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Introduction
Physical planning in Nigeria has a long history dating back to the colonial
period where planning education in the country is relatively recent. The colonial
government for instance enacted the Town Improvement Ordinance in 1863 and
established the Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB) following the outbreak
of bubonic plague in Lagos between 1925 and 1928 (Abiodun, 1985). The Board was
established during this period to clear the slum areas affected by the plague and to
establish housing units in Lagos. However, the bulk of the policy makers and
programme implementers consisted mainly of civil servants.
Local training of professional physical planners could be said to have started
at the Polytechnic, Ibadan in 1972 when the full professional diploma programme in
town planning was specifically designed to admit students for of the 3-year town
planning programme of the polytechnic (Olujinmi, 1999). Hitherto, all Nigerian
professional Town Planners had been receiving their trainings overseas especially in
the U.K. America and Australia. The need for a professional association in Nigeria led
to the formation of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners in 1966. Twenty-two years
later, the Town Planners Registration Council of Nigeria was established under
Decree No. 3 of 1988 with the mandate of determining who are the town planners;
what standards of knowledge and skills are to be attained; registering members and
regulating and controlling the practice of the profession among others.
With so many higher institutions of learning now offering varieties of
environmental courses and this coupled with the competition in the building industry,
this study is set to investigate the level of interest in Urban and Regional Planning as a
discipline by the planners-in- training in selected universities in Nigeria.
The extrinsic factors identified by the authors are salary, benefits, job
security/stability and prestige of career field while lifestyle factors include flexibility
of working hours, ability to manage home/family, time for leisure and preferred
geographical location.
In another study by the College of Occupational Therapists (2000), awareness
was found to be a major factor in career choice. The study showed that around a third
of the students made the decision to become occupational therapists while studying in
years 12 and 13 (16%) or after taking A level/higher (15%). Only 5 percent made the
decision before GCE/Scottish equivalent level. The study identified the respondents
friends and family (40%) as the most influential source of career advice. University
prospectus, school career staff, college careers pack and local career services are
other sources.
Pappu (2002) in his study on choice of marketing as a career in Australia
employed the use of Factor analytical Technique to reduce 28 variables to seven
factors that explain 73.78 percent of the variance in his data. The factors are named;
Utility of marketing knowledge in the Business arena, match with other major
exposures to Introductory Marketing Courses and Faculty, Faculty reputation, Job
prospectus, Course variety and Intrinsic Motivation. A similar result was obtained
among Economics major students in Australia. Worthington and Higgs (1997)
employed both regression analysis and binary probit model to examine a number of
variables which include students personality, perception and other physical and
educational characteristics.
These students were asked to assign ordered preferences on a 5 point scale
between 36 opposing adjectives on the basis of their perception of the economics
profession. These items were arrayed along four dimensions of perception, namely:
recognition compared to pharmacy, law, architecture etc and facilities (man and
materials) for the teaching of agriculture and the mode (pedagogy) use in teaching
agriculture.
With this background, this study is set to study the factors influencing the
choice and perception of Urban and Regional Planning which has received little or no
attention in the literature.
Methodology
This study is part of a comprehensive and long term survey designed to study
the factors influencing the choice of URP course and those factors affecting the
academic performance of URP students. All the Heads of Department of URP in
Universities offering the course have been contact. The response has been slow and
some of the questionnaires returned were not usable and were rejected.
There was no prior information on the number of final year undergraduate
Urban and Regional Planning (URP) students in the various institutions. However,
twenty-five (25) questionnaires were sent to each university across the country. The
returns are as shown in Table 1.
The questionnaires were sent directly to the Heads of URP Department in
these institutions who arranged for their distribution among their final year students
during the 2000/2001 academic session. Returns from these institutions, based on the
actual number of students in the final year (obtained through the questionnaires)
ranged from about 99% for the University of Nigeria (UNN), Enugu Campus, to about
24% for the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ife.
Institution
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU)
Federal University of Tech. Yola (FUTY)
University of Nigeria (UNN)
Federal University of Tech. Minna (FUTM)
Ladoke Akintola University of Tech. (LAUTECH)
Ahmadu Bello University (ABU)
Total
Source: Authors Field Work (2001)
Sample size
12 (21.8%)
19 (54.3%)
15 (93.8%)
13 (72.2%)
25 (43.1%)
23 (47.9%)
107 (46.5%)
Population
55
35
16
18
58
48
230
Analysis of Data
Background of students
Male dominance is evident among the planning students with females
accounting for only 21.5 percent (Table 2). The mean age of the students surveyed
was 26 years. Gender-wise, the females with mean age of 25 years were younger than
the males (26 years). LAUTECH (24 years) had the youngest population compared to
OAU with mean age of 27 years.
Also from Table 2, only 35.8 percent of the students interviewed intentionally
chose URP as their life career, 4.7 percent were influenced by their parents while as
much as 59.4 percent got into planning against their wish. Furthermore, 31.4 percent
of the students joined the planning programme through the remedial course (note
OAU and UNN do not run remedial programme) while 55.2 percent and 13.3 percent
came in through University Matriculation Examinations (UME) and Direct Entry
respectively.
