VP Osinbajo calls for Innovative Planning for Sustainable Cities In Nigeria

Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has called on professionals in the country to work with the government towards innovative planning for sustainable cities in the Country.

Professor insisted that anarchic urbanisation in which urban centres are no more than densely populated and experiences of destitution and crime must be avoided.

Professor Osinbajo spoke on Thursday at the inaugural Integrated Infrastructure ‘Research for Development’ Conference organised by the Nigerian Institute of Architects in Abuja.

Emphasising that the case for sustainable cities is obvious, Vice President Osinbajo said that “planning for such cities must take cognizance of present environmental challenges and the effects of climate change.

“Sustainable urban planning must involve planning for the clean energy needs of large numbers of people, from renewable energy for homes and workspaces to providing infrastructure for clean cooking.

“And we must ask:—what will greater use of electric vehicles in the coming years and the decommissioning of combustion engine vehicles mean for road and related infrastructure planning in another decade or so?”

Listing the benefits of sustainable cities, Professor Osinbajo said they could invigorate regional economies and catalyze growth on a regional scale.

He said; “The positive multiplier effects are inestimable and the benefits are not just economic.

“New frontiers of opportunity for social engineering to strengthen social cohesion are opened up.

“Indeed the opportunity to shape the living spaces of millions of people from diverse backgrounds clustering in new cosmopolitan precincts is an exciting one… It is a task that we must embrace with a good measure of strategic intentionality and imagination.”

Across social strata

Pointing out that a world-class city must provide the infrastructure that would drive its economy, Vice President Osinbajo said such a city must also take care of all segments of society.

He said; “A city cannot be considered world-class if it lacks a vibrant economy driven by qualitative infrastructure, functional social services and efficient urban governance that optimally deliver public goods.

“In building our cities, we must deliberately ensure that the benefits of becoming world-class cities accrue not only to wealthy individuals but across all strata of society.”

“It is important that you all as professionals keep the underprivileged members of society in mind as you plan the country’s infrastructure.

“Indeed, I will urge you to see infrastructure planning as an opportunity to create a physical environment conducive to social mobility,” Professor Osinbajo said.

He stated said that the Nigerian government’s investments in social housing and other welfare programmes demonstrate its consciousness of the inadequacies that cities across the world face.

The Vice President added that the launch of Nigeria’s N15 trillion Infrastructure Corporation (InfraCorp Nigeria) last year was informed by the right policy framework and has created additional opportunities for Public Private Partnership, PPP, in infrastructure development.

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed stated that the Nigerian government has continued to prioritise the strategic use of limited resources in initiating new projects and completing legacy infrastructure projects that were underfunded in key sectors.

Mrs Ahmed said that government projects were guided by plans such as the Nigerian Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP.

President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, Enyi Ben-Eboh, said the position of architects in the infrastructure value chain are saddled with the responsibility of shaping the environment through the creative design of buildings which form the infrastructure ecosystem.

Calling for an integrated approach towards seeking a solution to Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit, Ben-Eboh said several factors affect human habitation, including globalization and climate change.

He said; “It is in this regard that we, the Nigerian architects, with a firm knowledge of the three-dimensional space and environment, resolved to set up the NIA INFRADCO Programmes.”

He added that the NIA has identified 40 sectors of intervention and has used the platform of the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria, APBN, to partner with other professionals as a way of complimenting all efforts at solution provisions.

The highlight of the event was the launch of the Conference Programme Handbook.

 

 

Mercy Chukwudiebere