Oyo State Govt Re-Affirms Commitment To Resilient Cities

The Oyo State government is actively working towards creating more resilient cities, focusing on sustainable urban development and improving quality of life for residents.

Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Urban development, Mr. Williams Akin- funmilayo stated this at an International Conference on a sustainable built environment, held at the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management University of Ibadan.

He added that the Governor Seyi Makinde led administration is proud to be at the forefront of integrating resilience into urban planning.

The commissioner explained that across Africa and especially in Nigeria, our cities are under tremendous pressure, Urban populations are growing rapidly often faster than the planning framework can handle, saying by 2050, it is projected that over 70% of Nigeria’s population will live in urban areas.

He maintained that, resilience is not optional but necessity and Oyo State is not immune to these challenges from the ever- expanding Ibadan metropolitan area to the rural – urban migration.

Akin-funmilayo added that pressures in towns like Ogbomoso and Oyo, Saki, Iseyin, Ibarapa are witnessing increasing demand for housing services and land, noting that challenges have presented the State Government opportunities to innovate, reform and to build more resilient cities.

According to him, “On Urban Renewal policy framework, the Lands Commissioner explained that in 2021, the State Government under the present administration launched a renewed Urban Renewal Strategy aimed at making the cities in Oyo State more livable, inclusive and future – proof and this includes: Comprehensive upgrading of both major and inner-city roads and drainage systems; Revitalization of public facilities/infrastructure such as schools, health centers.

He explained further that Digitization and GIS- Based Land administration one of most transformation initiatives has been the Digitization of land records and planing approvals through the Oyo State Geographic information System (OYOGIS)
He said that (OYOGIS)
have mapped over 45% of Ibadan’s metropolitan land and the Ministry of lands, housing and urban development are now able to issue Certificates of Occupancy within weeks not years which enhances tenure security, reduces land disputes and encourages planned development.

He noted that following the devastating floods in Ibadan in 2011 and recent extreme weather events the State Government embedded climate adaptation into planning in the area of massive channelization of rivers and streams across Ibadan including the construction of drainages, culverts and bridges guided by international best practices through the Ibadan Urban flood Management project (IUFMP) in collaboration with the World Bank.

Akin- Funmilayo added that since the inception of this administration,the Ministry has evolved a better and sustainable approach to provision of land for housing development through what we called ” Land swap” under this arrangement, the Government through the Ministry of lands housing and urban development provide lands as equity while the private sector ( infrastructure partners) provide infrastructure such as roads, drainage, water, electricity.

He hinted that the Ministry in collaboration with the private sector have embarked on provision of affordable housing schemes in other major towns in the state such as Oyo, Ogbomoso, Saki, Iseyin with Real-time property search and tracking ( AWARI app).

“Through this Journey Oyo State Government has learned a few key lessons to share, Resilience is local Global framework are helpful but Urban planning must be grounded in local realities social, environment and cultural.

“We have benefited immensely from collaboration with the private sector ( developers, infrastructure partners, investors, consultants) other government agencies, international organization and grassroots communities.

“We also hope to foster collaboration with academia such as the University of Ibadan.

“I want to extend an open invitation to all of you researchers, students, and private sector partners to work with the Oyo State Government to co- create the resilient futures.”