Oyo State Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Williams Akin—Funmilayo, has revealed that the Oyo State Geographic Information System (OYOGIS) has mapped over 45% of Ibadan’s metropolitan area.
Akin-Funmilayo stated this at an international conference on a sustainable built environment recently held at the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management, University of Ibadan.
He explained further that Digitisation and GIS-based land administration, one of the most transformational initiatives, has been digitising land records and planning approvals through the Oyo State Geographic Information System (OYOGIS).
He said the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development can now 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 channelisation 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.
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 our cities are under tremendous pressure across Africa, especially in Nigeria. Urban populations are growing rapidly, often faster than the planning framework can handle. By 2050, over 70% of Nigeria’s population will live in urban areas.
He maintained that resilience is not optional but necessary, saying Oyo State is not immune to the 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, and Ibarapa are witnessing increasing demand for housing services and land, noting that challenges have presented the state government with opportunities to innovate, reform, and build more resilient cities.
On the urban renewal policy framework, the Lands Commissioner explained that in 2021, the state government under the present administration launched a renewed urban renewal strategy to make the cities in Oyo State more livable, inclusive, and future-proof. This includes comprehensively upgrading major and inner-city roads and drainage systems, and revitalising public facilities/infrastructure such as schools and health centres.
