…advocates mandatory engagement of town planners’s services in Urban development
From Kehinde Adewole
Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Prof Abayomi Sunday Fasina has advised the Federal Government to urgently and decisively consider massive investment in agriculture as an enduring elixir to solve the current biting economic hardship in the country.
A statement by Media Adviser to the VC on Media Matters, Wole Balogun, said Prof. Fasina, who is a soil scientist, revealed that Nigeria has very rich soil for massive farm plantation but has yet to tap into this goldmine. He added that other countries of the world with less fertile lands have excelled greatly using modern technology to build their agriculture and achieve economic boom.
Prof. Fasina, a widely traveled University don, gave this advice while hosting members of the
Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), and Town Planners Registration Council, (TOPREC), in a meeting to work out a town and gown relationship, which held at the VC’s Conference Room of FUOYE on Monday.
The astute University executive manager demonstrated his drive for Agricultural development by providing a brand new MF 385 tractor for FUOYE farm.
While bemoaning apparent disregard for the professional services of Town Planners which according to him, has been responsible for poor town planning and development in Nigeria, Prof. Fasina urged all stakeholders to mandatorily engage services of the professionals to ensure our cities are well developed.
In the same vein, Chairman of NITP, Ekiti State chapter, Town Planner Gabriel Ojo Alegbeleye, sought for collaboration with the University in the area of developing the newly created FUOYE’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning so as to ensure more productive development and speedy accreditation of the programme.
He commended the VC and his Management team for putting in place the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management Sciences undear which Urban and Regional Planning is domiciled.
A former President, TOPREC, Chief R.A. Kunapayi, who is an indigene of Oye-Ekiti, also lauded the VC for the creation of the faculty.
Alegebeye while addressing the VC on behalf of his team, said: “We appreciate you for personally receiving us. It shows the esteem you have for our profession and this will go a long way to further deepen our relationship for more productive ventures. We equally felicitate with you on ur appointment as VC.
” We have seen the development on going on the campus already and this shows your willingness to ensure there is adequate facilities for conducive teaching and learning environment. We appreciate you for the short time you made it possible to for the Urban and Regional Planning Department to be in place in FUOYE as well as the faculty of Environmental Design and Management Sciences. We also know that you have assigned our people here to propose a plan for the soon to be constructed FUOYE College of Medicine and we assure you that they will not disappoint you.
“When we learnt that you are starting the Urban and Regional Planning Programme, we were very happy that you have made our dreams of long years come true. We also appreciate those who have contributed towards realizing this dream. This laudable step will bring more benefits to the state and the University. It will promote the town and gown relationship between we as professionals and your academic community. The students will also benefit from this development and Ekiti will benefit more.
“The inclusion of the programme will guarantee that your graduates will be products that will have enterprenurial skills and create jobs for themselves. We want to work with you to ensure that you produce productive and resourceful graduates of Town and Regional Planning. We have our elders in this profession with us who are at the top echelon of our trade and they are ready to assist you in this regard.
“We also are ready to assist in appointment into department of Town and Regional Planning. You can tap on the available resources and opportunities in partnership with us to ensure that by the time your students will be graduating in Town and Regional Planning, they would have been duly registered.
” We can assist in the area of preparation for accreditation y the two monitoring bodies on Town and Regional Planning. We can also assist on capacity building programes. We also urge you to encourage our members working with you to attend conferences on capacity building and to keep abreast of the goings on in our profession.
” As for teething problems, we implore you to do more for the Town and Regional Planning Department. This could be done by providing studios for students, employ Technologists and among the Technologists to be appointed should be indigenes that would be familiar with the terrain.
We implore you to employ more lecturers who are registered with us as this will facilitate the accreditation that we have mentioned earlier.
The state chapter wishes you a success ful tenure and wish the University greater strides.”
A representative of TOPREC, Town Planner, Dele Ayeni, also said: “We urge you to make the local environment of Ekiti to be one of your major focus of studies in Town and Regional Planning. We have hills in Ekiti and we want to see how this will impact in the study of that course.
“The University is so fortunate that you are having surrounding towns giving you several landed property, we implore you to create an oppurtunity for town planning so that you will be able to manage the environment properly and to ensure that Town planners plan further development of your twin campuses. We appreciate you for having shown yourself as a humanist and we are leaning of your good deeds. Please keep it up sir.,
An excited Chief Kunapayi said: “We appreciate you and the Federal Goverment for allowing our long years of a dream for the faculty and Department to come to fruition. Now I can open my window to see a department of Town and Regional Planning. You have wiped the tears off my eyes and off the eyes of many here who have been asking the FG to stop providing graduates that are unemployable.
“No graduate from the faculty of Environmental Design and Management Sciences would be unemployable because they have sixteen areas with which they can create jobs for themselves. This is the gift you are giving us. I also urge practissioners to come to FUOYE to do their masters. We are indeed very grateful.”
Responding, Prof. Fasina said he was pleased to receive the team, adding that he would attend to all their yearnings on collaboration with FUOYE. He also promised to earnestly commence a post graduate programmes in Urban and Regional Planning to enable practissioners who wish to further hone their skills to tap such oppurtunity in FUOYE.
” We thank God today with you coming, I know the importance of Urban and Regional Planning. I am not particularly happy with the way we have been handling the teaching and practising of the profession in Nigeria. I have traveled to other nations and I have seen how the services of Town Planners haslve been effectively deploy to put in place very impressive cities. But here we do not use them properly. With your union, we can collaborate for more success. We will take very seriously the accreditation from your bodies. We are admitting not less than 50 students for a start in the department.
“For the attendance of conferences I will encourage our staff as we already have funds for attending those local conferences. We will also create the studios for teaching your professions. We will consider merit in appointing lecturers and I promise you, we will employ indigenes that are qualified.
” We will also consider local contents I employing the Technologists. For lecturers we have employed highly qualified lecturers and we will employ more to make up for the vacancies that still exist.”
Speaking on the need for Nigeria to take massive investment in Agriculture very seriously, he said: “l have worked as a farm manager for years and we were very productive in it. There is need for synergy for teaching and professional bodies.
I appreciate the fact that you are coming in to help us. Anytime we need you please answer us. We will always call on you. We are academics but you are professionals. People talk theories a lot in this country. In more developed climes, agriculture has been well developed.
It is only Agriculture that can save this nation. There are opportunities for Urban and Regional Planning in Ekiti State. And we urge government to assist you. We will also collaborate on the area of
Research to ensure that our students are well trained with your professional skills and experience.
We will comnence post graduate studies in the faculty very soon and we would not waste the time of our post graduates students. And l am directing the Dean of the faculty now to start working on that,” he said.
Other Town Planners who joined the Alegebeye team on the visit included Town Planner Hon Remi Olorunleke , a TOPREC Representative, Town Planner Ojo Tope, former NITP Chairman, Town planner Dr Taiwo David Olugbenga, a Lecturer Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti, Town Planner Suyi Akerele, Public Relations Secretary of NITP
And Town Planner Ekundayo Titus, Secretary of NITP.
In another Development, the VC received a team of Visitation panel constituted by the National Universities Commission (NUC). The panel which would be in FUOYE to carry out their assignment for some weeks is headed by Prof. Chukwunonso E.C.C Ejike.
