LAGOS – Mr Olalekan Taiwo, the Chairman, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Apapa branch, has urged local and state governments to properly map out new settlements to prevent congestion.
Taiwo made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday.
He said that most new settlements were not properly planned, adding that a lot of people would have settled there before the requisite facilities were provided.
. Cue in audio
“All lands are vested in the state government, the onus lies on government to be able to make layout, especially in new areas coming up now.
“To be able to, one, check the type of soil or land that is in place, it is the responsibility of government to carry out soil survey, do the analysis and ensure that these lands are suitable.
“Then, the second step is for government to make layouts.
“This idea of government coming back after people had already settled in a place to send them away, saying the place is not good for habitation is not right.
“We should learn to be proactive in our approach, government should set the pace, then, put in place enabling laws, enabling policies, then people would act on them.
“We can help government to do enforcement but the first thing first, government has to lay a proper foundation and it is on this foundation that people are expected to build on.
“Housing is a grass root thing, there should be government presence in the local government.’’
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Taiwo also urged engineers in the Planning and Control Units of local governments to alert government officials on settlements that were yet to be properly mapped out. (NAN)
You may also like: