Daily Trust (Abuja)
Nasir Imam
5 May 2009
interview
Arc. Olaniyi Kehinde, is a landscape architect, working for the Federal Capital Territory Administration, and for quite a long time was the only landscape architect employee of the Federal Government. He spoke to Nasir Imam on the low public perception of the relevance of landscape architecture in Nigeria and how he coined the name Millennium Park for Abuja's largest and popular recreation centre. Excerpts:
What are your functions with regards to the sanitation of Abuja?
I joined the then FCTA in 1986 at the Department of Planning and Survey, then a time came when they said there was need for an outfit look at the environmental issues of Abuja and I was co-opted into a committee that set up the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, after it was set up I was transferred to the Board.
Basically, we do two broad things which is physical to the world, one, we try to maintain cleanliness in Abuja through simple personal and corporate hygiene and also we are to preserve the environment of Abuja. We have to remember that Abuja was a jungle, we came here and built houses etc., in doing that we destroyed the vegetation, and if we don't bring back these vegetation the city is going to pay for it, that is why these organizations were set up, to look into how we can, within human ability, bring back that vegetation we destroyed into the city while we still have our houses.
You said you are a landscape architect, most Nigerians are ignorant of what landscape architecture is all about, could you educate us on this?
Landscape architecture primarily deals with the design of the exterior environment mostly, interior when it deals with balancing the living environment in the house. Landscape architecture combining architectural technology knowledge and engineering knowledge and putting ecology on top of that, so what landscape will do in an environment is to confer beauty into that environment also bring to being within that environment the recreational opportunities that human being needs like creating parks.
So what landscape architects would do is to conceive of an environment including a house, a road, and a parking space, he is looking at it from a holistic point of view and on a broader plane his assignment includes balancing the ecosystem of the environment. Its a knowledge combined science, arts, and culture.
Why that is in the building construction process in Nigeria the landscape architect is missing?
Two reasons for us in this country, one, lack of knowledge, two, lack of sufficient landscape architects in the number that can make impact on the environment, for instance, if I am not mistaken, we have less than 30 Nigerians who are qualified landscape architects, out of these less than half are still around the country, most of them are abroad, so they are not readily available and many Nigerians do not know that there is a profession called landscape architecture whose service is very germane to the production of housing.
But the good thing is that government and individuals are now aware that if they want to have houses that people will refer to as prestigious and efficient places they go for the landscape architect.
If landscape architecture is absent from our schools curricula, what should be done to address this?
That's one of the struggles of the Society of Landscape Architects of Nigeria (SLAN), which has been in existence for about twenty years now, we've been at it for quite some time, we've been attending international conferences, we've been putting pressure on government to focus on that and make sure that some of our universities in Nigeria teach landscape architecture in the department of architecture.
Recently, the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) sent its chairman of education committee to go round Africa and see what could be done and they came to Nigeria, when he came in we took him to ABU and exposed what the country needs, we visited the Patron of the society, the Emir of Zazzau and the Executive Secretaries of the NBTE and NUC.
What call will you make towards the entrenchment of landscape architecture in Nigeria?
want to crave the indulgence of people we regard as stakeholders, the Universities Vice Chancellors, corporate executives, allied professionals, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Nigerian Institute of Architects, Nigerian Society of Engineers, all these professionals, for the institutionalisation of landscape architecture proper for the efficiency of our environment.
If you look at Abuja here, you will still have seen that what could have been regarded as a unique landscape have been destroyed, houses were built on Katampe, Maitama hills, between the city and Karu is not supposed to have been touched, it is supposed to be a very serene forest to depict what it was before Abuja came, but we are tearing everything down, it is because we lack landscape planning and design in our attitude.
What is the history of Landscape Architecture?
Landscape Architecture predates Town Planning, history tells us that it was in Harvard University when the pressure was so much on the landscape architecture terrain those who were planning American cities said ok let's carve out another arm that will focus on planning of the cities and call them Town Planning.
And because town planners were many in number, they were able to influence government so ours is a small number so our influence is low but we hope that will change.
What was your role in the naming of the Millennium Park, Abuja?
Landscape Architect looks at the creation of parks. When the new Millennium was coming I was still in AEPB and we had a meeting including two foreigners from Julius Berger, and it got to a point when it was time to name it and I suggested that since there was a new Millennium coming why don't we call it Millennium Park and everybody agreed, I was asked later to put up a brief on what the Millenium Park should be like, I did so and said the Millennium Park should be something to identify Nigeria with just like when you see the Eiffel Tower you know this is Paris, France. I said we should put a tower there reflecting Nigeria's culture but regrettably the government bought the idea but deviated a little in implementation.
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