The issue of proliferation of churches, gas stations in our neighborhood is rather unfortunate in Ondo state – Tpl. Adeniyi Joshua

In the median edition of the program “YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD AND YOU”, a program that is dedicated to enlightening the populace about our environment, land use, surveying, town planning and related issues, which is ably sponsored by  TPL OGUNSEYI AYODELE JOSEPH, had the honor of hosting TPL ADENIYI JOSHUA OLU, the chairman of ATOPCON. As you all know, town planning is the process of managing land resources. It involves the control of existing and new development as well as strategy preparations to manage future requirement. It is also dynamic process that changes the responds of policy development, proposals and local needs.

Brief profile of TPL ADENIYI JOSHUA – He was born over 50 years ago, he hails from Oka akoko in akoko southwest LGA of Ondo state. He is a product of Anglican grammer school igbaroke, Federal University of Technology, Akure and Northumbria University Newcastle, United Kingdom. He worked in the Ministry of Land and Housing (now Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Ondo state), before he joined Ondo state polytechnic Owo (now Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo). He is a principal lecturer, immediate past Head of Department of Urban and Regional Planning of the Polytechnic. He’s also the former Public Relations Officer of NITP Ondo state, chairman and member of several committees in RUGIPOL, NITP, church, community amongst others. He is a full member of Nigeria Institute of Town Planners and a registered planner for over 2 decades now. He is a fellow at Institute of Human Resources and Development of Nigeria, the current Chairman of Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON), Ondo State chapter.

Host – Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, no other person than Tpl Adeniyi Joshua Olu. Glad to have you in the program this morning sir.

Tpl Adeniyi – Thank you presenter and I greet the good people of Ondo state, good morning everybody.

Host – Good morning to you too sir, so over to the sponsor of the program Tpl Ogunseyi Ayodele, I’m sure you have a few questions for our guest this morning.

Tpl Ogunseyi – Yeah, thank you very much Comfort and once again, good morning to our listeners out there. I am very happy to be part of this new journey, your neighborhood and you program is basically to promote just an inclusive human settlement, where every group of social economic status voice in our society can be heard. So, once again, thank you very much.

Town planner good morning sir, I know you very well, you lectured me before, we want you to tell us what town planning is all about and who can be a town planner and at the same time, what can someone do to be a town planner and what are the functions of a town planner?

Tpl Adeniyi – Thank you Tpl Ogunseyi, once again I greet our good people of Ondo state and Nigeria as a whole. Talking about town planning, it is both art and science in nature and it deals with organization of land uses, how we order our land uses. That is, putting in the right thing at the right place, for the right people, at the right time. So, town planning is an eclectic profession in which we chooses here and there. When you talk about town planning, the nomenclature in some other countries, we can be referred to are Regional planners, spatial planners, town/country planners. They are all synonymous based on the country you are or the environment you belong but basically when you talk about town planners, it’s a means of organizing land uses. That is, where the road is supposed to be, where we supposed to have Neighborhood Park, where we should have place of worship, houses and different land uses being organized in such a way that we can have harmonious relationship, having functional environment and economic value of our environment at large.

Having said that, who is a town planner? This is someone that has passed through the tutelage and the required training to become a town planner. This includes passing your WAEC with subjects like Maths, English, Geography or Economics, Fine art, Technical drawing and some science subjects, then write the JAMB combination that can qualify you and give you an admission into the university or polytechnic. Having said that, when you are looking for admission, you should also look for institutions that’s having Town Planning accreditation. This is very important because if you attend an institution that’s not accredited by the regulatory body, it’s as good as you did not attend any university because the professional body will not be able to admit such a person. So, having done that, after graduation, you need to have the required years of experience which is normally 2 before you get registered with the Nigeria Institute of Town Planners and thereafter, write the Town Planners Registration Council Examination. If you’re found worthy to be a town planner then you’re registered then you will become a town planner.

The functions of town planners, like earlier said, we organize spaces, we educate/enlighten, we plan for people, we plan our environment, we consult, we project and in some cases, we analyze the situations and proffer solutions. So our functions are so much and that’s why we have that ample chances to work virtually in all the places. Anywhere that you deal with physical planning or anything physical you construct. We are relevant in any ministry, from ministry of education, health (because the health workers don’t work in space, they work within an environment and we plan the environment for them), transport etc.

Having said that, there are a lot of places we are relevant to work. We can work in banks, oil companies, as a consultant, in the academics, in the military, paramilitary, so on and so forth. All these places are relevant places we can work. Thank you very much

Host – Thank you very much sir. Moving on to the next question, despite existence of town planners, why do we still have uncontrolled development, particularly, in terms of conflicting land use development?

Tpl Adeniyi – Thank you presenter, there are ample reasons why things are like this. Generally speaking, an average African person doesn’t want to be controlled. By the time you acquire your land, maybe by purchase, gift or inheritance, you will be embarrassed if anybody comes to you and be telling you that you cannot put a sawmill here or you cannot put a club house here etc, it always leads to issues. So, the point I am making is that despite the fact that town planners are working so hard to make sure we have esthetic, functional and sustainable environment, the public, in most occasion, are very adamant to corporate. So, in most occasion, you discover that despite the fact that town planners might have prepared master plans, zoning maps, so on and so forth, yet, the developers do contrary to all the approved master plans and zoning maps. Another reason is that sincerely speaking, when you consider Ondo state, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development compared with the land mass and the rate of development in the state, you will agree with me that the ministry is having shortage of manpower, ill-equipped in terms of mobility, technology etc. Another reason is political influence, despite the fact that we might have worked hard to have a functional and coordinated environment but by the time we have the power that be, we are left handicapped to really implement or to pass the law as it has been stated. We have more points like that but for time.

