
The Chairman of the Nigeria Institution of Surveyors, Oyo State branch, Mr. Olaribigbe Siyanbola, has blamed the relegation of professional planners on government’s failure to enforce town planning rules.
He said this explained the challenges experienced by residents of many developing areas, which he likened to modern slums.
Siyanbola, who spoke during the presentation of a 14-seater bus, which was bought by the NIS, for the Department of Surveying and Geoinformatics, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, said the gesture was important so that the school could train more surveyors.
He observed that flooding and erosion would continue to be problems associated with developing areas unless the government ensured proper mapping ahead of physical development.
He said while the problems, including possible outbreak of communicable diseases, were avoidable, the use of unqualified surveyors and planners would continue to pose a challenge to the development of decent new communities.
He said, “Today, people don’t appreciate surveying even though it’s the bedrock of physical planning and development. People believe that it is not worth it to spend huge amount on surveying but if we fail to properly map physical development, we will continue to have problems of erosion and flooding that are avoidable. It is only through surveying that we can solve all these problems.
“We have the Government Reservation Areas and many well planned areas where the rich live but this is so because physical planning rules were followed when the development began. Many developing areas in Nigeria today are poorly planned because our government no longer ensures that master plans are enforced and followed. After surveying, town planners will make a design but majority of our people no longer observe this.”
Siyanbola said developers had taken advantage of the loopholes in the government’s monitoring of master plans.
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