Council inducts 296 town planners, tasks on professionalism

Akpan Umoh, Uyo

The President, Town Planners Registration Council of Nigeria (TOPREC), Mr Isyaku Kura, has tasked the 296 newly inducted Town Planners in the country to exhibit high degree of professionalism in the discharge of their duties.

Kura gave the task during the 34th Induction for Newly Registered Town Planners organised by the Town Planners Registration Council of Nigeria (TOPREC) in Uyo on Wednesday.

The president, who was represented by a Council member, Mr Uffot Akpabio, urged the inductees to abreast themselves with the ethics of the profession and avoid sharp practices which may result in termination of membership.

He commended the newly inducted members across the country for scaling through all registration procedures despite challenges.

Kura said that induction was to sustain, broaden the professional knowledge and technical skills required for improved capacity throughout practitioners’ working life and interaction with the outside world.

“Note that your induction is tailored not only to enable you understand the DOs and DON’Ts of the profession and your expectations on the job, but to build your confidence to contribute more effectively wherever you find yourself.

“You need to apply the TOPREC Act at all times, Code of Conduct and Practices Regulations in all services delivery to citizens and more importantly in the dispensation of any assignment, if you are to effectively and efficiently functions as a registered town planner,” he said.

A Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Nasarawa State University, Prof. Timothy Gyuse, in his paper urged the Nigerian Institute of Town Planning (NTIP) not to see other professions as threat.

Gyuse, who spoke on the topic, “The Prospects of Young Planners in Emerging Economy: Four challenges,” said that town planners cooperation with other professionals would ensure a better society.

Represented by Prof. Edet Ikurekong, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Uyo, decried the relegation of professional Town planners flooding the country to the background when needs of regional plans and developing estates arise.

The Professor of Urban and Regional Planning said that there were many opportunities in urban and regional management that the young planners must explore and engage themselves.

“We need to stop being scared of allied professions taking over our roles, rather we should seek areas of cooperation and competence where we can partner to give our society a better living environment.

“There have been many regional plans in the country, mostly they are prepared by economists because the powers that be see regional planning as economic development and do not see where urban and regional planners come in.

“In academia, we must strengthen the regional component of our programmes in urban and regional planning.

‘We also need to increase the post graduate specialisations to give our planners opportunities to specialise and prove their worth in the market plan,” Kyuse said.

The professor charged the inductees to see their induction as a beginning of a lifetime of proactive learning, adapting, and improvising to stay in step with changing practice environments.

He said, “Remember that this is not the end of the journey but the beginning. The country needs you even if they do not know it, the profession needs you. I have every confidence you will not fail.”