President Ahmed Tinubu and the Governor of Delta State, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori have called on town planners to mitigate the effects of climate change on the people by ensuring effective planning of towns and cities.
They spoke separately on Tuesday in Asaba at the 54th national conference cum annual general meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners.
Tinubu who was represented by the Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal, Architect Ahmed Dangiwa said, “I am convinced that effective town planning remains an important tool in our effort as a government to contain and mitigate the challenges of climate change.”
The President commended Governor Oborevwori for hosting the conference noting, “climate change is no longer a distant threat, it a stack reality that confront us every year and every day; the rising temperature, the table water patterns and more frequently severe flood around the world have become norm rather than the exception.”
In an address read by the Deputy Governor of Delta State, Sir Monday Onyeme, FCA, Governor Oborevwori urged town planning officials and regulatory bodies to “ensure strict compliance with town planning and urban development laws to avoid the unpleasant task of demolishing buildings on waterways and drainage channels.”
“The cooperation of the cooperation of the public is also imperative because they have as much stake as public officials in the protection and preservation of the environment,” the governor stated, emphasizing, “as a coastal state, Delta has had a running battle with erosion and flooding, but as a government, we have put some measures across the state to mitigate the effect of impending flood as warned by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET.
“This administration as a responsive and an environment-friendly government had on inception, set up a high-powered committee headed by the Secretary to the Government to address the menace of flooding; the committee was charged with the responsibility of mitigation and advising government on adaptive measures to reduce the impacts of flooding in the state.
“On a good note, the committee has been addressing its responsibilities with vigour as major canals in the state have been opened up, seeing that physical planning has also been identified as one of the major ways of preventing flooding.
“To this end, it is imperative to avoid situation where governments are forced to demolish buildings on waterways and drainage channels with all the negative implications that such action portends for the family economy.
“Our government is fully aware of its responsibilities to Deltans and we are facing them squarely by making our built environment more climate-resistant.”
