19th May, 2011
The Lagos State Government says it has identified 46,119 illegal structures in the state, out of which 2,134 of them have been demolished.
The government also raised alarm over lots of bank branches in the state which did not have building approval before erecting their structure, saying specifically that 128 bank branches had so far failed the approval test.
At a news conference on Wednesday, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Abosede Francisco said that in the last four years, 46,119 illegal structures had so far been identified in Lagos , adding that 2,134 of them had been demolished.
The commissioner further disclosed that in the last four years, 12,804 building plans were submitted by applicants while 7,600 of such building plans were approved, while 5,204 were still being processed for approval.
Abosede, however, was sad that many banks in the metropolis erected their structures indiscriminately without obtaining approved plans.
He disclosed that 1,653 bank branches existed in Lagos, out of which 228 of them had been evaluated while only 100 branches passed the building planning approval test so far, as 128 branches never had planning approval before erecting their structures.
The commissioner stated that the government should have shut down the bank branches which did not have building approval but was mindful of the negative message it would send to the international community.
He said government was currently holding meetings with top management officials of the banks in order to amicably resolve the issue of not having building approval.
On collapsed building, Abosede disclosed that 32 buildings had so far collapsed in the state in the last four years.
A breakdown showed that 15 buildings collapsed in 2007; 16 in 2008;10 in 2009; nine in 2010 and two in 2011.
He added that between 1998 and 2007, about 101 buildings collapsed while from 2008 to date, incidence of collapsed buildings dropped drastically.
Abosede stated that investigations into some of the building collapse showed that some of the buildings had exceeded their life span while quacks, unregistered and non-registrable consultants were responsible for such collapse.
He said to stem the tide of collapsed buildings in the state, the state government held a stakeholders’ workshop on building collapse and that it had been very useful in curbing the menace of collapsed building in the state.
“The responsibility of government of Lagos State lies in the identification of problems and the establishment of solutions, the establishment of rules, procedures, regulations, policies and programmes and the will to enforce compliance.
“It is for this reason that we have endeavoured to put in circulation building plan approval procedure/guidelines handbook and other publications in the effort to make the people more aware of what we do and to reduce delays associated with building permit approvals,†he said.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga