TEARS flowed uncontrollably as owners and occupants of properties at I.K Peters and Rockview Street respectively in Richfield Estate, Ajao Estate in Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area watched helplessly as the Lagos State Government demolished their houses in a twinkle of eye.
It was gathered that the state government with its relevant agencies – the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) supported by armed security operatives attached to the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Unit (Taskforce), stormed the area in a commando like form on Friday, April 28.
The buildings as also gathered were cited in close proximity to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, the nation’s busiest air gateway, as such, contravenes the development plan around the airport.
When our correspondent visited the area on Sunday, debris of the ruins of properties worth millions of naira littered the environment. Some people who heard the news of the demolition and came to confirm stood in bewilderment, as others cursed the government for inflicting hardship on the occupants of the affected buildings.
A woman cried profusely as she watched the government’s bulldozer knock down her house and other buildings effortlessly. “They have demolished my house. I was in the hospital and got a call that they are demolishing our house. They are demolishing the whole street; they just came and start demolishing everywhere. I could not bring out my properties, my documents. They came with two caterpillars…Oh Jesus, I could not bring out anything from my house,” she cried profusely.
Meanwhile, palpable fear dominates the estate as NaijaTimes gathered that more buildings are still to be demolished.
Explaining the reasons for the demolition, the General Manager, LASBCA, Arc Gbolahan Owodunni Oki, said the buildings lacked required approvals and were cited around Airport restricted areas while some were cited on aviation fuel pipelines.
Oki, who feared the havoc that a fire outbreak from the pipeline could cause to lives and properties, added that the property owners also lacked required documents as approvals for construction in that area.
According to him the buildings were illegally constructed out of clear disregard to the requirements of extant laws. He stressed that the buildings had no planning permit and were built around the pipelines.
“Nobody in his right thinking mind will go and buy a plot on a pipeline and build on it,” he said.
Oki added that the demomolition exercise carried out by the Enforcement and Compliance team of the agency was aimed at ensuring that buildings in Lagos State are designed, constructed and maintained to high standards of safety in order to avoid loss of lives and properties.
He insists that all buildings in Lagos State must conform with relevant laws guiding physical development and building constructions. He also stated that the demolition of the illegal structures show that the State Government prioritizes the lives of its residents.
The LASBCA boss stressed that the action of the government and the ongoing demolition of several other illegal structures in different parts of the State will send strong signal to recalcitrant practitioners in the real estate sector and the entire residents of the State.
Oki explained that due consultations and communications were made with enough time. He averred that the agency has been sending letters to the owner of the properties since 2016 to vacate the area but they fail to comply.
“Several meetings have been held to have a peace talk but yet, they turned deaf ears hoping that there is nothing that the government can do,” he said.
The GM lamented that the buildings were a national risk to the airport being “extremely close”, stressing that no life of a Nigerian is worth being lost to the dangers that the citing of the buildings posed.
He noted that the issue of building collapse in Lagos had been a subject of “attitudinal problem.” He warned that the Lagos State Government will not fold its harms and allow its residents to lose their lives as a result of the failure of an individual to do the needful and obtain necessary permits on their properties.
The LASBCA boss, therefore, called on Lagosians to report cases of illegal structures to the government, saying “turning a blind eye to such constructions would bear untoward consequences with far reaching losses.”
He urged developers and property owners to ensure they get approval of appropriate government agencies before embarking on bulding projects in order to prevent loss of lives and properties.
He explained that the procedures involved in embarking on building construction start from obtaining planning permit from the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPPA) before approaching LASBCA with copies of the approved planning permit.
Reacting to the demolition development, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said it was happy the Lagos State Government was stepping into the issue after several warnings and attempt to stop the constructions of buildings in the area were not heeded to by the encroachers or who stole from the Airport land.
Commending LASBCA on their partnership to bring normalcy and decency to the Airport environment, the General Manager, Business Development, FAAN, Ngwu Hycienth, stated that FAAN began to notice encroachment on the Airport land in 2015, thus defying the standard rule that no building must be cited close to the perimeter fence.
He said, “That land belongs to FAAN and was acquired for the purpose of public use and officially gazetted. By 1972, the land was extended and duly acquired by the Federal Government and compensations were paid and in 1975.”
According to Ngwu, in 2015, FAAN noticed encroachments on the Airport land and made reports to appropriate agency. He reiterated that the rule of international standard, guiding airport, states that no building should be built close to the perimeter fence of Airports and sets limits to the height of the building within the environment of the airport.
The GM averred that the owners of the properties, apart from building on illegal lands, also violated the law guiding physical developments within Airport environment by erecting structures beyond the required height in Airport area.
“There is a rule that no building shall be built close to the perimeter fence. When you go there today, you will see violations, some of them use our perimeter fence as fence.
“God forbid, a terrorists can climb those building and with a short gun shoot down an aircraft. If the airport is closed because of our negligence, nobody will be happy, this airport generate 60 percent of the revenue from airports in Nigeria,” he stated.
