NITP tasked on rejuvenation of professionalism in urban planning

It is high time members of the town planning profession in Nigeria and in Lagos State, in particular should come together to envision and chart the ways to bring about rejuvenation of the profession, which is presently facing lots of challenges

TO help the profession of town planning in Nigeria remain relevant and strategic for national development, all members of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) have been urged to develop and display professional culture in their urban planning duty.

Leaders of the profession spoke last week in Lagos during the NITP Lagos’ Chapter The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Lagos Chapter 32nd Annual General Meeting (AGM), where issues revolving around ‘Keeping faith with standards and rules towards promoting better values, professional ethics and code of conduct for town planners’ were discussed.

One of the ways identified by almost all the speakers was the need for town planners to improve on their skills, while not loosing the ethical values of the town planning profession.

In his welcome address, NITP Lagos Chairman, Mr. Anifowoshe Abiola, said the had come for members to rethink, repackage and rebrand the profession, while also ensuring the preservation of NITP’s ethics, rights and privileges.

It is our collective responsibility to always ensure high level of commitment and professionalism towards the prompt delivery of our services. As members of this noble Chapter, we should endeavor to promote good conduct, sound character and above all high level of professional competence as well as ethic in the discharge of our professional services and responsibilities.

In our effort towards the attainment of high quality sustainable human settlements, we are duty bound to protect the practice as well as promote mutual relationships between practitioners, our clients and general public. It is our responsibility to ensure high level of professional diligence, integrity, proficiency and competence”, Anifowoshe added.

On his part, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, the success of any professional depends on strict adherence to codes of conduct, urging younger generations to pursue professionalism while striving to thrive in business.

A senior lecturer at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Lagos, Dr. Taibat Lawanson, noted that there were so many gaps in the planners’ responsibility to the public, clients, colleagues, adding the times calls for immediate rejuvenation of the practice in order to ensure the profession’s relevance to the nation’s development drive.

There is need for intense rejuvenation of professional culture of the urban planning profession because we are in an urban age where global attention is shifting to cities as well as in a period of national rebirth due to the new government and the principles being espoused, she said.

The don said that as matter of urgency, the regulatory body of the profession and the institute should reinvent the planning profession as the essential discipline to grabble the challenges of the 21st century, ensure that knowledge and skill upgrading are done such that they will reflect in planning output, ensure that professional planners live to the highest ethos of moral, professional ethical codes and ensure that discipline is enforced across generations.

To the upcoming generation of planners, Lawanson urged them to engage with the older colleagues with a view to take on their mentoring responsibility.

The lecturer said planners could not afford to stay aloof of happenings within their communities, calling planners to “engage with the communities and decision makers. An effective planner is a good politician” and “embrace change and perform our professional duties with the big picture in mind.”

A former chairman of the chapter and the founder of Initiative for the Promotion of Equitable Environmental Practice, Mr. Makinde Ogunleye, said it had become necessary for town planners to move from ethics theory to practice.

He also called on the Lagos State Government to review its regional and masterplan. “We need to have a new urban development policy for Lagos State,” he said.

Ogunleye also urged the Federal Government to review the National Building Code, which he said does not give details of vetting procedure, giving planners room to vet at their own discretion.

“Government agencies should also be strengthened and made to work on specified rules,” he added.

Immediate Chairman of NITP Lagos, Mr. Ayodele Adediran, said there was need for principles to govern individuals in the profession.

“We should not put our code of practice in paper, we should enforce it because the profession to which we are called is to plan and direct the lives of people,” he said.