The representatives said the devastating flooding in parts of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is due to improper urban planning
The House of Representatives Committee on Urban Development and Regional Planning says poor physical development has deprived citizens of sustainable livelihood.
Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Awaji-Inombek Abiante (PDP, Rivers) stated this during a stakeholders meeting which held at the National Assembly on Tuesday, December 12, 2023.
Rep. Abiante blamed the situation on the failure of the Ministry of Urban and Regional Planning to ensure proper housing plans.
He said the failure of the ministry is particularly responsible for the repeated flood occurrence in Trademore Estate, Lugbe and other parts of Abuja over the years.
“Those of you in the ministry have failed to plan properly. It’s is not about constructing buildings, planning is also very key. Poor planning is responsible for the consistent flooding in Trademore.”
The chairman urged for improved physical planning to ensure environmental development for citizens in rural and urban areas and access to basic infrastructure.
“The poor in the urban areas and other vulnerable groups require more care. They deserve access to necessary infrastructure and ensure their communities does not degenerate into slum and unhibitatable human settlement. You don’t have to migrate to access water, a means of livelihood and a confortable life,” he said.
Affirming Abiante’s points, the surveyor-general of the federation, Abuduganiyu Adebomehin, said the development of estates in Abuja is continuous amid poor development plan. He maintained that to improve the city, an in-depth physical planing must be done.
“Lugbe needs in-depth planning. We need to plan for everything. When planning Lugbe, we need to know where we are trashing the waste from Lugbe. We need to plan where we empty the waste. SDGs 11 and 13 has asked us to prioritize urban planning. We need to ask ourselves are we doing that,” he said.
However, in response, director of urban development in the ministry of works and housing development, Olakunde David, said the ministry works to ensure that there’s proper housing plans at every level. He maintained that there are efforts ongoing to ensure that there’s an integrated planning framework that guide development plans in medium-size urban centers.
He noted that state and local governments in the country are expected to create such frameworks as guide. “The ministry has been having meetings on integrated planning for medium size urban centers. This is to encourage states and local governments to imbibe the culture of physical development planning. All this preparations are to culminate to help our effort in the national development plan which will in turn lead to an overall development.
“Integrated planning is the way to go. National physical plain is important to ensure that resources in the country are developed optimally. States need to prepare plans to guide their actions and imbibe the culture of physical development plans for medium development centres.”
Recall that the House of Representatives has last month called on the federal government to address the occurrence of persistent flooding across the country.
