Government, developers and citizens are acting with impunity – Tpl Osunsanmi Gbolabo (FNITP)

Host – Hello good morning and many thanks for joining us for yet another edition of your favorite program ‘Your Neighbourhood and You’. Today again we have another big fish in the big ocean to help us dissect issues on land matters. We have a guest in the studio alongside my sponsor. A very good morning to you sir.

Sponsor – Good morning Comfort, how are you?

Host – I am very well, thank you. How has been the week so far?

Sponsor – We thank God, we are managing and we can’t complain.

Host – Alright, what do you have to say to our listeners today? What should they be expecting?

Sponsor – Yeah, we want to talk about physical planning and how people can engage government, know their right on government policies and how to challenge it will be discussed today.

Host – Alright. Thank you very much. To our guest, you are welcome on board this morning, can we meet you officially sir?

Guest – My name is Tpl Osunsanmi Gbolabo, fellow of the Nigeria institute of town planners, a native of Okeluse in Ose Local Government of Ondo state, I am an environmentalist, a Town Planner, a fellow of the institute and a former national secretary of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners.

Host – Thank you so very much. So, what’s advocacy in planning?

Guest – Well, advocacy is defined as any action that speak in favour, recommends, argue for a course, supports or defends or plead on behalf of others. But in planning, advocacy actually is a theory which was formulated in the 1960s by Paul Davidoff and Stone Davidoff. In a nutshell, the concept is an inclusive planning theory where planners seek to represent the interest of various groups in the society.

Sponsor – Just as you defined advocacy in planning, is there any difference in public participation in planning and advocacy in planning sir?

Guest – Yes, there is. They are totally different. Now, advocacy in planning is like activism. A lot of people especially in the legal profession misconstrue that. They think that when you say advocate, you are talking about a lawyer but advocacy in planning is like activism, speaking on behalf of people for their interest but when you talk about public participation, it is about carrying people along in the community or any project. That is, the people are part of the project you are developing for them. Advocacy in planning is like going on behalf of the people recommend, advocate, argue and fight sometimes. In advance country you discover that people like that are linked with civil society organization and they start speaking on behalf of the people.

Host – Thank you so much there, now I have this question for you. Ideal communities preached by utopian movement in the 19th century, where justice, equality and fairness should be the order of the day, is there any way out to have such an ideal society in this present dispensation?

Guest – I believe you are talking about Nigeria, you must be ready to do the right thing, that’s the truth. Get the right laws and regulations in place and be ready to enforce the regulations without caring about who is involved. We must be ready to put in place the required investment, also prepare plans. We must be prepared to also carry out urban renewal programs because you are talking about ideal cities. If we don’t have an ideal situation but you know what ideal situation is, then you can put in place programs to change the current situation to an ideal situation. In planning you have to provide for urban renewal, the whole of isolo can be remodeled and when you come back to Akure you will say this is not isolo. Urban renewal can take care of that one. We must be ready to do the right thing, it is possible.

Sponsor – Doing the right thing, whenever Town Planners are doing their jobs in one way or the other they step on toes and this fall back on us and if we look at it critically, we have practicing town planners which I know you belong to and we have the others (civil servant) that implement government policy, as in Town Planners that are working with the ministry, so, when we are doing the advocacy in planning, that means we have to face them in one way or the other, most of them are friends. Is it easier for you to just say, I am fighting for my client and I am facing my friends or colleague, the colleague that’s supposed to know better about this issue, how easy can that be?

Guest – You know when I was talking the other time, I told you it can be likened to going to court, the issue of advocacy does not look at all those ones, it’s because we are not ready yet. In advocacy, you are looking at what the law and regulations says vis a vis the right of that person or the community. Its not about somebody likes it, we are talking about how can we have an ideal situation. You are not the one that prepares the law. The laws says you cannot develop more than 50% of your plot, planning regulations, somebody goes ahead finish 60%, put shops and all kinds of whatever there, the person is ignorant of the law, so advocacy is letting the person know what he or she is supposed to do. That angle you are even talking about is a separate issue, for me, advocacy is not a big issue and government also needs to be told that they are not always right. Between me and you, the state government has put a ban on construction of hotels in Alagbaka and Ijapo in the last 2 or 3 years but people are constructing illegally instead of them to challenge and ask for how long the ban will last, there cannot be a ban for life. Then secondly, what are the things that led to the ban? Can we look into it holistically, review and make suggestions to how we can mitigate them? Hotel is not bad and it is even categorized as part of housing but the truth is that people building hotels are now going beyond line, it’s no more a resting place, it’s becoming a club house and noisy area. That’s why they are saying they don’t want it but there are regulations that says if you have a hotel that will have a club house, you must put a sound proof so that the person that’s standing outside the door will not hear what is happening inside. If the regulations are followed, they don’t need to ban anything. The market women at Oja-oba are becoming serious problem to traffic but the truth of the matter is that in advanced countries, public places are also used as market places, now we have a democracy park that is there, there can be advocacy to let government know that you can put those people that are selling and disturbing traffic in the democracy park maybe once or twice in a week which is underutilized. This are serious issues that need advocacy.

