YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD AND YOU is a program dedicated to educating people on land matters, their rights as an individual living in an environment, and also helps to seek redress to any land related issues.
Tpl Pirisola Abayomi was the guest on this episode, he is a retired deputy director in national population commission, he is currently the CEO of Our planning consult, and he’s a pastor in Agape Christian Assembly. He was invited to discuss Census and its benefits to physical planning and other related matters.
On what Census is, Tpl. Pirisola Abayomi said Census is the complete enumeration of all persons that is available in a regional border, the counting of the number of people present in a regional border at a particular point in time. Census, as we know, can be Housing Census or Population Census. In Nigeria we have Population and Housing Census and this is the complete enumeration of all the demographics and housing characteristics in Nigeria in the present time, so that at the particular time slated to it, we’ll know all the Housing demographics and number of persons present in the country at this time.
On what the importance of Census are, and the number of years interval needed to conduct one, referring to the fact that the last time one was conducted in Nigeria was 2006. Tpl Pirisola Abayomi said Census is a key demographic data to any planner, it is required before making plans for any nation, as it will provide information on the characteristics of the people – age, sex, the working relationship and patterns of the people, their household, the localities and the nation. It will provide information on the type of service available to the people, how the services are being distributed as it will enable all the agencies that require this data to make their plans qualitatively. The interval needed to conduct one should be a period of ten years, so they can measure the growth and changes of people in the nation, whether there’s an increase in the number of people or not. He said Nigeria was unable to conduct the census in 2016 due to the problems the nation is facing, hence the postponement to 2023.
When asked if this implies we have accurate data and proper tracking could be done when the need arises, Tpl Pirisola Abayomi said Yes, he pointed out that Nigeria is in its growing stage and that it’s a developing country, however the host said that Nigeria has been a developing country for decades now, to which the guest said that there’s a difference in how the census had been conducted in 2006 as they used papers then but now they intend to do a digital census, that every census that will be conducted in 2023 now will be done on a computer. It will help Nigeria get a better data, it won’t be questionable, like it was in the past when they used papers, but due to development, they will be able to use GIS (Geographical information system) to conduct population census.
When asked if this data is really being used when planning a city, the guest said “Yes, we cannot plan without data”, he further explained that if planning is made without data, the outcome will be wrong as the key demographic data a planner will need comes from the National population commission. Hence, the need of town planners’ involvement while conducting a population census to help the NPC to get a better and accurate data. As accurate data is needed to know the number of services that will be provided to a particular area. Every agency that requires planning in Nigeria must go to National population commission to get accurate data before making any sort of plans to provide a really good outcome.
Tpl Ogunseyi Ayodele Joseph referenced the policy that was released by Ondo State government last year November, that “No CofO no building plan approval”, he pointed out that if Ondo State had referred to the socio and economic data of the state will they bring up such policy, knowing the number of workers the state has, and the number of citizens not working for the state, using this data, the government shouldn’t have come up with a policy like that, which makes him curious if the state actually referred to the data collected before making such a policy. The guest referred to an earlier statement that National Population Commission is conducting housing and population census, they want to know the total number of buildings that Nigeria has, so that after this census has been conducted, one can go into any of the NPC Offices and make enquiries about any building. As regards the CofO policy, the guest said that it is up to the government. It depends on what government wants to get from the policy, it could be that they want to generate revenue from the policy, he said town planning is based on services where the purpose is to arrange, organise and monitor development and as long as you have the land, you can plan and make your presentation, therefore CofO should not hinder the planning of the land, but he said the government could have a reason behind this and that could be for revenue, but he is however not in support because he believes there should not be a reason to hinder building plan approval which therefore hinders the comfort of the people.
On a previous episode, the sighting of Petrol stations in residential areas was being discussed, when asked for his take on this, Tpl Pirisola Abayomi said that there are guidelines, policies and standards that must be followed to build a fuel station, he pointed that Petrol stations in residential areas make the people vulnerable to hazards, but if the standards are followed, the people won’t be vulnerable. Tpl Ogunseyi Ayodele Joseph added that before a Petrol station can be built in a residential area you must have distance of 100m from residential buildings to the filling station, also it must not near river so their waste must not go into any river. He said on paper, these stations might fulfill the standards but practically they violate them, because there are Petrol stations in residential areas and are dangerous to the environment.
When asked how they can implement the policy and ensure the standards are followed, the guest said that the people responsible for this are the DPR, and that if they are strict and follow the standards of implementation, he believes things will work and government must also ensure that building of petrol stations is not endangering the lives of people living in the environment, also the town planners that eventually approve of the building plan must ensure that the standards are followed before they sign on the approval for the Petrol stations.
Tpl Ogunseyi Ayodele mentioned that, as part of the benefits of Census is for data, demographic, economic and socio data, to be accessible, however, practically he can see that the high-density areas, where the financially challenged reside lack infrastructure, whereas the low-density areas are being catered for by the government, so if the data collected by the government is actually being used, the high-density areas is supposed to have more amenities than the low-density areas. He gave an instance of where there are 1,000 people living in an area but only have access to one hospital, he asked if the information the NPC collects is actually being referred to when deciding on the social amenities to provide for a specific area. Tpl Pirisola Abayomi answered that development plan is one aspect of planning and the implementation another aspect of it, one thing is for planners to plan and their plans actually being implemented is another thing. There is a way plans are made for medium density and high density and provisions are made in said plans, however it now comes to the implementation of the plans, that’s where political class comes into play, and they may hinder what is planned and because of greediness they decide to cheat the citizens living in the high density to benefit the ones in the medium density. He pointed out that “What is good for the goose is also good for the gander” where he said the citizens in the High density are supposed to have access to all these amenities as well, he stated that most of the leaders arising now, came from these high-density areas, so every amenity provided in the building plan of the high-density areas must be implemented, government must ensure that and this would allow equity in the distribution of amenities so no area would be cheated.
A listener called in to the program and asked what the impact of the Town planning association is on the activities of the National population commission, he asserted that there is no way a state would be without a master plan and that if there is actually one, there is bound to be an interwoven relationship between the master plan and the commission activities. The question is if the town planning is inactive or active and the role they will play in the upcoming census. The guest answered that the NITP has their members in the body of the Census, he said during the recruitment for the upcoming census they made sure that the town planners had a major representation by sensing their quality to participate. He mentioned that the last director of National population commission was a town planner, in Ondo State the HOD of the vital registration is a town planner, state director is a geographer. He said they have some of these men who are town planning oriented in National population commission and they contribute their quota, because they know the value of data that come from a Census and they contribute to the quality of the data that will emerge from the Census, especially since this census will be conducted digitally, they have town planners who are experts in geographical information system, who are statisticians and have developed themselves so they can participate in this Census.