Host – Alright, in a nutshell, you mean the public are the ones not cooperating…

Tpl Adeniyi – Definitely yes and the workers, the development control officers are handicapped.

Tpl Ogunseyi – Sir, when you were explaining all those stuffs for us, there’s one question that came in and the person was asking that who gives approval for those who wants to change the land use of their area and also, if someone buys a plot in a purely residential area and the person wants to use it for night club or commercial purposes, as a community or people staying in that area, what can be done to stop it?

Tpl Adeniyi – Thank you very much, the first question is that town planners are legally empowered to give an approval for any kind of development, although, approval is a process in which it may involve one or two other professionals but the person that gives the final approval and has the larger contribution in terms of giving approval is town planner. So, having said that, coming to the issue of acquiring a land within a residential area, the first thing is that, there is no map or an area that is 100% residential or industrial whatever, there are some other basic things that may still be made available there. Only thing is that the larger percentage of that landed area might have been allocated to either residential, commercial, industrial or as the case maybe. But the issue now is that if someone has acquire a plot of land and he wants to make use of it as a club house, the first thing is to refer to the layout or master plan or development guide of the area, if it conforms, if that allocation has been specified for that use then there is no problem, such an application will be given an approval but if it is the other way round, then it is necessary for such an application to be turn down with explanation, with education. You need to enlighten that person that that place is not meant to be a club house.

Tpl Ogunseyi – Sorry sir, if I may cut you short, what the person is trying to ask is maybe the former or old property there is residential then the person just bought the place and demolish it and convert the use from residential to commercial.

Tpl Adeniyi – Well, in that wise, according to our laws, such development is subject to public participation because the people within the neighborhood needs to be involved. Such a development must be accompanied by an EIA (Environmental Impact Analysis report), in which has to be subjected to public display and discussion. So, the land owner association/stakeholders needs to come together and add their voices, if the community say they don’t want such a thing within their area, there is nothing anyone can do. Another thing is that, in agreement with law, is it legal to have such a thing there? Has their proposal been able to comply with the rules and regulation? For instance, like the parking spaces, security, conformity with other land uses and so many other issues that needs to be put into consideration in this wise before we can say we are giving approval or not.

Host – Thanks so much Tpl Adeniyi Joshua for doing justice to the program. Next question is, what’s your take on the proliferation of churches, petrol gas stations, private schools among others without complying with town planning regulations? Second question is, I have a neighbor, like I have my building already and there’s a free plot beside me and I don’t know who owns it and someone is coming there to erect a building on it, do I have the license or authority to ask the person about the layout, that I want to see the layout of this structure to know if it conforms with what was approved for the area?

Tpl Adeniyi – Thank you presenter, the issue of proliferation of churches, gas stations etc is unfortunate because were we found ourselves in this country, most of these things is just a fall back from bad leadership, so to speak. When you look at a neighborhood of less than a kilometer, you can be counting 10, 20 churches, some within residential building, some within airspace between on house and the other and so on and so forth. Unfortunately, our government is not doing anything in respect to this and I want to also challenge the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, I think there should be a very clear template, standards, requirements which will need to be reviewing from time to time. If you want to erect a church, what is the minimum space standard that you need to acquire and what are the other facilities to be provided? Like I was saying the other time, everybody know that a church premises is a public place in which there may be functions, maybe occasional activities, wedding ceremony, burial services whereby you have influx of people coming with vehicles and all that, it is wrong to be having on street parking. Such premises is supposed to have their parking facilities and so on and so forth. Then the issue of gas station within the neighborhood is uncalled for, there is need for us to address this issue once and for all before it gets out of hands. There are standards for all these things, the problem is compliance. I still want to maintain that we still have some laws, although, these laws might have been calling for reviewing to be able to match the pressure of the situation at hand but the ones that are still in existence, to what extent have we been able to comply with them? Coming to the second question in terms of your neighbor, it depends on your relationship. There is nothing wrong if you ask that you want to verify if actually he or she has an approval but if you thinks that thing will lead to something else, it’s your right to visit the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development to tell them that you have an issue within your neighborhood, let them come as a mediator.

Tpl Ogunseyi – As the current chairman of Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria, Ondo state branch, is there any kind of ‘working’ relationship between your association, public and the ministry?

Tpl Adeniyi – Yes, yes we have a very smooth relationships and a lot of them. For instance, I think during this week, we had a stakeholders meeting at the secretariat, you know, the people in the ministry and what we are doing right now is part of our functions to the public for enlightenment, for education and all. So, I just want to use this opportunity to appreciate the sponsor and to encourage the public that anybody that fails to plan, plans to fail and nobody wants to fail and that’s why you need to embrace planning. There is physical planning and also economic planning, our government doesn’t play with economic planning why should they play with physical planning? So, I will like to also encourage the government to embrace the issue of physical planning. Thank you and God bless you.

Host – God bless you too sir, thank you so much for coming on the show this morning sir

Tpl Adeniyi – Thank you very much

Host – On that note, we call it a wrap on today’s edition of your neighborhood and you. Of course, it’s a maiden edition of the program, next week we look forward to having you participating more by sending your sms. You can start sending them now to 08180073884 or you can visit the sponsor of the program via his official address at GPM event center, Oba-ile. Email- sustainable@ogunseyi.com. That’s all we can take, my name is Comfort Omolafe. Thank you so much to our sponsor, can you introduce yourself again

Tpl Ogunseyi – Thank you very much Comfort, I am Tpl Ogunseyi Ayodele Joseph, see you next week.