Host – Alright, thank you so much. Now to the next question, as a practitioner sir, how can planning advocacy be used to drive the practice of physical planners for higher achievements or service delivery?

Guest – This involve courage, character, integrity. It is a challenge to our professional colleagues, especially those that are in academia to take up this challenge because it is something that must be done. Advocacy in planning is thriving in all advanced countries and we do copy them, we travel there and we love the environment. A lot of things has been achieved, let me tell you, late Gani Fawoyemi, his advocacy has transformed a lot of things politically in this country because he will go to court without anyone sending him and say that look this law is not applicable and cannot be used and many times, he always come up victorious because this is what we call superior argument with logical conclusions. We need courage and I am challenging my colleagues, especially those in academics to pick up this challenge, let people know that this and this are things that can be done, let them also know that these are things that government can do and they can ask questions. We have not been asking questions in Nigeria, that’s why anything you say, they will say you are being sponsored politically. When you want to have an ideal society, an efficient community, a sound and compatible society, you are going to have people asking questions and when they ask and you cannot provide logical answers to it, it means that thing must change. We need courage and I hope we take up this challenge.

Sponsor – Sir, let us go practical on this one, how can an ordinary man within the neighborhood benefit from this concept called advocacy in planning?

Guest – Look at it from this angle, until you provide a service people will not appreciate the service you can render, we need to first offer services to the ordinary man, help the ordinary man to know his right and his limits too because town planning profession generally is a profession of rules and regulations. It is backed by law and statues, so the ordinary man must know what his rights and limitations are. So also the ordinary man should know that this law is not meant for him alone as a poor man, it also cover the rich man because all animals are equal but when you do not put in place regulations that is serving everybody then  some animals will climb the heap.

Host – Planning has been a tool of the rich and powerful, which allow them to keep control of city land use or direction and the poor has been totally neglected. As a fellow sir, how can we get out of this mess?

Guest – Maybe I should first assist you to rephrase and say that it seems as if planning has been a tool of the rich and powerful because it is not an ideal thing. When there is no universally accepted rules and regulations, people will always do whatever they like. Do you know that there is no master plan for Akure? Do you know that the master plan for Akure, Owo and Ore expired as far back as year 2000, that’s 22 years ago! When there are no plans to say that look, this is where you put filling station, hotels and the size of land to site a hotel or the most controversial one is churches. Churches are springing up every day and everywhere in the street without parking, if someone wants to talk, they will say you are trying to criticize Christianity, so people are been careful. The rules and regulations must be for everybody regardless of religious affiliation. There are no master plan, that’s critical and serious problems. So when you see someone that’s privileged who wants to build in a place and you say he cannot build there, what law do you want to use to restrict him? If he is closed to the governor, minister or commissioner, he will go ahead. In advance countries, master plans are prepared and kept in banks, it is a document that can be tendered in the court. So when someone in the government come and wants to do something contrary to the master plan, we will bring it out and tell him he cannot do so. We should do the right thing, set the standard and prepare a master plan for all settlements and not even for Akure alone. Where in Akure can you say its designated for tourism, industrial area? Yes we have an industrial estate along Ilesha and FUTA junction but go to that place now, there are no any industrial activity. People are using that place now for residential building, these are serious issues.

Host – You did say that the master plan for Akure expired 22 years ago

Guest – Correct!

Host – Now that we are at this juncture, how do we solve it? What can the government do to put an end to this menace?

