SEO Riders:
– Campus master plan enforcement Nigeria
– NUC NBTE planning compliance demand
– Town planners call for professional oversight in tertiary institutions
Town planning professionals are calling for urgent reforms in higher education, insisting that the National Universities Commission (NUC) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) must strictly enforce campus master plan policies. They argue that poorly implemented or ignored master plans have led to chaotic development in universities and polytechnics—with unregulated expansion, land misuse, and infrastructural mismatches becoming widespread. The absence of registered town planners in leadership roles within physical planning departments, coupled with minimal funding and political support, have further undermined effective campus governance.
According to the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), professional physical planners—not works or generalist administrators—should head campus planning units to safeguard the integrity of master plans. These plans must not only be created by registered professionals but also regularly reviewed and implemented as living, evolving frameworks. The institution also highlights that some agencies form cartels, effectively controlling master plan approvals and weakening transparency.
