Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said his administration will set up a seven-man committee to stop illegal construction and haphazard reconstruction of buildings in Banana Island, Lagos.
Sanwo-Olu gave the hint at the weekend when he led a delegation of government officials to inspect the construction of buildings as a follow-up to the building that collapsed in the island, blamed the earlier seven-storey building on First Avenue in Banana Island on what he called “reckless” operations of some developers hiding under the pretext of federal government agencies issuing building approvals for unsuspecting property owners.
Fielding questions from newsmen after on the spot assessment of the area, the governor described the situation as “irresponsible and unacceptable.”
The governor was conducted round the Island by the commissioner for physical planning and urban development, Tayo Bamigbose-Martin, commissioner for information and strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, general manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LABSCA), Gbolahan Oki, and other engineers.
“But what we are doing right now is to set up an external seven man committee, we are giving the people two weeks to independently also ascertain what has gone wrong there.
“So, they should finish their work maybe towards the end of next week or thereafter.
“And so, this will also strengthen our hand to be able to also come up with a robust work plan that we can enforce going forward.
“In all of these places, it’s heartbreaking each time we have to go through these and it shows sometimes how irresponsible those developers and some of our citizens that just want to make quick money.
“And of course, our own officers who are also not alive to their responsibilities. We have had to change staff here and there so that we can bring forward robust and very strong monitoring offices.
“But, we believe that we are still far from, we are still short on it I must say. And we will continue to do what we need to do to ensure that we keep the lives of our residents safe at all times. We are going round to inspect other properties in this area.”
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