Ogun State MUPP Gears Towards Efficient Service Delivery

Femi Ogbonnikan recently attended a one-day retreat organised by the Ogun State Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning, aimed at enhancing efficient performance of the top management force and down to the lower cadre and above all, the revenue generation drives for the state

Rising from a one-day management retreat with the theme: ‘re-positioning physical planning as a catalyst for the mission to rebuild Ogun State’, held at Providence Conference Hall, Abeokuta, on Wednesday, January 17, the host ministry took cognisance of the roles it plays as in physical/structural development and revenue generation drives for the state.

While setting the tone for discussions, Permanent Secretary in the Ogun State Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning, Mrs. Yetunde Dina, in her welcome address, underscored the importance of her ministry, according to the giant strides of the current administration, which is geared towards repositioning the practice and administration of the physical planning in the state through the effective deployment of planning tools in the design of the goals and objectives of the state.

According to her, “there is need for the physical planners, especially those involved in the development programmes to meet occasionally and deliberate on ways to sustaining planning policies and effective monitoring of development activities.

“This retreat is fashioned out for the top management staff of the Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning (MUPP), as well as its parastatal (the Ogun State Urban and Regional Planning Board). This will enable us, that is, the top management staff that are saddled with the responsibility of formulating planning policies to dialogue and deliberate deeply where we have got it right (our strength), where we will need to intensify more efforts (our weaknesses), the alternative and sourced available which remain untapped (our opportunities) and the challenges being faced by us in the course of discharging our duties (our threats). By doing so, we will be able to identify our roles, fashion out new roles where possible, and consequently increase the revenue base of our agencies,” Dina said.

In his own remarks, Ogun State Head of Service, Mr. Abayomi Sobande, charged town planners to carry out their duties professionally and ensure that physical planning laws are obeyed.
He said as government representatives, town planning officers needed to be proficient in the discharge of their duties as they were the propelling force that would drive the machinery of the state to greater height, being the first to interact with intending investors.
However, the Ogun State Commissioner for Urban and Physical Planning and chief host of the retreat, Mrs. Ronke Sokefun, in her remarks stressed there is need to ensure professionalism and engage inspectors in the field in order to fortify the activities of the Zonal Planning Officers that are responsible for ensuring that buildings and other structures conform to the approved building plans to reduce incidents of demolition.
“Last year, we embarked on a number of clean up activities aimed at sanitising our setbacks and preserving our urban centres. There have been suggestions to engage inspectors who would act as auditors. Inspectors would be drafted to the field to fortify the activities of the Zonal Planning Officers at ensuring that Constructions conform to building plan,” said Sokefun.
Besides, she stressed the importance of the ministry and said, it was directly related to the investment landscape of the state, adding that officers involved in the process would be equipped with modern gadgets and made to work more efficiently in order to reduce incessant illegal developments in the state.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Bolji Oyeleye said the core responsibility of physical planning ministry could only be achieved when every builder obeys physical planning laws to the letter, charging the staff to be alive to their responsibilities, so that the rebuilding mission of the present administration would be a reality.
“I have come here to speak to your conscience. Failure to do your jobs, it creates more problems, like flooding and building collapses that we have been witnessing all over the country. We need to prepare for what is coming. Failure of the supervisors to do soil test, quality of building materials and other factors result to building collapses. You take pleasures in demolishing structures, but where were you when they were building these structures? As a professional, you are to do your job as it is expected,” Oyeleye admonished.

The Special Adviser to the governor on one-stop shop, Mrs. Babi Subair, urged the ministry to synergise with other agencies of government to attract more investors especially now that the World Bank has tagged the state “investors destination of choice in Nigeria.”
Two of the participants, Mr. Waheed Olayinka and Mrs. Felicia Soji-Aleburu, thanked the government for offering them the opportunity to serve, promising to discharge their duties diligently.