INTRODUCTION
This is the communiqué of the Executive Council Retreat of the Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria held 27th-30th, January 2017 at ABM Hotel Along Adeleke University Road, Ede Osun State. The retreat was well attended; papers were presented and deliberated upon and issues that are germane to practice and well being of Consultants were also discussed. The Communiqué issued at the end of the retreat are encapsulated in the following observations and recommendations;
OBSERVATIONS
The Retreat noted the followings:
- People do not appreciate what we do.
- There is overriding powers of political leaders of planning practice.
- Observe dominance of practitioners from the public sectors.
- Poor budgetary allocation for planning projects.
- Planning laws are outdated and not practicable in most states of the federation.
- Inability of NITP, TOPREC and ATOPCON to promote their objectives due to funding.
- Some Practitioners still practice with old knowledge of the profession and poor knowledge of political environment where they operate.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Practitioners should be visible at professionals, business and socio relevance fora to build relationships with relevance stakeholders.
- NITP, TOPREC and ATOPCON must affirm their responsibilities to practitioners in the promotion of practice and also apply the sanctions where necessary.
- Practitioners should be bold and have courage to advise the political class based on our professional judgment.
- Practitioners should educate the public and improve our relationship with our political class to build confidence for trust.
- NITP, TOPREC and ATOPCON should adopt effective monitoring of students to guide their path and promote industry/academic engagement that is between the practice and gown.
Signed,
Tpl Idris O. Salako fnitp, rtp
Vice President, ATOPCON
