In the wake of the collapse of an uncompleted three-storey building in Ilasa, a suburb of Isolo, Lagos State Government has said that it would prosecute the developers of the said building
The commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Wasiu Anifowose, said the State Government has begun investigation on the collapsed building and that the developers will be prosecuted for building contrary to the building regulations of the state.
The commissioner made this known after paying an investigative visit to the site of the collapsed building, adding that the state government had begun thorough investigation into the collapsed building and will take all judicial actions against incompetent developers in the state.
The building is recorded to have killed at least a person and injured scores of labourers working on the site before the destructive incident happened.
Furthermore, the Honourable Commissioner gave update after inspecting the site of the collapsed building noting that the developers had criminally unsealed a stop-work seal on the building and proceeded on construction before the eventual collapse.
He explained that the building in question was disapproved by officials of Lagos State Building Control Agency LASBCA, which the erring developers breached the seal to continue work.
He said, “the particular building had been monitored and had been sealed off. Our officers had come back to monitor for compliance, but they were prevented by hoodlums from carrying out their statutory responsibilities. Before the building finally collapsed, our officials were there again but were chased back to office to reinforce when this tragedy happened”.
“We had actually served all the necessary statutory stop-work notices and this is evident in our record that the building was sealed off but this developer broke the seal twice and continued with the illegal development and this is the result of the illegality” he concluded
He added that the building had been sealed off on account of the evidence that the materials found on that site were substandard aside the fact that, the developers had no development permit to embark on the construction. He stressed that the state government “is unhappy about the rate of illegal developments within the state. Despite deploying officers to monitor development to prevent such ugly occurrences, some wicked, irresponsible and unscrupulous developers still carry out nefarious illegality. Once a building is sealed off, the seal shouldn’t be broken, it is dangerous and a criminal offence punishable under the building control law”.
He however enjoined property owners and developers to employ the services of qualified developers before embarking on any form of development in the state. Noticeably, among those who visited the scene of the incident were the sole administrator, Isolo LCDA, Hon. Abimbola Oshikoya and the Divisional Police Officer Ire-Akari Police Station, D.S.P Timothy Falowo.among others.
Saturday, December 21, 2024
