In a bid to restore order and sanity to the upscale Victoria Island neighborhood, the Lagos State Government has clamped down on illegal developments, sealing over seven buildings worth millions of Naira for contravening building codes and regulations.
The government said that the sealed structure were erected without necessary permits and approvals from the state’s physical planning authorities.
Some of the properties closed for lacking the requisite permits for building construction include Number 7 Okesuna street, 42/64 Okepopo street, 11/15 Sunmonu street, 22 Olushi street, 8 Isalegangan street.
Other structures, affected after contravening the state’s building law, were located at Oroyinyin, Faji, and Omididun streets, despite the amnesty program that provided property owners with an opportunity to regularize their building permits without facing immediate penalties.
According to the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Oluyinka Olumide, who led the exercise to caution contravening buildings yesterday, it had become imperative for government to compel the right and positive attitude from the people towards physical planning laws, after months of gracious amnesty to buildings without planning permit.
“The amnesty program provided an opportunity for property owners to regularise their building permits without facing immediate penalties. Unfortunately, many disregarded this initiative while it lasted and now proceed with illegal constructions that fail to meet structural, environmental, and safety standards. Our goal is to encourage compliance, ensuring that Lagos remains a safe and orderly city for all residents”, he said.
Olumide added that “the exercise, which will be extended to other parts of the State, underscores the Lagos State Government’s commitment to enforcing physical planning laws across the State. No doubt, unregulated developments pose significant risks to the built environment, including structural collapse, environmental degradation, and disruption to planned city layouts”.
The Commissioner, who decried the spate of illegal building construction on Lagos Island, especially building on narrow strips of land that leaves no room for adequate setbacks and air spaces, ordered the stoppage of the ongoing construction on number 8, Isalegangan street for its narrowness.
He reminded residents, property owners and property developers of their civic duty to obtain necessary approvals before embarking on building construction while urging owners of adjoining small parcels of land to seriously consider the land-pooling option to aid livable, organized and sustainable built environment.
Olumide highlighted the importance of reporting illegal constructions, saying that residents were encouraged to provide information that would assist the government discover physical planning contravention at their infancy and act promptly in the interest of all to sustain the State’s development agenda as it relates to the physical planing sector.
The joint exercise, which underscores the state’s firm stance against illegal construction across the metropolis was carried out alongside the Permanent Secretary, Office of Physical Planning, Olumide Sotire, and directors in the ministry and functionaries of the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority(LASPPPA).
