Lagos identifies 500 distressed buildings for demolition

The General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency, (LASBCA) Mrs Biola Kosegbe who made this disclosure, assured of the government’s commitment to zero tolerance to distressed and dilapidated buildings in the state.

The Assistant Director, Public Relations, LASBCA, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, disclosed this position in a statement tagged: “LASBCA to commence removal of identified distressed buildings in Lagos State.”

According to Kosegbe, those marked for demolition had been published in the national newspapers by the agency in the first instance, adding that all the tenants/occupiers of the distressed buildings had been advised to evacuate immediately as demolition would commence after the expiration on the seven-day notice.

Kosegbe clarified that the distressed structures in the state would be removed by LASBCA, having served all the statutory enforcement notices in consonance with the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law of 2010, and with no response from the respective owners and developers.

She warned that public notice was the final notice from the agency to the owner/developer.

The general manager stressed that if the distressed structures were not removed within seven days of the publication by their respective owners/developers in line with regulatory provision of the law, the structures would be removed by the agency and the cost would be borne by the owners.

She disclosed further that the decision was taken after a thorough engineering appraisal and monitoring of the distressed buildings carried out by the agency in the state with a view to ensuring better physical planning environment for sustainable development and averting needless loss of lives and properties.

She pointed out that people had shown disregard for the state laws on building construction in the past, adding that no responsible government would fold its arms and watch its citizens die avoidable careless death without taking precautionary measures to stop it.

She admonished building owners and developers to desist from putting additional floors to old existing buildings without carrying out a thorough engineering appraisal, integrity test on the building and obtaining necessary permits from the relevant authorities.

She urged developers to seek authorisation from LASBCA and hire the services of relevant professionals as that would go a long way to prevent the occurrence of building collapse in the state.

In a related development, the Lagos State Government (LASG) has cautioned residents against some swindlers who parade themselves as agents engaged by the State Government to sell housing units in the state-owned Housing Estates to unsuspecting people.

The State Commissioner of Housing, Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, gave the warning during a monthly review of the activities of the ministry.

“ The general public should be wary of some individuals or organizations who parade themselves as appointed agents empowered by the State Government to put up for sale housing units built by the Ministry of Housing,” Akinderu-Fatai said.

He disclosed that his office has received reports of innocent people being scammed by these fraudsters in the past month, stressing that LASG has not hired any individual or group to sell, lease, or rent out Housing units on its behalf.

The Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Housing, Mr. Wasiu Akewusola, said that they are also tracking down the suspected persons and assured that any individual or organization caught engaging in the criminal act of this deception shall be brought to book.