Governor Lagos State Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has ordered the immediate demolition of a two-storey building located at 310 Close, in Banana Island, Ikoyi, over inappropriate approval.
Sanwo-Olu gave the order on Saturday when he led a delegation of government officials for an on-the-spot assessment of the area.
Speaking with newsmen after the assessment, the governor also directed the sealing of other buildings in the area for various infractions and stopped an ongoing construction of a two-storey building located at 303 Close.
He, however, blamed developers for the collapse of the seven-storey building on First Avenue, in Banana Island, describing the situation as “irresponsible and unacceptable.”
The governor said the “reckless” operations of some developers hiding under the pretext of Federal Government agencies issuing building approvals for unsuspecting property owners are the reason for the collapse.
He said, “We are at the site of the last unfortunate building collapse in Banana Island Lagos and I’m sure you have all gone around and seen the site.
“Like it has been reported before now, there has been a lot of investigation that 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 in all of the construction sites in Banana Island.
“I think that the exercise we are doing today is not really just about this location.
“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’s way in front there and you can see that there are several extensions that have been granted by both the Federal Ministry of Work and Housing. 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 the rest of these. From what I have been told, all of the four buildings at the back have never even applied for approval.
“The legality is real and so that is why we are going around other properties in Banana Island. Excuses have been given that they don’t have access and this is not acceptable.
“This is total recklessness of all of the developers and we will make a strong point out of this place and all around Banana Island and in other developments that we have.
“The officers that will also be similarly found culpable will also be sanctioned, if any.”
The governor promised to set up an external seven-man committee to independently investigate the building collapse, adding that the committee will be given two weeks to complete the probe.
He added: “But what we are doing right now is to set up an external seven-man committee. We are giving the people two weeks to independently also ascertain what has gone wrong there.
“So they should finish their work maybe towards the end of next week or thereafter. And so, this will also further strengthen our hand to be able to also come up with a robust work plan that we can enforce going forward.
“In all of these places, it’s heartbreaking each time we have to go through these and it shows sometimes how irresponsible those developers and some of our citizens that just want to make quick money.
“And of course our own officers who are also not alive to their responsibilities. We have had to change staff here and there so that we can bring forward a robust and very strong monitoring office.
“But we believe that we are still far from, we are still short on it I must say. And we will continue to do what we need to do to ensure that we keep the lives of our residents safe at all times.
“We are going round to inspect other properties in this area.”
