On Friday, February 21, 2025, we were invited to one of our professional colleagues’ birthday anniversary thanksgiving service at Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral, Oba Akinjobi Road GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.
A lot of the invitees were physical planners practicing in Lagos State, including the Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON) national president, Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP) Lagos State chapter current and past chairmen, serving and retired Directors in the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, some of whom were still practicing as consultants in the state.
It was a colourful and memorable occasion.
After the church birthday thanksgiving service, the town planners present from the NITP Lagos State Chapter filed out for a group photograph with the celebrants but came the moment of reality when the conspicuous infractions on the public open space and the only one left in GRA, Ikeja (the old Airways club playground) steered the cream of professionals on their faces.
Out of professional instinct, the blatant abuse became a professional reality. This is just not right; it was on the lips of those present; some were indifferent, seeing the age-long conversion of public open spaces in Lagos State into other uses unhindered.
It became apparent that the accredited city managers and defenders of the environment became helpless and divided on the ugly but avoidable development.
As a concerned physical planner with zero tolerance for such infractions, I recorded that we saw a scene of a change of use site, and we decided not to look away.
In the spirit of “if you see something, say something”, we have seen something and decided to say it; needless to say, the LASPPA, LASBCA, AND LASURA headquarters are just a few meters away from the scene of the obnoxious development. Unfortunately, it seems that their hands were tight.
This reminds me of Dele Farotimi’s lamentations about our judiciary system in Nigeria; I hope history is not repeating itself in physical planning.
If this ILLEGALITY stands, the physical planning in Lagos can be said to have attained the pick of environmental indifference by all concerned stakeholders.
Therefore, I pray that the issue at stake is given the deserved attention by the government and its agencies, bearing in mind the importance of public open space for the GRA residents and its adjoining neighborhoods, particularly the public and private schools.
By Tpl. Abimbola Peter Onaneye