Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma of Nasarawa State has decried the recurring trend of rural-urban migration and growth of urban slums in Nigeria.

Governor Doma therefore, called on the 3 tiers of government and the United Nations (UN) agencies to intensify effort towards curbing the trend.

The governor said his administration has already embarked on execution of policies that are geared towards urban renewal, slums reductions and improvement of life in rural communities through the provision of motorable roads, potable water and properly planned environment across the state.

Governor Doma stated this while declaring open the zonal workshop on how to access grants/ technical assistance for urban renewal and slum upbringing, organized by the United Nations under the auspices of the UN- Habitat held at the United Nations House, Abuja, recently.

He described the workshop as both timely and relevant in view of the increasing problems associated with the emergence and growth of slums in major cities of the world and therefore challenged participants to exhaustively discuss the problems and come up with workable recommendations for the control of slums, both in Nasarawa State, the North Central zone and Nigeria at large.

Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma made a passionate appeal to both the Federal Government and UN donor agencies to complement the efforts of his administration to carry out its programmes which, according to him,are capital extensive.

The governor said the programmes embarked upon by his administration include creation of new road network for ease of accessibility in the urban areas; provision of street lights for beautification and security; provision of decent and affordable houses to all income groups through public-private partnership, construction and rehabilitation of linkage roads in the rural areas to provide access to markets and boost socio-economic activities as well as establishment of skill acquisition centres to train the youths in particular for self-reliance.

The governor commended the United Nations and its agencies for their programmes and activities in various sectors of human development, which he said, have continued to bring succor to citizens of the world over the years.

Earlier, Technical Executive Director of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UNCLGA) for West African regional secretariat, Tajudeen Toyin-Oke expressed optimism that with the global attention given to the problem through collaboration and partnerships, a uniform approach would be adopted to arrest the ugly situation.

He assured that the workshop would foster the partnership between UNCLGA and UN-Habitat, capacity building for local, state and federal government officials to access donor funds and champion formulation of donor assisted projects in their respective areas.

According to the executive secretary, global urbanization has provoked an urgent need for increased investment in local public infrastructure projects for the future, requiring an estimated investment of 200 billion US Dollars annually over the next 25 years, which, according to him, is the equivalent of 0.4 percent of the world’s annual GDP.

He stressed the need to rise up to the challenge, warning that with “the significant deterioration in the daily lives of millions of citizens in developing countries, if nothing is done, one human being out of every five will be living in a slum by 2020, especially in Africa and Asia”.

The three-day workshop attracted participants from states in the North-Central zone of the country, underscoring its relevance to the needs of the people.