they would have found ways to come to a compromise on how to reduce the noise pollution they would cause to the neighbours. TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele said he told the neighbours he was going to find out if the owners were permitted to construct a building like that at the agency that grants the permission and if it was not, they wanted to get a redress.
In a situation where a building was built for commercial purposes was converted to a residential building, TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele said one has the right to change the use of a property, however, there’s a due process to go through and a permit will be granted, but if one tries to cut corners that’s where they’ll encounter problems. A situation where a plot that was bought for residential purposes was built into a primary school, TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele Joseph said that the proper documents were probably not received, and that a layout was definitely not submitted, as that requires you to state the sole purpose of the land. He advises that the right channels must be gone through before trying to acquire a land and that it’s purpose must be stated and that is what it must be used for.