The National President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Dr Chime Ogbonna, has inaugurated a colloquium committee on the implementation of the 1992 URP Law (CAP 138, Laws of the FRN, 2004).
In a statement, it was noted that the colloquium aims to bring together a gathering of stakeholders to talk about the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Law and its implementation in October this year during the NITP national and international conference.
It stated, “Stakeholders in the built sector, members of parliament, governors, local government chairmen, community-based organisations and non-governmental organisations, among others, are expected to be at the colloquium. The colloquium is a continuation of the NITP’s commitment to ensuring that the Nigerian URP Law is fully domesticated across the states of the federation and implemented.
“Recall that right at the investiture of the present NITP administration in December last year, the NITP National President, Dr Chime Ogbonna, informed the Nigerian planners and the public of the imperativeness of this. This is the precursor, and it starts first with aggressive advocacy and engagement at the national, regional, and local levels, engaging with critical stakeholders for this to be actualised.
“Thus, the planned colloquium is one of the veritable tools of advocacy and engagement. This will take place in the nation’s capital city of Abuja, where the policies and politics of national affairs and nation-building take place.
“In this city come October therefore, the NITP shall host the crème de la crème in the built sector represented by ministers and directors of planning agencies as well as professional bodies; members of parliament drawn from the national assembly, house of representative, state assemblies and local councilors; and the judiciary comprising the Nigerian Bar Association, judges and many others in the sector. The list is not exhaustive, but what is indeed at stake is the imperativeness of getting the law implemented.”
The association noted that operating without a legal framework is like walking and working in darkness without a guide and a guard.
“We need this to have the legal impetus to get things done. Operating without a legal framework is like walking and working in the dark without a guide and a guard. The law provides the legal compass to direct us; the legal structure for planning administration in the country. The law is what should be on our lips until we get it implemented.
“How can we do this? The colloquium with the rich gathering of experts and stakeholders will discuss all matters relating to the implementation of the Law. It is against this backdrop that the National President, this week on Tuesday, 13th May 2025, inaugurated the Colloquium Committee to organise a colloquium on the implementation of the 1992 URP (CAP 138, Laws of FRN, 2004).”
