The Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP) are set to hold their annual conference.
This year’s edition will hold in Ibadan, the Oyo state Capital, and will be declared open on the 29th October by Governor Seyi Makinde.
Speaking to HousingNews about this year’s conference, TP Lekwa Ezutah, the National President of NITP said the conference will based on the theme, ‘’Regenerating Nigerian Cities for Sustainable Development.’’
‘’Every year, we rotate our annual conference from one state to another. This year we are having the annual conference at Ibadan, Oyo state. Incidentally, Ibadan is where the 9 founding members of NITP first met. So we refer to it as the cradle of NITP,’’ he said.
Being their 50th annual conference, Ezutah said the institute felt they should go back to Ibadan as a way to celebrate their founding city where one of the surviving 9 founding members currently lives.
According to him, Ibadan is a very significant city to the institute for several reasons, including the fact that the first planning school in Nigeria was started in Ibadan.
He said; ‘’considering the size, age and structure of Ibadan, it is one of those ancient cities in Nigeria that grew organically without a physical development plan to guide it. So you find there are a lot of inherent problems in the city. The idea of this conference is to contribute to the upliftment of the city, which is what inspired this year’s theme on city regeneration.
‘’We are now thinking of how to revive the city to be more liveable. That is what we are going to discus at Ibadan. Whatever we come up with will also be applicable to other Nigerian cities that have similar experiences.
‘’This is also in line with the new urban agenda which the whole world has adopted and intend to achieve between now and 2030.’’
The lead paper of the conference will be presented by a representative of UN Habitat from Nairobi, followed by other papers from members who are experts in the field.
‘’We have invited allied professionals in the built environment. Architects, quantity surveyors, builders, engineers and all professional bodies. We will also be hosting counterparts from Ghanaian institute of planning.’’
Ezutah also said the conference will be an opportunity to bring together town planners who were elected and appointed into political offices, to congratulate and remind them of their primary constituency, and the need for them to be ambassadors of the profession, and for liveable environment.
‘’We will encourage them on the need to influence policies that will advance the society and make our settlements more liveable.’’
Among these public officials include ministers, legislators, special advisers, and many more.
