Amos Atumye Alao is a Landscape Architect and the Secretary-General of the Society of Landscape Architects of Nigeria (SLAN) as well as the president of the Abuja chapter of the society. He speaks about the activities of unknown but very crucial branch of
Tell us about the Society of Landscape Architects of Nigeria.
The Society of Landscape Architects of Nigeria (SLAN) is the registered professional governing body duly charged with the responsibility of moderating the practice of Landscape Architecture in Nigeria. Landscape Architecture is relatively new and young in this clime. Perhaps this explains why few who know about the relevance of Landscape Architecture in construction and environmental development schemes seem to prefer ceding our professional roles and functions to nonprofessionals. This option may be cheap and convenient but it is very dire and dangerous.
SLAN was inaugurated in 2003. The foundation members were trained in foreign universities. Only two Nigerian universities -- ABU and University of Lagos started running Landscape Architecture as degree and post-graduate courses. We’ve only had two executives; the first led by Architect Niyi Kehinde, a one-time Director of the Parks and Recreation Department of the FCDA, while the outgoing president is Dr. Tunji Adejumo, an erudite Landscape Architecture Philosophy scholar who is presently the Vice President International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA), Africa.
We have, so far hosted five conferences, the last of which was attended by delegates from many African countries at the Sheraton Hotels in Abuja, October 2013. The theme of the conference was “People and Landscapes”, with the dual goals of developing national charter and promoting Sustainable Landscape Education to address complex environmental issues driven by wanton consumption of finite earth resources. The wellattended conference was chaired by the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Musa Sada.
What is the strength of your membership?
As you would expect of any young association of professionals, we’re still very few. We have, so far, a total of 35 registered members across the country. Registration is a continuous process. Both ABU and UNILAG have graduated 12 Landscape Architects since 2008. The good news is that the prospect for Landscape Architecture in Nigeria is very bright. As I speak with you, 120 students are studying to become Landscape Architects in both ABU and University of Lagos alone. Details from other universities are not available to us yet, but we’re networking with schools all over the world to connect with Landscape Architects in the Diaspora.
How can Nigeria benefit from Landscape Architecture?
Landscaping, by concept, and as a study, philosophy and a discipline, is all about greening. It’s all about reducing the effect of sunlight on the earth surface. It’s all about softening the landscape. Landscape Architecture is about ensuring and guaranteeing enduring bio-diversity; ecological stability and environmental peace, harmony, friendliness and societal orderliness. If the structural and infrastructural plans of our major towns in this country particularly in Abuja had provisions and respect for environmental security and comfort, professional landscaping ought to have been an integral part of it. And if it was, implementation must have been done largely in the breach, perhaps for lack of appropriate advice or for dearth of professionals trained for that purpose.
Looking around, it does not take a professional to know that the FCT suffers tremendously from landscape bottleneck. Take for instance the case of our road medians, drainage slopes, road corridors and tree planting, it is easy to discern that because they’re not done by professionals or with professional advice, wrong choice of trees with dangerous roots are made which ultimately threatens building foundations and cause building collapse which are often blamed on poor engineering and masonry, wrong choice of flowers which refuse to grow because they are wrongly chosen by florists and road medians and car parks which are stripped of otherwise beautifying vegetation as well as drainages improperly slopped causing avoidable blockages. The choice of trees and flowers, unfriendly park designs, poor greening in housing estates, among other myriad of edifying ecological and environmental
decisions must be right.
Does FCT authoritie consult your society in this regard?
Following instruction of the FCT Minister, a joint environmental committee has been set up and we’re aware that all relevant regulatory bodies have been invited to send representatives. We just came out of our elections. We must send our representative because without our input, the work of the committee will be hampered and incomplete. No such committee can succeed without ample input from the environmental architectures.
Are Nigerians patronising your members?
We’re largely hindered by the fact that people still don’t know who we are and what we do and can do. We know that it’s a question of time. In the meantime time, we’ve embarked on a very strenuous awareness advocacy to let the people and relevant organizations know the difference between the professional and the businessman; between one who just wants to sell the plant and one who advises you on which kind of plant is suitable for which environment or which will give you the best result and protect your environment and increase the economic and aesthetic value of a property..
Why is your society still largely unknown?
First, our roles and functions have, either wittingly or unwittingly been consigned to engineers and architects while local gardeners and florists have hijacked some of our roles and fraudulently assumed the responsibilities of the landscape architect. The second is our number. With our national registered membership of 35, it means that with a nation of over 130 million people, there is a ratio of one landscape architect to 3million people. Never mind, ours is a teething problem. The young shall grow.