Doctor Kazeem Bakinson, a doctorate degree holder in Public Policy and Administration with specialisation in Geographic Information Systems and also the youngest Fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP), has reached to the recent discovery of settlement under the Dolphin Estate bridge by the Lagos State ministry of environment, saying government needs to bridge the research gap, My360Info exclusively reports.
Doctor Bakinson said “NITP Study/Research Focus Group should do a follow up and investigative/independent research on housing under the bridge to scientifically unravel the hidden gaps.”
“Is it a failure of housing provision?”
“Is it a failure of planning administration and its actors?”
“What does our Urban Development Policy under production says about it?”
“If the dwellers pay as high as 250,000 per year, is it an affordability issue because I assume annual rent in far away abule egba is within same range?”
“What is the experience in saner environment, will the government house them after the eviction?”
“Will Social Housing take care of these groups and/or will they not move to another under bridge or somewhere if evicted.Like Fellow Waheed Kadiri said in 2019 during a Colloquium that slums don’t disappear they relocate(Oshodi slums after eviction reappear at Sango)”
“Does everyone really have a right to the city as postioned in past World Habitat Day as a theme.Is the City truly a Jungle where someone is a judge and someone will be judged,where someone will lead and other will be led and where there will be an evictor and evictee.”
“All these are research gaps the State Chapter and our Planning Schools can delve into.The Young Planners Forum I challenge you to take up this task to save the future of Planning “
