Aspiring NITP Fellows face tough selection process

The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) has said the movement of members to the fellowship cadre will no longer be business as usual following the review of the guidelines for selection into the prestigious group.

The review of the guidelines was one of the activities that took place at a week long retreat organised by the institute in Abuja.

Others activities at the retreat were the finalisation of the model Land Use Planning and Analysis Reporting scheme to produce the multi-user template, and handover of the institute’s examination board.

The Fellowship cadre is the highest level of membership of the NITP, with the other categories being student, graduate, full and retired members. However, the Honorary membership is conferred on persons not engaged in the practice of the profession but have, by reason of interest, made valuable contributions to the advancement of the theory and practice of town planning.

But, worried by the fact that members were being admitted into the Fellowship cadre without clear-cut criteria, the institute had made attempts in the past to overhaul the existing benchmark. For instance, courtesy of the College of Fellows, a committee was set up to review the existing criteria. Though the committee was given a period of three months to submit its report, it never materialised.

However, the latest attempts to address inherent flaws came by way of the inauguration of a new College of Fellows committee that deliberated on the issue for a couple of days in Abuja. The committee, which was inaugurated by the NITP President, Dr. Femi Olomola, comprised Alhaji Waheed Kadiri (chairman), Dr. Helen Anazia, Dr. Don Okpala, Dr. Stephen Hirse and Mr. Barnabas Atiyaye.

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The NITP constitution states that an aspiring Fellow must be an active full member for no less than 10 years, and must have made significant contributions to the profession in the areas of practice, administration, research or academics.

But, according to the committee, the 10-year mark does not automatically qualify a full member to become a Fellow, as he/she needs to demonstrate that he/she has been an active member over the previous 10 years of full membership.

• Punchng