NITP advocates key roles for female town planners in MDAs

By Stanley Onyekwere

The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), has called on governments at all levels to give women town planners opportunities for responsible leadership in Ministries, Departments and Agencies. (MDA’s).
The Institute noted hat women town planners deserve recognition for key leadership positions in governance, following the leadership capacity they have acquired and built over the years.
NITP National President, Mr. Nathaniel Atebije, made the call yesterday, at the investiture of the second National Chairman of the Association of Women Town Planners in Nigeria (AWTPN), in Abuja.
Atebije opined that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had not had more than five women as Directors of Planning Institutions in the 48 years of its existence.
He added that this applies to almost all States and Federal agencies that have not given the female gender the opportunity to excel in their departments.
According to him:”Our women have come of age, let us give them the chance to manifest.
“Knowing the humanitarian and benevolent hearts of women, we call on agencies of government, international organisations to kindly collaborate with women in their intervention programmes in communities to ensure the promotion of a liveable world.”
He also called on communities to assist the government by employing the expertise of town planners, particularly women for the physical planning of their settlements.
Also, in her inaugural speech, the National Chairman, AWTPN, Mrs Rekiyat Fache, disclosed that the association would partner with relevant government agencies and critical stakeholders to move the group forward and contribute to national development.
Fache singled out slum upgrading across the federation as one of the major planning interventions of the association.
According to her, the changing dynamics in climate change requires critical thinking and practical solutions to its causative factors.
She stated that her leadership will focus on tree planting as one of the mitigating measures against climate change, including sanitation exercises to clean major cities across the country.
She adds: “our work plans within the stipulated period are tailored to suit solid waste management, and alternative energy from fuel to gas.”
The chairman of the occasion, Mr Isah Shuaibu, a former director with FCT Administration, noted that the investiture created an avenue to reflect on and celebrate the vital contribution of women to urban planning in the country.
Shuaibu opined that the event also symbolises the growing recognition and empowerment of women in shaping the urban fabric of the nation.
According to him, the investiture highlighted women’s indispensable role in promoting inclusive and equitable planning processes that respond to the diverse needs of communities.
However, that the association also used occasion to award some notable town planners and other critical stakeholders in the town planning sector.
One of the awardees, acting Director, FCT Reform Coordination and Service Improvement Department (RCSID), Dr. Jummai Ahmadu, expressed optimism that the expertise of women in town planning, if properly tapped, would contribute to restoring Abuja to a global city.
Ahmadu however called on the women to work with FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike to ensure that Abuja takes its place as the pride city of the nation.
Similarly, another award recipient, Mukhtar Galadima, Director, FCTA Development Control, urged the new leaders of the association to embrace integrity, collaboration, and learning, which he described as enablers of success in any profession.