A former Chairman, Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Makinde Ogunleye, has urged state governments to put in place physical development plans that could mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Ogunleye gave this advice in an interview with journalists, on Friday, in Lagos.
According to him, physical development plans were necessary to map out areas suitable for different activities and pave the way for the smooth operation of the state.
He noted that the areas for conservation, reservation, residential, commercial, among others, need to be mapped out and maintained, so that people do not just build anywhere.
He said: “Climate change is real; the issue is how prepared are we, in terms of its mitigations, preventive measures and solutions?
“If all these areas can be mapped out and maintained, it will help to mitigate the impacts of climate change for now and in future.
“Unfortunately, the increasing growth rate of urbanisation, has forced people to develop all these areas, thereby affecting the climate change in one way or the other,” Ogunleye said.
He said that the impacts of flooding were occasioned by the fact that there was no forestation and the water canals were blocked with structures.
“However, if there is a functional master plan, people will not be allowed to build in such areas.
“It is not everywhere that flood will affect, it will only affect the flood prone areas,’’ the ex-NITP chairman added.
Makinde urged state governments to implement their existing regional physical development plans and encourage town planners to prepare development plans for all other areas that hitherto did not have.
