The Chairman of the Eastern Planners Forum, EPF, Ayi E. Akiba, has urged governors in the Eastern region to strengthen town planning laws and enforce existing regulations to curb haphazard property development.
Akiba made the call while marking the 2026 World Town Planning Day, observed annually on November 8, warning that unregulated development could worsen housing, environmental and infrastructure challenges across the region.
He said sustainable communities could only emerge through deliberate planning, collective commitment and effective implementation of development policies.
“Great communities do not happen by accident, but are products of deliberate planning, collective commitment and effective implementation,” he said.
Akiba identified growing housing deficits, the expansion of informal settlements, ageing infrastructure, inadequate access to basic services, climate-related vulnerabilities and increasing social inequalities as major challenges confronting communities in the region.
He said settlements across the Eastern region were also experiencing increasing development pressures, changing land-use patterns, infrastructure deficits and rising demand for housing.
The EPF chairman called on state governments to make affordable and decent housing a priority and strengthen measures to address recurring windstorms, landslides, gully erosion and flooding.
He said housing development should be assessed not just by the number of buildings constructed but also by affordability, accessibility, security of tenure, proximity to employment opportunities and the availability of basic infrastructure.
Akiba acknowledged ongoing infrastructure projects, including the East-West Road, Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and mass housing schemes, but warned that their full benefits would depend on proper integration with sound planning and effective urban governance.
He also called for the early engagement of qualified town planners in development projects, the adoption of modern technologies such as Geographic Information Systems, GIS, Artificial Intelligence, AI, remote sensing and digital mapping, as well as the digitisation of town planning offices and recruitment of young graduate planners.
