10th May, 2018
Kazeem Ugbodaga
Officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA, on Thursday demolished a two-storey building under construction in Mushin area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
Irked by the demolition, thugs in the area attacked government officials, who were escorted to the area by police officers, and vandalised six vehicles.
The attackers broke several windscreens, side mirrors and other vehicles parts with stones and even blocked the road with a Toyota Camry daring the government officials to leave the area.
During the attack, a cameraman with the Lagos State television received a deep cut in his hand with blood gushing out.
The police were able to salvage the situation without shooting or using teargas.
The government officials demolished the building located at No. 77 Ogunmokun Street, Mushin with a bulldozer as the owner had no building permit.
The owner of the building was said to have been served stop work notice since January, but continued illegal development of the property.
Also, 11 other buildings were sealed by LASBCA in Mushin. The affected structures had no building permit and other documents.
General Manager, LASBCA, Engr. Olalekan Shodeinde had said it was no longer going to be business as usual as government was determined to get rid of illegal development across the state and stem the tide of collapsed buildings.
“Before now, we have been civil in our enforcement, but the developers have remained recalcitrant by continuing in their illegal development. Most of these developers don’t have submission talk less of having permits,” he said.
Shodeinde added that whenever a building had been shutdown, the agency’s officials toke the building so that their owners would come forward to regularize their papers, as well as pay the necessary fines.
According to him, LASBCA should not be running after illegal developers if they did the right thing by obtaining their building permits and submitting other documents for approval.
“Most of these illegal developments were done at night with substandard materials being used. They don’t get the needed permit or follow due process before erecting them,” he said.
Shodeinde called on Lagosians to report any illegal development in their domains to LASBCA for prompt action in order to avert building collapse.