By Gloria Ikibah
The Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Urban Development and Regional Planning, Rep. Awaji-Inombek Abiante, has expressed worries about the habit of converting residential areas to commercial and semi-industrial areas.
The Committee Chairman, stated this when the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Dr Shuaib Belgore appeared before the Committee for the 2024 budget performance and 2025 proposal of the Ministry on Thursday, in Abuja.
According to Rep. Abiante, “beyond the Provision of housing there is need for popper town planning else it would lead to the creation of slums.
“We also have raised concerns relative to the conversions of residential areas to commercial and even semi-industrial areas. They come with their challenges. We anticipate that before approvals be granted for such conversions, impact assessment should be conducted.
“We are hoping and believing that even the new estates that have come up and the ones that are going to come up, that we should have assessments done so that we don’t create several problems in attempting to solve a problem.
“You all are aware of the very obvious example in Abuja, the Threadmore estate. It was designed to solve the challenges of accommodation. And as we speak, you know, it has a yearly problem of flooding.
“So in advancing other estates, we anticipate that the impact of such estates should be comprehensively assessed before they are carried out”.
He furthernoted a way to address the challenge in this regard was to provide an enabling act as it pertains to town planning.
“And then we have commenced the process to repeal and re-enact the act, especially the ones that concerns and relates with the profession of town planning.
“The bill has gone through first reading. We hope to push it beyond that point and have engagement with the Nigerians to advance the course,” he said.
Abiante also expressed displeasure with the pace of work on the Renewed Hope Estate.
In response, the Permanent Secretary explained that on regulation of buildings, the Ministry was discussing the necessity of establishing a national housing regulatory authority which is supposed to ensure standardization.
He however decried shortage of funds especially as the budget of the Ministry was slashed from N162 billion in 2024 to N83.7 billion in 2025.
“We do feel that this budget is grossly inadequate. Our 2024 budget was halved. If actually we look at it, from 162 to now 83 billion. Of this, of the 83 billion, you can see that the Urban and Regional Development Department is allocated N4.6 billion for different projects as itemized in this bigger document which is before you,” he said.
He however said the Ministry wants to upgrade its ‘Slum upgrading and Urban Renewal Programmes’ across the 36 states, and appealed to membrs of the Committee for support to get more funds to enable the Ministry meet up its responsibilities.