Stakeholders have called on the Federal Government to engage indigenous physical planners to facilitate the integration of planning into the Renewed Hope Agenda. They emphasized that planning must be recognized as the foundational framework upon which all development initiatives are built, warning that without the active involvement of professional planners, the agenda risks producing fragmented and unsustainable outcomes.
Maiden Annual Lecture of NAFPA
The stakeholders made the recommendation at the maiden annual lecture of the Nathaniel Atebije Foundation for Planning Advocacy (NAFPA) held in Abuja. The event brought together politicians, professionals, policymakers, academics, development practitioners, and other stakeholders in the built environment. The Vice Chancellor of Bells University of Technology, Prof. Jeremiah Ojediran, delivered the keynote lecture.
Communiqué Highlights
In a communiqué signed by the convener, NAFPA, Nathaniel Atebije, and Chairman of the Maiden Lecture Planning Committee, Barnabas Atiyaye, participants observed that Nigeria’s urban growth remains disorderly and unsustainable. They stressed that the country is experiencing chaotic expansion driven by weak planning systems.
“Cities are growing without structure, leading to congestion, flooding, environmental degradation and proliferation of informal settlements. This is not development; it is unmanaged urbanisation with escalating economic and social costs,” they stated.
Spatial Coordination Needed
The participants also noted that development is taking place without spatial coordination. According to them, while there are visible projects under the Renewed Hope Agenda, including roads, housing and infrastructure, many are not spatially integrated. They warned that physical development is being mistaken for physical planning, resulting in fragmented and unsustainable outcomes.
According to the stakeholders, housing initiatives under the agenda risk being implemented without proper integration into broader urban systems, a development they said could lead to poorly serviced estates and unsustainable urban expansion.
Call for National Physical Development Plan
They therefore called for the speedy completion of the National Physical Development Plan, which has remained on the drawing board for over 15 years, to provide a clear spatial framework for guiding development initiatives across the country. According to them, government policies and investments must be spatially coordinated to ensure coherence, efficiency and long-term sustainability.
“A national spatial framework will provide direction for balanced regional and urban development,” they said.
The participants further urged that all development initiatives should align with legally approved master plans and structure plans to prevent haphazard growth and ensure that investments deliver maximum social and economic value. They also called for strict adherence to approved plans, insisting that master plans should be treated as binding instruments rather than optional guidelines.
“Consistent enforcement will restore order, credibility and discipline in the management of urban growth. Ensure that housing, infrastructure and economic programmes are anchored in approved plans. Ensure that all urban and semi-urban areas have up-to-date master plans, failing which Federal Government projects may be withheld in such locations. This measure will compel states and local governments to prioritise planning as a prerequisite for development. It will also prevent the siting of federal projects in areas lacking proper spatial organisation,” they added.
Protection of Green Spaces
The stakeholders also demanded an immediate halt to encroachment on designated green and open spaces in cities and urged authorities to reverse existing violations. They emphasised that green and open spaces are critical for environmental sustainability and urban liveability, adding that urgent steps must be taken to protect such areas and restore those that have been unlawfully converted.
Raising concerns over the situation in the Federal Capital Territory, the participants lamented the continued encroachment on green areas, wetlands and environmentally sensitive zones in Abuja, noting that green coverage in the city has reportedly declined to about 17 per cent, against the 33 per cent provided for in the Abuja masterplan. They warned that the increasing invasion of green areas is gradually turning Abuja from the green city it was conceived to be into a “brown city.”
“There are also unprocedural and unprofessional illegal changes of land use in Abuja with impunity, which undermines the essence of relocating the national administrative headquarters to Abuja to build a planned and sustainable city from scratch, achieve climate resilience and ecological balance,” they stated.
According to the participants, unauthorised developments are widespread, zoning regulations are routinely violated, informal expansion continues unchecked, and planning regulations have effectively become optional guidelines, particularly among the political class.
“This action is highly condemnable and should be reversed immediately to enhance sanity in our physical development efforts,” the stakeholders added.
