Ojeifo Advocates For A Development Masterplan At AAU 107th Inaugural Lecture

    Ojeifo as he delivered his lecture

A professor of Urban Geography,  from the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Magnus Oisasoje Ojeifo, has advocated for a development  masterplan tailored to produce better functioning small towns in Nigeria when he delivered the 107th inaugural lecture of the university.

In his lecture, "Reinventing Urban Land use Sustainability: Implications For Planning Small-Sized Towns in Nigeria," he declared that major cities in Nigeria were becoming congested with attendant challenges which did not allow for healthy living. 

He noted, "The problems of urbanisation which towns and cities in Nigeria are already contending with are the unprecedented pressure on land, haphazard land use development, inadequate housing, waste management problems, unemployment and poor water and energy supply. 

"The consequences have been the emergence of slums, traffic problems, insecurity, incidences of disease outbreaks, pollution, flood and urban blight. Most cities and towns are not planned and the administration of land use is poor, hence physical development is amorphous.”

Professor Ojeifo, whose lecture was the fifth (5th) from Faculty of Environmental Studies and 4th in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, said, "To further prevent the haphazard use of land in small towns, the study has advocated comprehensive physical plan initiatives that will not only address existing problems but will promote urban functionality through establishing an aesthetically pleasing and conducive environment for living.”

While declaring the 107th Inaugural lecture open, Acting Vice Chancellor, Ambrose Alli University, Professor Asomwan Sonnie Adagbonyin, observed, "Considering the pressure on our major cities and its attendant environmental challenges, the need to develop new small-sized towns as we strive to live healthily, safely, conveniently, and efficiently in our different environments can not be over emphasised.”

The Vice Chancellor while calling on staff and students to sustain the current peace and tranquility which form the bedrock of the various achievements recorded thus far, stated, "The Management reaffirms its undiluted commitment to an uninterrupted academic calendar and will continue to play its part of promptly paying salaries of deserving staff as well as pensions to our respected pensioners.”

Highpoint of the event was the formal decoration of Professor Ojeifo by the Acting Vice Chancellor, a symbolic indication of his admittance into the prestigious class of academic titans.