• Planners seek implementation of urban policy
Two flood-prone communities across two Local Councils of Nasarawa State have been submerged, with houses, farmlands and other valuables destroyed.
The affected settlements are Loko, bordering the River Benue in the Nasarawa council area, and Bassa community in the Kokona Local Government Area of the state.
Executive Secretary of Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency (NASEMA), Ben Akwash, told newsmen yesterday in Lafia that though the extent of the damage was yet to be ascertained, the disaster swept the entire farms, with nothing to recover.
He lamented that even though the incident at the Bassa community was not among the council areas predicted by NIMET, he said the agency had, however, begun aggressive sensitisation across all the flood-prone communities to ensure people are moved upland before the impending flooding.
He said: “We are working hand in hand with the community leaders, local chiefs and youth groups to talk to some locals who remain adamant despite repeated warnings, and appeal to move to the uplands ahead of the flood.
“We have held several sensitisation meetings with all the communities prone to flooding and agreed with village heads and traditional rulers to persuade the locals, who may want to see the flood coming before they move, to kindly plead with them because we have provided safe havens in all the flood-prone communities in the event of a flood.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) has urged the Federal Government and National Assembly to prioritise the implementation of the 1992 Urban and Regional Planning Law to address recurrent flooding and other environmental challenges across the federation.
NITP’s National President, Dr Ogbonna Chime, made the call in Abuja, yesterday, at the inauguration of the Presidential Committee on the National Assembly, saddled with the responsibility of liaising with lawmakers to ensure full implementation of the legislation.
Chime said the law, promulgated 33 years ago, contains provisions for a National Urban and Regional Planning Commission, which would bring together professionals such as town planners, engineers, architects.
Estate surveyors, builders, and water resources experts to manage the nation’s physical environment.
He submitted that flooding, which claims lives and destroys livelihoods yearly, could be mitigated if such a commission were operational.
The NITP boss lamented that despite its potential to transform Nigeria’s urban landscape, the 1992 law remains dormant.
He said: “Every year, we talk about flooding. We need to implement the law to ensure some of these issues are resolved. The National Urban and Regional Planning Commission, which the law said should be constituted, will comprise a group of professionals in different departments. These are planners, engineers, architects, land surveyors, estate planners, and builders. And what were these professionals created for?
“In their various capacities, they were trained to handle the environment.
“Flooding is part of the problem these professionals will handle as soon as the commission is set up.”
According to him, a review process initiated by the last administration stalled after the first reading in the House of Representatives.
Chime commended the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development for adopting a new urban development policy, but said full implementation of the existing planning law would ensure sustainable infrastructure, reduce slums, and attract investments.
Chairman of the committee and former Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, stressed that President Bola Tinubu’s administration had shown commitment to urban planning.
