Building collapse in Ikoyi

Lagos State government, through the State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), has engaged local council bosses on the need to adhere strictly to codes and approval processes in the built environment.

Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on e-GIS and Urban Development, Dr Olajide Babatunde, at an interactive session with chairmen of local councils and local council development areas (LCDA), lamented increasing non-adherence to building codes and approval processes in the state.

He noted that local councils are closest to the people and are in a better position to enlighten the masses at the grassroots on the best ways to utilise the environment.

He called on council chairmen to obey building codes and shun the practice of jumping approval processes in constructing shops and offices in there localities.

He said: “It is important that we go back to the basics. And as a government closest to the grassroots, you are to ensure that basic minimal standards are maintained to mitigate the effect of building indiscriminately on the environment.”

Babatunde said constitutionally, the management of all land in the urban space is vested on the state government, and therefore local councils should ensure that approval processes to utilise land and spaces within their domains are granted by agents of the state for proper planning.

Earlier, General Manager of LASBCA, Gbolahan Oki, stressed the need for compliance with provisions of the revised Lagos State building control regulations.

He said there was a need to look into planning which starts from the grassroots and the need to change the current narrative where local councils grant approvals for building lock-up shops indiscriminately without recourse to state building approval processes.

Oki expressed government’s concern about the indiscriminate and unplanned erection of buildings and shops at the local level by developers in connivance with some local government officials without following laid-down regulations and approval processes.

Other stakeholders in the built environment who spoke at the event, including the Permanent Secretary, Office of Urban, Olalekan Shodeinde; Permanent Secretary, Civil Service Commission, Mr Akinbode Obadina; General Manager of State Public Works Corporation, Tokunbo Ajanaku, agreed on the need for mutual collaboration between local councils and the state government.

They also stressed the need for proper planning of the environment for a progressive society.

Responding on behalf of other chairmen, the Chairman of Surulere Local Council, Sulaiman Yusuf, and his counterpart in Orile Agege LCDA, Babatunde, called for mutual partnership and respect among the two tiers of government.

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