Characteristics
Male
Female
Remedial
UME
Direct Entry
What I always wanted
Wish of my parents
Last Resort
Very Bright
Average
Bleak
Yes
No
Yes
No
Design
Theory
Term Paper
Field Work
Design
Theory
Term Paper
Field Work
Higher Degree in Planning
Join Private Planning Org.
Join Public Planning Org.
Any profitable employment
Go into business
Yes
No
Percentage
78.1%
21.9%
31.4%
55.2%
13.3%
35.8%
4.7%
59.4%
75%
23.1%
1.9%
8.7%
91.2%
94.3%
5.7%
55.3%
20.4%
7.8%
16.5%
29.2%
20.8%
29.2%
20.8%
31.1%
9.4%
33.4%
21.7%
4.7%
80.8%
19.2%
The students whose original course was not URP cited Architecture (16.8%).
Accounting (12.1%), agricultural Economics (5.6%), among others as their choices
(see Appendix 1). In terms of ethnic composition, UNN on the one hand and OAU
and Lautech on the other hand were dominated by Igbo and Yoruba students
respectively. Other institutions were more balanced with no dominant group.
On the overall, Yoruba students constituted 46.7% of the sampled population;
this was followed by Igbo (15.8%), Tiv (3.7%), Igala (3.7%) and Nupe (2.8%).
Abandon Planning
Combine with other jobs
Combine with other
disciplines
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Fully
Partially
No
Fully
Partially
No
Yes
No
No interest
Not introduced
No impact of state Chapter
9.7%
54.8%
35.5%
74.7%
25.3%
72.8%
27.2%
36.2%
63.8%
59.8%
38.5%
7.2%
14.6%
38.5%
46.9%
49.5%
50.5%
13.7%
41.2%
45.1%
While 59.8 percent of the students actively participated in the URP Students
Association activities in their branches, it is only 14.6 percent of them
that
participated fully in their State Chapters of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners
(NITP) activities and about 50% had registered as a student member at the national
level. Those who did not register claimed that their State NITP chapters had not made
impact (45.1%), they had not been introduced into the NITP activities (41.2%) or had
no interest at all (13.7%).
obtained by assigning weights to the 4 point Likert scale, that is, from strongly
Agree = 4 points to Strongly Disagree = 1 point, then summing the scores for each
item and them dividing by the number of respondents to each item. The mean score
was then grouped as follows to arrive at consensus opinion about each item:
1.0 2.49 = Disagree (D), 2.50 3.49 = Agree (A) and 3.50 4.00 = Strongly Agree
(SA).
When asked about the prospects of their profession vis-avis other professions,
responses to this question indicate that on the whole, the students agreed that their
future prospects are no less brighter than those of other professionals. In three
universities FUT Yola, UNN, and FUT Minna with the mean weighted scores of
greater than 3.5, the students strongly agreed on this point. It has to be pointed out
here that career talks should be intensified in ABU, Zaria with the lowest mean score
of 2.91 (Table 5).
The students also agreed that what one achieves with his certificate depends
on ones drive and initiatives. The consensus of opinion here is Agree with UNN
(3.71) strongly agreeing on this point. It is suggested that the professional Practice
skills of the students should be well developed; so also is their writing skill which is
required in proposal writing. Exposure to computer applications and related fields
such as Remote sensing and Geographical Information System is desirable to give
students wider opportunities outside the traditional planning jobs.
Further observations in Table 5 show that the students believe that planners
can be and are indeed successful in life. Generally students also agreed on this point
(3.29). It is only in FUT Minna where the students strongly agreed. The perception of
the students in Minna may be explained by the fact that most of the professional
planners in the state and at Abuja the Federal Capital are highly placed and
successful materially. Indeed, the first National President
Registration Council (TOPREC) was from the state. The implication of this
10
observation is that in order to project the image of the profession among the trainee
planners and the public in general, the practitioners should conduct themselves in a
noble manner and take their rightful positions in the scheme of things.
