One of the challenges facing the Buhari administration is widespread poverty across the land. The situation appears to have been worsened by the failure of successive governments to implement effective poverty alleviation measures.

If immediate, remedial steps are not taken, what is left of our country would be turned into slums in the near future. Regrettably, whilst other nations continue to evolve into modern states through proper planning of their physical environments, amongst others, we continue to wallow in the haphazard development of our towns and villages to the detriment of our citizens.Scholars like Prof. Hernando De Soto, a Peruvian and founder of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Lima Peru have long documented the far reaching implications which the grant of property rights would have in alleviating poverty .And yet we fail to take advantage of such basic principles in crafting an effective Poverty Alleviation Program.For the new administration, there is a huge opportunity to transform the landscape of the entire country into well planned settlements and developments through a comprehensive town planning initiative that would see every inch of the country duly mapped out with proper planning for infrastructure and common services. Alongside this programme, a nationwide geographic information system would be put in place to document ownership/title to such land.

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