LASG to demolish buildings without permits

[Punch]

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola on Monday said government would no longer allow  buildings erected in contravention of approved plan to stand.

The governor said this during the inauguration of a six-man tribunal of enquiry on collapsed buildings headed by Mrs. Abimbola Ajayi, at the State House, Alausa, Ikeja.

Fashola, who said the inauguration of the panel was to end the spate of collapsed buildings in the state, added that the government was not comfortable with attendant loss of lives in cases of building collapse.

He said,  "Incidents of collapsed building break my heart whenever they occur. We can replace a defective building but we can't replace a lost life.

"So if you build against the approval that we have given, we will pull down that building or we will compel the person to reduce the house to meet the approval he or she got from us.

"We will not spare anyone in this regard because when building collapses, it is the government that everyone looks up to.

"It is time to stop this incident of building collapse. It is a sign of backwardness for us as a nation. It is a challenge to our professionals. Many professionals in the world build skyscrapers and they don't collapse and we build three-storey building and they collapse within a short time of completion.

"Many years ago, the problems facing this state were incidents of building under construction suddenly giving way. Now we have transcended some of those challenges, as they have drastically reduced. But the new issues confronting the state are buildings that have been constructed within 10 years and suddenly giving way."

The governor urged public officials involved in the issuance of building permit to work without giving preference to anyone.

Fashola said, "The state government will hold any officers in charge of the district where building collapses responsible. And such officer who compromises processes for securing building permits will be sanctioned."

The governor said the tribunal would help the government to look into the quality of building materials used in the state, specifically those that collapsed recently and make recommendations on measures to prevent such cases.



The Punch