Table 4: Measure of Perception of Students from individual Universities
Opinion
OAU
FUTY
UNN
FUTM
LAUTECH
ABU
3.08A
3.53SSA
3.85SA
3.69SA
3.32A
2.91A
3.33A
3.32A
3.71SA
3.08A
3.28A
3.43A
3.25A
3.39A
3.36A
3.58SA
3.28A
3.04A
3.08A
3.26A
2.79A
3.00A
2.96A
3.09A
3.00A
3.06A
2.93A
3.15A
2.92A
2.74A
3.08A
2.79\a
2.71A
2.85A
3.04A
2.83A
3.08A
3.06A
3.57A
2.77A
3.38A
2.96A
1.33D
1.32D
1.43D
1.23D
1.68D
1.26D
2.25A
3.26A
3.00A
3.46A
2.12A
3.48A
2.92A
3.``A
3.00A
3.62SA
3.12A
3.04A
SA
DA
SD
Mean
Interpretation
11
50.5%
35.2
13.3
1.0
3.35
Agreed
53.8
32.1
10.4
3.8
3.36
Agreed
43.3
43.3
12.5
1.0
3.29
Agreed
37.7
35.8
18.9
7.5
3.04
Agreed
30.5
41.0
21.0
7.6
2.94
Agreed
19.8
54.7
19.8
5.7
2.89
Agreed
41.0
36.2
17.1
5.7
3.12
Agreed
4.7
5.7
14.2
75.5
1.40
Agreed
41.5
25.5
16.0
17.0
2.92
Agreed
44.3
32.1
15.1
8.5
3.12
Agreed
contravention, stop work and demolition notices. In some places the Planner is
regarded as the policeman especially where the Planners are very active. Though
the students on the whole appeared to agree with the assertion (2.89) the strongest
support for the assertion was the South West of Nigeria (Table 5) where OAU (Ife)
and LAUTECH (Ogbomosho) had weighted scores of over 3.0. The Planners in this
zone should strive harder to create better image of planning by promoting activities
that will prevent planning problem rather than promoting bulldozer approach to
solving planning problems.
On how to survive, about 90 percent of the students opposed the idea of others
encroaching on planning and indeed the consensus opinion was Disagree (1.40).
while the students would want to be delving into other professions, they would not
want others to venture into their own discipline. However, as much as 77 percent of
the students favoured the opinion that planners should be delving into the territories of
other allied professions thus swinging the consensus opinion to Agree (3.12). This
may result from the observation that other professionals such as the Land Surveyors
and Architects do prepare layouts, site plans and site analysis which are traditionally
the preserves of the Town planners. Instead of encroaching on the field of other
professionals, trainee planners should be exposed to the widening opportunities which
training in Urban and Regional Planning offers. More Planners should engage in
project Management and Environmental Impact Assessment and other consultancy
services.
On whether planning students should be made to acquire M.Sc, degree before
graduation. Planning students, as shown by this survey favoured graduating with
Masters degree instead of Bachelors degree. Their decision might have been
influenced by the Architecture progamme which usually is a straight course
13
terminating at Masters Level as is the practice at FUT Minna and ABU. The URP
students in these two universities strongly agreed on this matter. Another possible
reason could be that after their one year compulsory national service, many graduates
do not readily find suitable employment and therefore would prefer to go back to
school. It has been reported by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that only
10,000 of over 100,000 graduates produced by Nigerian higher institutions every year
find jobs in the formal sector of the economy (The Punch, Feb. 15, 2002, p. 3).
Induction ceremony entails making graduating students in the professional
disciplines take professional oath thereby formally welcoming them into the
profession. This is currently the practice in the Architecture profession. About 76
percent of the students surveyed accented to this suggestion and Minna students who
had witnessed the first ever induction ceremony in the country for the Architecture
students in the university strongly agreed with this idea (3.62). This ceremony has the
potential of endearing the profession to the students and make the profession more
psychologically appealing and therefore should be introduced.
Summary
In summary, irrespective of the mode of entry and motive of choosing URP as
a career, trainee planners in their final year in the selected universities did not see their
choice as a mistake and have come to find the course interesting. All the students
agreed that it is not the certificate that makes people successful but what is important
is what people make of themselves with the certificate. They also agreed that
professional planners can be successful in the society but are not encouraged by the
negative mental map that the public has about the planner. The society dreads the
town planners and see the planner as police or demolishers
14
Most of the observations reported above accord with those reported elsewhere.
Mugonzibwa et. al. (2000) observed in Tanzania that image of a profession (good
experiences from the work of professionals, professionals who are caring and helpful
to respondents and professionals who command high respect in the community) was
perceived as an important factor in career choice by 88 percent of the respondents.
Work/profession characteristics factor was ranked second and course characteristics
third.
Recommendations
This age is characterized by globalization, commercialization, privatization,
computerization and democratisation. For todays planner to survive and find
relevance, he must be trained or retrained to become a total man someone who is
able to cope, fit in or adapt to the changing world. This can be achieved through:
1.
updated and periodically revised to reflect modern trends. Professional practice course
should be enriched to engender self employment and instil self confidence and
competence in fresh graduates.
a. New and lucrative courses such as computer applications, Data Base
Management system (DBMS), Information and Communication Technology
(ICT), Geographic Information system (GIS) and Remote Sensing should be
introduced.
b. New concepts and paradigms such as Public-Private Partnership in Urban
Environment (PPPUE), Urban Basic Services (UBS), Sustainable Urban
Mobility (SUB), Participatory Planning, Computer Aided Design (CAD),
Computer Aided Statistics (CAS), Environmental Information Management
15
System
(EMIS),
Environmental
Planning
and
Management
(EPM),
No of times cited
6
1
18
1
1
3
1
5
2
5
1
3
1
1
1
4
16
Pharmacy
Political Science
Quantity Surveying
Not Applicable
No Response
Total
1
1
3
34
14
107
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