Records have shown that approximately only 15 per cent of the building constructions going on in Lagos have government approval and that only five of the 15 per cent conform with the approved plans.
The immediate past Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Lagos Branch TP Ayo Adejumo revealed this, adding that this has contributed greatly to the incessant collapse of buildings in the state.
Corroborating Adejumo, the Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigeria Institute of Builders GodfreyChukwurah said that 80 per cent of Lagos building projects lack approval.
This may sound unbelievable, it is true and it is due to the compromise of some government officials and the flagrant breaking of the law by developers themselves, according to investigation by EchoNews.
Our correspondent who was at the two sites where building recently collapsed observed that many developers break government’s order to continue with their building projectsbecause they have the backing of some government officials.
At Apapa where a three-storey building collapsed, it was discovered that the developers actually breached government regulation. The developer, according to Mr. Mukaila Sanusi, Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA was served a seal up orders but the order was ignored.
Sanusi said that the developer continued with the project behind the scene. He said, “ The collapse incident, which was flagged on the Physical Planning incident management platform on Sunday evening, triggered immediate preliminary enquiries that showed that officers of the States Building Control Agency had issued a number of contravention notices, stop work and seal up orders which the developer ignored and carried on construction without any recourse, whatsoever, to the authorities.
Also, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu said that theproperty had earlier been served the CN, STW & Seal Up Notices accordingly but the developer ignored the order.
According to him the ongoing construction only had Provisional Development Permit of a Two (2) floor structure but went ahead to build three-storey structure.
LASEMA also observed that the developer failed to stage itsauthorization and building permit by LASBCA.
However, the former NITP Chairman, TP Adejumo would not totally agree with the government that it did not know that the developer had ignored the seal order.
He said that his institute had noticed that some unscrupulous developers break government laws arbitrarily, adding that this cannot be possible without some civil servants compromising the laws.
Adejumo lamented that many members of NITP had been attacked by developers at various sites across the state for standing against erection of illegal structures and that the reports had since been sent to the governor’s office.
“We engage government agencies in charge of Physical planning and development control and submission of papers on how to reduce the menace. We also educate and sensitize our membersthat are working for government to always obey all rules to the letter and do a lot of public enlightenment programmes such as town hall meetings, visits to markets, places of worship and schools to always alert government of any distressed building. We have a yoruba weekly radio program we run on Trafic Radio for about 3yrs now….on town planning and related matters,” he said.
To Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, no government official that is involved in the incident of building collapse will be spared over incidents of building collapse across the state, including the illegal structures at Banana Island in Ikoyi area of the State.
Governor Sanwo-Olu blamed the collapse of the recent seven-storey building on First Avenue, Banana Island on ‘reckless’ operations of some developers hiding under the pretense that Federal Government agencies had issued approvals to hoodwink unsuspecting property owners.
He said his administration will no longer tolerate the activities of greedy developers who reclaim land from water illegally in connivance with some government agencies.
He had since ordered the immediate demolition and sealing of many completed and uncompleted buildings with various building infractions and those that were not granted appropriate approvals for construction by agencies of government.
The Governor’s order was carried out immediately by officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, who immediately marked the affected buildings for demolition.
Speaking specifically on the Banana Island building collapse the governor said: “A lot of investigation is going on right now and you can see that they are still clearing the rubbles at the site. We have given the order to stop work, not only at this site but also at all of the construction sites in Banana Island.
“You have all seen the extent of what I will call an unapproved extension into the water. You can see that the original line for Banana Island is even not where we are. It is way in front there and you can see that several extensions have been granted by both the Federal Ministry of Work and Housing and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA). These are the two federal agencies that have been culpable for those extensions.
“They have done these extensions even without our knowledge. We have the responsibility for building approvals and from what I have been told, all of the four buildings around the collapsed building never applied for approval.
“This is total recklessness of the developers and we will make a strong point out of this place and all around Banana Island. Any officers found culpable will also be sanctioned.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu stressed further that “It is heartbreaking each time we have to go through this and it shows sometimes how irresponsible those developers and some of our citizens that just want to make quick money are. And of course, our officers who are also not alive to their responsibilities.
“We have had to change staff here and there so that we can bring forward robust and very strong monitoring officers. We will continue to do what we need to do to ensure that we keep the lives of our residents safe at all times.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu disclosed that an external seven-man committee has been set up by Lagos State Government to independently ascertain the remote cause of the incident, saying that the committee will come up with a robust work plan that can be enforced going forward.
“We have set up an external seven-man committee. We are giving the people two weeks to independently ascertain what has gone wrong there. They should finish their work maybe towards the end of next week or thereafter.
“This will also further strengthen us to also come up with a robust work plan that we can enforce going forward,” he said.
This particular incident, like similar others, reinforces governments repeated calls for responsible behaviour on the part of all stakeholders in the built environment.
Lagos State Government has immediately activated inquiriesinto the collapse to unravel the minute details and guide appropriate actions.
Meanwhile, the state Building Control Agency has started the demolition of illegal structures in Banana Island, Ikoyi.