The General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Gbolahan Owodunni Oki, has directed owners/developers of buildings under construction that have exceeded the approved building plan to revert to the original plan approved and granted to them by the State Government.
The LASBCA said that the affected buildings have exceeded the number of floors approved by the authorities without proper procedures and insisted that they should revert to the original plan.
The directive of Oki was conveyed through LASBCA’s Director of Enforcement, Mr. Olusoji Olopa during the Agency’s routine monitoring and enforcement exercise carried out at Eti-Osa and Surulere areas of the State recently.
What the General Manager of LASBCA is saying
Oki reiterated the need for strict adherence to the new directives by property owners/developers, stating that the move by the government is meant to compel compliance to building approvals as part of strategies to nip in the bud the menace of building collapse in the State.
The LASBCA boss said, “This new directive is a decision taken by LASBCA towards ensuring the prevention of building collapse and the attendant consequences that comes with it, such as the loss of lives and properties.
“The monitoring and enforcement exercises carried out today by the agency was to ensure that buildings under constructions that were earlier sealed were not broken by owners/developers without doing the needful. It is also to ensure that the buildings that have exceeded the number of floors approved by the government without proper procedures are reverted to the original plan.’’
Oki emphasized on the need for other relevant agencies and professional bodies in the building industry to come on board and help the government to stem the tides of building collapse in the State with their professional inputs.
He pointed out that it is no longer business as usual, advising the building public to value life and do the right thing at all times.
He said, “Life is irreplaceable, let us change our attitude positively to save lives and ensure that this menace called building collapse does not continue any longer.’’
Agency seals 7 buildings, orders non-destructive test on a 1004 Estate block
During monitoring and enforcement exercises by LASBCA, 7 other buildings under construction were sealed at the Eti-Osa and Surulere axis of the State for various building contraventions from construction without approval/authorisation to breaking Government seals amongst others.
Also, the agency ordered the management of 1004 Estate, Victoria Island to carry out a Non-Destructive Test to ascertain the structural stability of one of the blocks in the estate which was discovered to be visibly distressed by the Agency’s officers while on routine monitoring of the area.
What you should know
- Recall that the agency recently held a roundtable where professionals in the built industry were invited to proffer solutions to the incessant building collapse in the State and an agreement was reached for a joint collaborative effort between the government and built stakeholders.
- The Lagos State Government has in recent times embarked on the demolition and sealing off of properties across the state for breaching the state’s physical planning laws and lack of approval from the relevant authorities.
- The state government has always asked developers and property owners to ensure they get approval from the relevant state authorities before going ahead with their construction in order not to distort the state’s physical planning master plan.
- Also, the state government is applying stricter controls and regulations for property developers due to increasing cases of collapsed buildings which have claimed many lives in the state
