Fashola said this at the 2024 Lagos Physical Planning Summit with the theme, “Rethinking Lagos: A New Vision for a Regional and Integrated Megacity”, on Tuesday in Lagos.
He said that town planners were often overlooked despite being key figures in envisioning and implementing a city’s master plan.
Fashola said that town planners’ responsibilities extended beyond land use planning.
“I think that the most important member of the cabinet of a mega city is a town planner because it is his responsibility to envision how the state, the environment, will be done.
“The town planner has not taken the driver’s seat, and I think that, compared to other professionals, the town planner has been somewhat diffident.
“If the town planner steps forward and begins to take us on that journey of visioning, on that journey to prosperity, some of the problems we agonise about today will be solved much quicker, because we will understand what needs to be done.
“We have almost everything – the land resource, the oceans, the creeks, the landforms. Everything is here but the real question is: how have we used those resources? And that is the remit of the town planner,” he said.
The former governor also said that town planners should be involved in determining the optimal allocation of resources for infrastructure.
He said, “I envision the role of town planner as one who decides how these nature’s assets are used for the optimal benefit and the common prosperity of the environment.”
Town planners should be, in my view, leaders in determining what parts of the land provide roads, schools, markets, places of worship, health facilities, recreation facilities, waste, and water treatment, before deciding what is left for building dwelling houses.
“If this is done, I think that we would avoid the current situation where people first take land for dwelling, then, there is no land to build the roads to get to their houses.”
In his remarks, Lagos State Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu thanked Fashola for the insight.
He said, “Thank you very much Governor Fashola for reminding us again, and for explaining it clearly what a mega city is and how it has given me millions and millions of problems, because, when you have millions and millions of citizens, it also develops challenges.”
He said that there was need to ensure that town planners would take their rightful place in mega city construction.
“We, as leaders, can create that opportunity for them, but they themselves – town planners – must rise up, stand up, be counted to fully be able to take their rightful place because, indeed, the cities are owned by them.
“It is only when they make those commitments and they take those first steps that all of us can follow,” he said.
Earlier, the state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Oluyinka Olumide, said that the summit provided a unique opportunity for stakeholders to collaborate and chart a path for the future of physical planning in Lagos.
“We will explore strategies to address pressing issues of implementation, investment, sustainability and physical planning service delivery.
“The paradox of Lagos’s success is that our great city, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, the centre of excellence, has achieved unimaginable growth and progress, but this success has also brought forth unique challenges that we must address, ” he said.
NAN reports that the summit was attended by permanent secretaries, traditional rulers, commissioners, stakeholders in the built industry, Lagos State House of Assembly members and local government chairmen, among others.
