IN the wake of looming rainy reason and multiple cases of collapse structures, town planning professionals have tasked government and emergency response groups on the need to adopt more proactive national strategies in disaster management.

The professional drawn from the Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP) and Town Planners Registration Council (TOPREC) while speaking at the 2013 Lagos edition of the Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (MCPD) programme, observed that natural disasters have dominated news coverage in the past several years, noting a distressing rise in the frequency and scale of disasters as well as rising costs.

Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, represented by the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Toyin Ayinde, urged town planners to initiate decisions and ideas that could prevent risks and disasters in rural and urban settlements.

He emphasised that town planners possessed the professional skills to evolve mitigation strategies to combat natural disaster and risks in the country.

President of TOPREC, Mr. Anthony Chukwuma, said that the MCPD would educate participants on disaster mitigation measures and control initiatives as it affected the Nigerian environment. According to him, the programme will enable participants to appreciate and understand the causes, nature and processes of human and naturally induced disasters.

“The training was designed to enhance our knowledge of basic issues in disaster risk management in reducing human suffering and economic loss caused by natural and man-made disasters,’’ he said.
NITP President, Steve Onu, in his submission at the event called on the Lagos state government to effectively collaborate and give the proposals of planners the teeth needed to bite and function better.

He urged the need for commissioning of indigenous or local planning consultants registered with our professional body to prepare plans at various levels of details to guide the physical development of our living environments in line with current best practices.

“We also seek effectively support the officials in public service for implement the plans and schemes designed for our towns and villages, political support needed to implement the plans, assistance for planners by funding urban planning and development projects to ensure that proposals are not left as paper works and employment of planners into the public sector to enable them effectively implement planning proposals made by government.”

Similarly, Chairman of the event, Dr. Bolanle Wahab, noted that experiences have indicated insufficient information and preparation in Nigerian rural and urban communities to combat disasters, thereby making Nigerian stakeholders responses to be reactionary in the form of providing relief-materials to affected population.

He stressed that Urban and regional planning is a key tool to assist city managers as communities build resilience to risks and natural disasters through effective adaptation measures.

“However, due to insufficient information and inadequate preparations, some disasters, especially floods, drought, erosion, fire and oil spillage, still strike Nigerian communities with devastating impacts. This trend needs to be reversed by providing required knowledge to professionals in urban and regional planning and allied fields to minimize vulnerabilities and disaster risks and their impacts in rural and urban communities.

He highlighted that in most of the Nigerian coastal and inland cities, there are hazard-prone areas: encroached flood plains, edge of ravine (deep narrow valley), and flood-prone embankments.