The imperative of research as the catalyst for narrative-changing developments, in the country in general and in the built environment in particular, was the kernel of discussions at a forum organised by the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, University of Lagos (CHSD-UNILAG) on Thursday, March 7, 2024.
With the theme, Town and Gown Meeting: Fostering Community Engagement and Collaboration, the event provided the much-needed platform for researchers and practitioners in the built environment in Nigeria to cross-fertilise ideas and explore ways of collaborating for the greater good of Nigeria.
Forum for Actionable Deliberations
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics & Research), Prof. Bola Oboh represented the Vice-Chancellor at the event. She commended the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development for taking the initiative to engage the town: practitioners and policy makers, who utilise the outputs of research.
“This forum provides the opportunity for us, as researchers, to showcase what we have surveyed and researched with stakeholders in order to identify ideas that could be effectively translated to effective solutions. I strongly hope that this forum will be one from which we will harvest actionable deliberations.”
Time to Reconnect Research and Policy
The Director of the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, Prof Timothy Nubi, made a strong case for the reconnection of research and policy; underscoring the determination of the University of Lagos to lead the charge. Using a number of case studies in the programme and policy landscape of Lagos State, he illustrated ways the presence or absence of research can signal the success or failure of a policy.
“Today’s event is one of the series of town-gown relationships that the centres of research at the University of Lagos have been mandated to hold with stakeholders in their respective fields of research. It is time we addressed this disconnection between research and policy, which has often resulted in failed programmes and projects in our country. That is the reason for this town-gown meeting, so that knowledge can be co-created for real life applications.”
Investment in Thinking should Yield Dividends
In her submission to the forum, the Co-Director of CHSD-UNILAG, Prof. Taibat Lawanson, gave a comprehensive overview of what the centre does, the impacts of its activities, and the type of collaborations that it seeks. She affirmed that, though it has not been sufficiently incentivised, the thinking that is going in the ivory towers with the basic funding of government must begin to yield dividends.
“The Federal Government is funding the thinking that is going on in our tertiary institutions. Although it is grossly insufficient, the funding that goes into this thinking deserves to be rewarded with research outputs that will be plugged into programming and policy making.”
The Town Came Big…
Government, civil society, and different professions in the Built Environment were sufficiently represented at the event.
Bldr. (Mrs) Olawuyi-Ajanaku from the Lagos State Ministry of Works & Infrastructure expressed the readiness of her establishment to collaborate with CHSD-UNILAG.
“We’ll be ready to collaborate with you in whatever areas you desire us to come in”, she declared.
Mrs Esther Osobe from the Nigeria Slum/Informal Settlement Federation commended the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development for doing research that has provided her organisation with the platform to attract the attention of government.
“Formerly, government didn’t want to have anything to do with slum dwellers. But with the collaborations we have had with CHSD-UNILAG, we have been able to get their attention; and that has given us the opportunity to begin to canvass for In Situ development in the slums rather than the government’s penchant for eviction and forced displacement of slum dwellers”.
The President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Prince Akintoye Adeoye decried the high cost of building materials and called on researchers to come to the rescue.
“Research is key to any attempt to find alternative building materials. The incessant increase in the cost of building materials is a threat to our business interests as a professional association; and we need research to step in now to save the housing industry from the monopoly of cement and iron. We shall come back with our areas of request to identify ways of collaborations with your centre”, he said.
The immediate past President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, Arc. Enyi Ben-Eboh, affirmed research as the missing link in entire ecosystem in the Nigerian built environment.
“I am happy that the Centre for Housing at the University of Lagos is championing this role of research and multi-stakeholder collaboration”.
A commercial lawyer and an associate of the CHSD-UNILAG, Mrs Tosin Ajose called for the modernisation of data collection and analysis methods, so that the result of research and leads to innovation.
The Association of Consulting Engineering, Nigeria, the Lagos State Ministry of Housing, and the Senior Special Adviser to the Ogun State Governor on Property Investment Corporation (OPIC) also made representations at the meeting.
Truly International
The Town-Gown meeting of the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development was international in nature. It had in physical attendance participants from Kenya, Uganda, and Australia. The participant from Australia, Andre Nas Nassiri, is a PhD student at the University of New South Wales working on the subject of Slums in Lagos, Nigeria.
REPORT: Isaiah Kumuyi
PHOTOGRAPHY: Michael Joshua & Solomon Adelumola
