INTRODUCTION
To
promote orderly development, physical planning ensures that urban activity is
properly guided. Disorderly development has a cost and health implications, and
development control is the planning instrument that pre-empts both. Many
studies have shown how active the practice of Development control is in the
modern areas of third world cities as compared to the traditional areas (Afon,
2007). Instituting action, however, has limitations from two factors. First, it
is the generally held belief that development control lacks basis for
enforcement in traditional areas as the modernist ideology of urban planning
presupposes that development control derives legitimacy from a planning scheme,
which in the case of traditional areas is lacking (Santuraki, 2001). Second, is
the technical argument that even where the basis for enforcement is found in a
planning scheme, modern planning standards are not generally suitable for
application in traditional areas, if the overall result was not to be
disordered and chaotic, but rather to enhance liveability in all urban settings
as expected in the context of wider sustainable urbanism (Abdo and Batzel,
2011).
In
Pre-modern times, Development Control in Northern Nigeria was a community
responsibility defined at 3 levels. First, each member of the society is a
monitor, making reports of contraventions to the representatives of the
traditional leadership institutions. Contraventions are held as developments
capable of undermining public health, safety, Amenity and convenience. The second
is with professional builders, who are not only skilled in construction but
are also knowledgeable of the built environment. The third, fourth and fifth
enforced by the Mai Anguwa, the emir and during colonial times, the courts. The
builder or the head of the guild of builders (Sarkin Magina) is usually first
notified of contraventions, and following assessment, appropriate amendments
are sought for compliance by the developer. However, mediation by the guild is
rarely required as most people are aware of development requirements. Where
mediation fails, a report is raised to the community leadership (Mai-Anguwa).
An unresolved case is forwarded to the ward or District head (Hakimin Birni da
Kauye). The emirate council presided by the emir is usually the final arbiter.
Rarely are cases taken to the court, but where it does, the court becomes the
final arbiter.
Across
the North East, North West and North Central of Nigeria, the emir holds land in
trust for the community and leasehold is given to individuals under specified
conditions of use. Based on this, haphazard layout and improper developments
are rarely common. Town form is defined first by public spaces, and private
areas afterwards under strict compliance to cultural norms. That is, individual
interests for development usually are bound by common traditions, technology,
welfare means, security needs, transportation, and religion (Kaltho 1985). The
planning considerations although unwritten, are practised and transmitted
across generations through the guild of builders under the authority of the emir.
Generally, Development control begins from land acquisition. In the case of
purchase, the buyer secures three witnesses. Along with the seller, written
agreements are made with the endorsement of the Mai Anguwa (ward head) or at
times the District Head (Hakimin Birni da Kewaye), whose main concern at this
stage, is the particular use for which the land would be put to. During
development, control is about building form and use, as it affects
neighbourhood circulation and privacy. Within the house, space use is a private
affair of the developer, but the guild of builders generally exercise advisory
roles on housing elements and dimensions. Between houses, Development control
ensures that buildings do not intrude into adjacent plots and that required
setbacks are respected (Kaltho 1985).
At
the individual developer’s level, the size of the plot to build on, the number
of rooms to be built, and their sizes are influenced by the financial strength
of the developer and the functions rooms are intended for. The local
authorities have no control over this, except where it invades the privacy of
neighbours, as for example when doors or windows are placed opposite the toilet
or bathroom of a neighbour (usually unroofed), or erecting high structures that
give visual contact to the courtyard of neighbours. For this reason, the construction of storey buildings are rarely permitted. The principle of
convenience is promoted at the neighbourhood level relating to circulation,
privacy and amenity. Functionality is achieved by ensuring that enough spaces
for passages, alleyways and drainages are provided; Privacy is promoted by
ensuring that alleys, entrances or parlours do not face one another; and
amenity, by ensuring that buildings do not encroach onto roads or alleyways or
onto open recreation or public spaces.
Health considerations are expressed in the provision of passages for
stormwater and for waste evacuation.
The
promulgation of the 1946 Nigeria Town and Country Planning Ordinance made
provision for the planning improvement and development of different parts of
the country through the use of planning schemes. The first attempt at
organising the administration and development of Land at the grassroots was the
enactment of the Local Government Law (1976). The Law made town and country
planning a Local Government affair. Thus the state Governments created a Local
Planning Authority to control developments and initiate planning schemes at the
Local levels. Land use decree No 6 of 1978 was established to curb land
speculation, ease the process of Land Acquisition by the government,
co-ordinate and formulate land tenure modernization.
Earlier
after the Nigeria Urban and Regional Planning Law Decree, No 88 of 1992 was
promulgated, several states in the Southern part of Nigeria especially the
Southwest (example Ondo, Lagos etc.) domesticated Urban and Regional Planning. The northern part of the country was still finding it difficult to domesticate the
Urban and Regional Planning law owing to several reasons such as cultural
believe and practice, lack or inadequate professional planners in the region,
poor knowledge of the law among landowners and developers, political and
administrative reasons etc.
DOMESTICATION OF URBAN
AND REGIONAL PLANNING IN NORTHEAST
North-East Nigeria (formally called
Gongola area) has been one of the least developed regions since independent
(Abbas, 2002). Generally, both social and economic infrastructure was grossly
inadequate or simply lacking while internally, the little available appear to
be spatially concentrated in a few locations thereby creating the problems of the regional development process. The burden of physical planning, however, remained
on the government (the first level of planning) to plan, implement and monitor
development policies and programmes. These beacon for the need to domesticate
Urban and Regional Planning in the region. Below are stated in the North East
region and their status of Urban and Regional Planning domestication.
Gombe:
Gombe state is yet to domesticate Urban and Regional Planning law in the state
Bauchi:
Bauchi state is one of the states in Northern Nigeria that has been involved in
Urban planning and development. It domesticated Urban and regional planning
2010 when the state passed into law the Bauchi state Urban Planning and
development (Amendment) law, 2010/
Yobe: Urban
and regional planning is not yet domesticated in Your state of the northeast.
Borno; Borno
State Urban Planning and Development Board is considerably active in the state
but the state is yet to domesticate planning law for the state.
Adamawa: Though
there is a functional planning agency in the state (Adamawa State Urban
Planning and Development Board (ASUPDB), the state is yet to domesticate Urban
and regional planning.
Taraba: Taraba the state is also among the states in the north, not the domesticate the Urban and
regional planning law.
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DOMESTICATION OF URBAN
AND REGIONAL PLANNING IN NORTHWEST
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