In a bid to enhance the skills of Town Planners in Ogun State, the Planning and Development Permit Authority (OGPDPA) has trained its officers on the requisite knowledge that will make them compliant with the times and advancements in technology.

  Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Tpl. Olatunji Odunlami, while speaking during the opening of a 2-day training on AutoCAD, Arc-GIS and Report Writing, at Oke-Mosan Abeokuta, said the event was the first robust technical capacity building to be held since the restructuring of the Urban and Regional Planning Board.       

 Tpl. Odunlami, represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Physical Planning and Urban Development, Tpl. Kamoru Ogunfowora stated that it was essential for the officers to use the state-of-the-art software to access, create and edit Geographical Information System (GIS) data into AutoCAD, gain access to enterprise GIS map, image service, edit geographic features with Auto CAD and use them in navigating drawings.

According to the Commissioner, ”the world has moved from an analogue way of doing things to digital, hence the need for Town Planners to be equipped with the requisite knowledge in compliant with the times and advancements in technology”.

He assured the participants of the present administration's commitment to ensuring that the vision and mission of the Authority were achieved, advising them to take advantage of the training to cross-fertilise ideas that would improve communication and teamwork for effective discharge of their duties.

Earlier in his address, the Acting General Manager, Ogun State Planning Development Permit Authority, Tpl. Kolawole Ogun said the training was coming at a time when planners need to learn new skills for optimum productivity and efficient service delivery.

In their separate remarks, the duo of the participants, Tpls. Olusegun Afonja and Nofisat Ajibade noted that the capacity building was an eye opener that would improve their performances in monitoring and report writing, commending the department for exposing them to current trends in handling their jobs.