The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners has called on the National Universities Commission and the National Board for Technical Education to enforce the Campus Master Plan policies for universities and polytechnics.

Ogbonna Chime, the NITP president, made the call while addressing a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mr Chime said the CMPs are crucial for guiding the development of educational institutions, ensuring a well-organised and functional campus layout.

He said, “There is a strong need for every higher Institution of learning to have a master plan prepared for its orderly growth and development.

“While the policy and its implementation regulations are in existence, it has become necessary for the National Universities Commission and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to enforce the above regulations with the precision they deserve.

“NITP is worried that it is the absence of this vital physical guidance document, campus CMP, that has continued to cause confusion in the appointment of the director of Physical Planning in our various higher institutions. Conventionally, a consultant Town Planner is saddled with the responsibilities of preparing master plans for our universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.”

Mr Chime explained that the document, so prepared and approved by the relevant town planning agency of the government, controls the orderly physical growth and development of every campus.

The NITP president insisted that the implementation of these plans should be handled exclusively by registered Town Planners, noting that they are the most qualified professionals to oversee compliance.

Mr Chime added that the appointment of the director of physical planning should be the exclusive reserve of registered town planners.

He said that this would ensure all provisions in the approved campus master plans were implemented without confusion, as the producer of the document is also the implementer.

Mr Chime said that NITP has also noted the wrong approach by many State Governments in their attempts to mistake Geographic Information Systems for Urban and Regional Planning, Land Surveying, and Lands Departments in the management of their land resources.

He noted that the GIS, as a system, is not an end in itself, but a means to an end, just like other components in land management. He added that the town planning, survey, and lands departments produce the raw materials – planning schemes, parcellated survey plans, and so on, that make GIS operations relevant.

The president stated that urban and regional planning plays a pivotal role in a nation’s socio-economic advancement.

He commended the federal government and various agencies for taking measures to promote urban and regional planning through the establishment of the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the ratification of the New Urban Development Policy, and the creation of Regional Development Commissions across the country’s geopolitical zones.

He also commended the governors of Lagos, Enugu, Plateau, and the FCT minister for the decisive measures taken to actualise certain provisions of urban and regional planning.

(NAN)