My Ministry Will Enforce Physical Planning Laws In Ekiti – Karounwi

By Damilola Adeparusi

The Honourable Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development in Ekiti State, Rt. Honourable Karounwi Oladapo has given his words that the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development under his own supervision will enforce the physical planning laws in the State with a call to builders and investors, among others, to ensure they obtain their building Plans Approval/Planning Permit from the government to avoid them being sanctioned.

He gave the message on Thursday in his office at the State Secretariat in Ado Ekiti while fielding questions from Treasure Newspaper.

According to him, he said, “I am not going to be an office commissioner. I am going to be a visiting commissioner. I am going to be an operational commissioner. I am going to be a site inspecting commissioner”, he declared.

He urged the people of Ekiti State, and particularly, the Ado Ekiti residents who have failed to obtain their building plans approval from government to do so on time.

He explained that the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development has been given the policy direction by the Ekiti State Government to enforce relevant laws to end the era of erecting buildings and structures without getting the proper and approved building plans approval from the government.

“I want to appeal to the people of Ekiti State to do the needful, as early as possible, before you will begin to see me and other Ministry officials in your locality, building and projects sites, with a view to carry out government instructions.

“If you have not gotten your own building plans, I want to passionately appealed to you to do so and bring them for approval on time. We have the mandate to restore Ado Ekiti to some level of order, efficiency and functionality through the Physical development we are seen around”.

He restated that the Ekiti government is poised to use the policy direction to generate income into the State’s purse by recovering from the arbitrary use of lands for unauthorized purposes, thereby improving the welfare of the people of the State and using the funds generated to provide more basic facilities which will be enjoyed by all.

“My Ministry will see to it, that the use of land in Ekiti State is according to law and the laid down procedures and the physical development plans”.

He decried the current scenario where lands in Ekiti State and Ado Ekiti in particular are being abused on a daily basis. He also lamented the haphazardness, uncoordinated and disoriented approach of the people towards the use of land in the State as something worrisome.

He blamed those building houses without approval and erecting illegal structures to block water ways and river channels in the State as responsible for the level of flooding ravaging Ado Ekiti and its environs.

“When those building and erecting structures build on water paths, they automatically blocks the natural course of rivers, thereby providing no space or paths for water to flow, and the attendant flooding is responsible for building collapses, loss of properties and lives”.

“As for us in the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development in Ekiti State, we are ready to enforced physical planning laws in over 140 towns, communities and villages in Ekiti State and Ado Ekiti in particular, and ensure buildings and other structures are well organized to create an aesthetically pleasing environment for work, living and recreation.

“Our Ministry will ensure we have physical impact on the city of Ado Ekiti in a manner that the aesthetic, the beauty, of the Ado Ekiti will come up. Ado, the Capital City, will be better organized, such that we will no longer have traffic problems or congestions where it is not supposed to be.

“Some areas of Ado Ekiti which are very slumming like Atikankan, Irona, Odo – Ado and some central areas of the city, where development had taken place without planning, and which are not accessible would be regulated and upgraded.

“Such areas that are not accessible, take for example, when there is fire outbreak, fire fighters will always find it extremely very difficult to access them. And when fire outbreak occurs in such places, it will automatically spread to other houses that are clustered together since there are no set backs or spaces between the buildings. Again the living condition and the health situation of those dwelling in those slumming areas should be of concern to any Government. A situation where at least more than seven houses are clustered together with no ventilation is a serious issue for us in the Ministry!”

“The State economy may not be able to support the erection of Bus Stops at some strategic places at present, but we hope to bring sanity on the use of roads by providing the enabling infrastructures in the future. Most of the roads in Ado Ekiti don’t have bus stops.
Drivers will just park and pick Passengers anyhow and anywhere. If we have Bus Stops where passengers can wait for the vehicles, there will be some sanity and beauty on Ado township roads;
it will be more convenient for the people to access vehicles and get to their destinations faster. The Bus Stops help Passengers to escape harsh weather condition, rainfall or sunshine, while waiting for vehicles.”

“Ado Ekiti is probably the only city in the Southwest of Nigeria that has no Master Plan. As an individual, Planning is very important to achieve results and be successful; when you plan, you will save time, when you plan, you will spend less.

“But when you don’t plan, even when you are driving, you will not know where exactly you are going. You spend so much time and waste so much on fuel. At the end of the day, you will work and get no result”.

He went on to query why Ado Ekiti has no Master Plan? A Master Plan would help the Physical development of Ado in an orderly and Coordinated manner as against the uncoordinated, unplanned and unregulated physical development that we are all witnessing. A Master Plan is a Physical Planning Proposal to guide the future use of the land within the territory of Ado; it will propose and allocate lands for different uses; Residential Areas, Industrial Areas, Commercial Areas, Recreational Areas, Institutional Areas, Agricultural Areas, etc. A Master Plan will surely add value to the limited land resource within the territory of the State Capital. We can see the beauty of Abuja in Ado Ekiti of the future with a Master Plan as a guide for future Physical development and erection of buildings, structures and construction of roads and other infrastructures.

He however expressed the resolve of the Ekiti State Ministry of Physical planning and Urban Development to pursue the development of a Master Plan for Ado Ekiti and a Physical Development Plans for the 16 Local Government Headquarters, subject to the availability of money to Ekiti State Government.