Vision
Alabi enjoys working as an architect. For him, everybody should have a taste of it also has a way of enhancing values. Architecture to Alabi, is not about design and drawings, it also has a way of training one in the vast culture of existence and making one to appreciate aesthetics and logical reasoning.

It is for this reason that the Nigeria Institute of Architects, an umbrella body for registered is taking a second look at the environment holistic way by organising a summit on the environment to sensitise the public about the environment. Because of the daily emissions to the environment, it is impossible for us to keep adding or subtracting from it without technically looking at the consequences. As architects, we owe the society a duty to constantly audit the built environment; constantly evaluate the performance of what is built; what is proposed; and basically to put everything in context.
The summit billed to take place early February has ‘built; environment disasters’ as its main theme.
“The summit would enable us appraise built environment disasters in totality. We are going to put together a framework for national action.

“We believe that now is the time for us to look at the various disasters such as collapse of buildings, neglect of public infrastructures and proffer ways of ensuring that necessary action plan is put in place. Since we have realised that disasters are necessarily happenstance, we want to ensure that we respond to the deliberate warnings they give. We want to also change our attitude to the way we respond to environmental issues. We want to ensure that we do not neglect what we ought to do. We have also realised that a poor culture of design process is not helping us".
In order to address these issues, it is necessary for us to look at the processes of disasters, look at the design content of disasters because disasters really in the context of built environment are basically things that we neglect by will. It is a willful neglect and here as architects, if we must ring things to normal or average situation where it is manageable, then we must be able to look at things critically and call on allied professionals to ensure that we have a directional outlook for a national action plan.
 
Whether the idea of the summit is entirely that of the institute a collaborative effort between the institute and government, Alabi said it is principally a concept of the Nigerian Institute Architects.
However, the institute is calling on government and its agencies to partner and collaborate with it. “We are not satisfied with what we are seeing around us, particularly the way our various communities and towns are being abused by all the stakeholders”. The built environment, according to him, is supposed to contribute to efficient running of our lives and if we don't check the various abuses that we experience currently, then we may be heading for a major disaster in the near future. He said Mallam Nasir el’ Rufai, minister of Federal Capital Territory ought to put his good time to doing new things for his ministry and not dissipate energy to correct things that were not done rightly not minding the cost on government.
“The idea therefore is to call the attention of all stakeholders to the fact that the efficient running of the communities is everybody's business and that we need to start doing things right. When we travel abroad, we see how communities are being run but when we come back we find it difficult to keep our environment clean. That is why we are initiating this idea by calling those concerns to know that there is need to address the issue of decay of our communities now”.

Shape of summit
Alabi said the whole essence of the summit is to ensure that: a system is put in place to regularly review situation and come J out with shortcomings and ways of addressing them.
We are calling on stakeholders so that we collectively address the issue of community disasters such as fire in our markets that destroy goods; money and assets accumulated over the years are destroyed overnight. He thinks these fire incidents occurred because the things that are supposed to be done to avert fire outbreaks are left unattended to. He also thinks that the recurring issue of collapse of buildings in the country are occurring because the rules guiding construction of
buildings and procedures for construction of buildings are not followed. We are also supposed to have enduring infrastructures but it is not the case because due process is not followed. Street lights are not working because those in charge do not care about it. You see electric poles almost falling on to the express roads yet nobody is doing something about it. People are taking over public places for their own use and nobody is raising eyebrow. These are the kind of things we feel we should come together and discuss. We don't want our communities to age of development or decay. If we do, then we are also calling for disasters.
Tsunami crisis
Though the summit has been on the drawing board for almost a year, the tsunami crisis has re-awakened the; institute to put it together, Alabi said, adding that the institute feels more committed and justified to run the programme because of the tsunami event.
“In fact, the tsunami issue is a lesson to this country because it is not just about an earthquake happening in a particular country but it is something that happened far away and yet is affecting continents. For this reason, the institute is saying we should not fold our arms, because we think Nigeria is not susceptible to earthquake or calamity, as anything could happen if we are not prepared.
As architects, engineers and planners, the tsunami issue is major issue that we are actually going to address at the summit because nobody knows what disaster will happen tomorrow”.
According to him, the summit is going to be hosted round the country after its maiden edition in Lagos, adding that well-meaning institutions such as the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs and Grant Properties, developers of the Goshen estate in Lekki are partnering with the institute on the summit.
After the summit, the organisers will put together a communiqué, used as a tool to inform the discretion of policy makers to realize its dreams and vision. I think it is timely too that at this point in nation building we need to get certain things right.
In all, about 200 participants or more are expected at the summit, adding that admittance would be strictly by invitation. “We need to put this work together bearing in mind that we don't have all the time; three days to appraise issues that are hinged on the nation; that has to do with environment disasters. Professionals in their own rights are also going to make presentations and we have work groups and discussions where we can put this facts and previous research works together, ideas together and come out with a blueprint. We are bringing the commissioner of police, lawyers, local government officials to look at aspects of a particular issue and it is hinged more on getting a direction at the end of the day. We selected the sub-themes based on the current need to avert disasters in the built environment. Because it borders on our communities, we are going to involve all the states because we want them to take back some of the issues discussed and look at what is happening in their own localities. Key institutions, the ministries of environment, works, National Electric Power Authority (Nepa) and housing in the federal and states and students in the environmental faculties are going to participate in the summit. We want the students of higher institutions of learning to take part in the summit. We are involving the students because we think it is good they start imbibing the culture of good environment right from the onset.

Benefits
On how to ensure that the idea of the summit did not end with the present executive, he said the summit committee would become a special committee of the institute at the end of the day. We believe that the issue of calamities and disasters should 'be handled globally and the only way to sustain the summit is for the council to approve the committee as one of the special committees.
On what the man on the street stands to benefit from the summit, he said it would provide avenue for the common man to understand the need to preserve our designs and rules.
On how to pursue the goals of the summit to logical conclusion, he said the entire summit has been structured in such a way that the policy makers who are stakeholders would be present and we would jointly proffer solutions. We are not going to have a generalised principle and I think that is the missing link for previous meetings that are similar to the summit. The summit is going to have a critical appraisal of he status quo in its. Individualistic merit first.

Carrer
Alabi started his design and build outfit since 1998.