Guest – Its actually simple, government must be proactive and take decisive decisions, there must be reorganization of land uses in Akure and Ondo state in general. But first, produce master plans because these are documents to tell you how this place will look like in the nearest future, maybe 10-20 years’ time. Secondly, prepare urban renewal map to give life and reduce the current chaotic and haphazard environment that we have, everybody is doing whatever they like. Go to Alagbaka, even the rich people there, don’t forget that it was someone who prepared the master plan for Alagbaka many years ago, the person is still living but people are ready to pay 60million to go to Alagbaka. Why not create new environments? Create new environment so that in 10 – 20 years from now my children will be able to move there and live a good life, why is everyone rushing to Alagbaka and Ijapo and leaving people in Ondo road and Ijoka to their fate, that’s not planning. That’s not how to do a good government. Good government entails that you plan for everybody. What is the way out? I say prepare a master plan, if you cannot prepare a master plan then prepare land use plans. Let people know that this is what they can put on ground and what they can’t and the regulations and enforce it. Make sure you fund the appropriate agencies of the government to enforce. Let’s empower the ministry to have the capacity to enforce.

Host – Do you think this is feasible?

Guest – It is very feasible. There are states in Nigeria that are making progress, I don’t want to mention names because you can make comparison, some states are making progress and it is for our benefit because when you talk about economic transformation and growth, it is correlated positively with the urban system. When the place is organized there will be ease of transacting business, ease of economic development, transformation and so on.

Sponsor – Thank you very much, the other time she said planning has been the tools of the rich and the powerful but you said it’s not supposed to be but mere looking at it practically, that’s what we have now. Let me use Ijapo residential area as an example. Ijapo estate is a government estate and we have town planners that are managing that estate. If poor people go there that they want to have a club in that area or local joint, they will tell them that it can’t be approved but a rich man can go there that he wants to have a club in the same area, he will just ask what it will cost him to get it approved. You know this sir and I know it as well, the rich man will have his way. When we say that planning has been the tool for the rich and the people that are powerful in this society, are you now saying we are wrong?

Guest – You are not wrong, I am saying that we should not encourage ourselves to continue in that line. You can change the narrative. How do we change the narrative will now be the question? The best way to change the narrative is that, yes Ijapo master plan – correct, how many years old?

Sponsor – But it’s purely residential

Guest – Yes, but its old now, isn’t it? Planning itself is dynamic, that is why there is a provision to review every 10, 10 years. The economic environment can dictate that you can accommodate some things you do not envisage before, so there is no issue with that one. What we should be talking about is that we should have enforcement and it should be for everybody. The Ondo state government has looked at it and for 2 years now, he has put a ban on further hotels there but I am telling you that some will still go ahead and do it illegally. What I am saying is that it is not right in advocacy, somebody should be able to come up and say Mr. Governor, can we engage you pls? For how long will this ban last? What were the things that necessitated the ban? Can we go back and review it? Ijapo master plan has not been reviewed and it was prepared since 1981 or 82.

So planning is dynamic and it can change but when its going to change, you have to look at the efficiency that’s going to bring and so on, not the problems. Hotels or joints in Ijapo is not the problem, people must eat, we just mustn’t create nuisance while at it.

Host – thank you very much, what’s your final word because of time constraints, so give a final word of advocacy in planning to our listeners at home.

Guest – Thank you very much, I am happy to be here and I will like to be here again but we need to do more in advocacy now than ever, this is the time we need it. Government, developers and citizens are acting with impunity, there will be chaos, somebody must checkmate us. All of us needs advocacy and the time is now!

Host – Thank you so much.

Sponsor – Sir, before we go, you are a formidable personality in NITP, in terms of advocacy in planning, what do you think NITP supposed to do?

Guest – I will not even talk about NITP now, let’s address ourselves as individuals. Town planners, let’s go to landlord meetings and enlighten them and let them know it’s good for them to pay tax, having building approvals, having Certificate Of Occupancy because you can take it to banks. Many people are not even aware of this, That’s part of advocacy. Let us go and attend landlord meetings. Do you know everybody now construct shops in front of their house? Even professors! That’s ignorance.

Host – What’s the implication of that?

Guest – Security implication.

Host – Thank you so much. You have heard it from Town Planner Osunsanmi that its not ideal to build a shop in front of your house. On that note we say our bye bye until we return next week with another big fish. Sponsor, what do you have to say to our listener at home?

Sponsor – We will be back next week with another topic and I will like to say thank you very much sir.

Guest – Thank you.