The Town Planners Registration Council of Nigeria (TOPREC) has initiated measures to address the prevailing issues of fraudulent projects and quack practices within the construction sector of Enugu State. Concerned about the ongoing incidents of buildings collapsing and construction on waterways, especially in Enugu State, the council established a committee tasked with identifying, regulating, and monitoring illegal developments as well as eradicating quacks from the town planning profession and all of its implications in Enugu State.
Tpl. Ezekiel Gunn, the interim president of TOPREC, states that the enforcement committee, known as the Professional Monitoring Committee, was established to prevent building collapses and unauthorised construction on electricity lines, water pipelines, and waterways in the state and the nation as a whole. Inaugurating the Enugu State committee at the Ministry of Lands and Urban Development, Enugu, Gunn insisted that the committee would also see to it that quacks were held accountable in Federal High Court, while also identifying commendable conduct and ensuring that those who were found to be at fault received the appropriate sanctions.
Other terms of reference as read out by the president included: “To receive and consider petitions/complaints and investigate un-ethical practices.
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“To ensure that all identified illegal physical developments are meted with regulatory sanctions eg. Removal, Demolition and Restoration of the site(s) to its original state prior to commencement of work, etc in line with the aforementioned extant laws triable in Federal High Court”.
Gunn bemoaned the regular occurrences of building collapses, unlawful constructions on waterways that have interrupted public water supply, and other infractions of the state’s construction regulations. Gunn was represented at the ceremony by Tpl. Alex Ogbodo, the Enugu State Representative in TOPREC. He acknowledged that the trend was detrimental to the state and national economies, but he also revealed that the committee would now strictly enforce the use of stamps on all jobs and only provide stamps to Registered Town Planners (RTPs) in line with TOPREC’s code of conduct and practice guidelines. As a result, the acting president said that the committee would be visiting project sites to make sure that physical constructions complied with norms and regulations.
