By Yemi Olakitan
As a result of repeated building collapses in Lagos State, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu through the Office of Urban Development and Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA, has concluded plans to partner with the private sector in the built industry for better service delivery in preventing collapse structures which may affect the environment.
The synergy which is to be christened “Accredited Certifiers Program,” is aimed at strengthening the capacity of government officials in monitoring and enforcement of building regulations in the state.
The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Electronic Geographical Information System(e-GIS) and Urban Development, Dr. Olajide Babatunde, disclosed this on Friday.
Babatunde, said that the recommendation of Accredited Certifiers Programme emanated from the Government White Paper on the report of the Lagos State tribunal of the building collapse on 44 (B, C, D), Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos which calls for a more robust public private sector synergy that would help boost enforcement exercise in terms of monitoring and inspection of all on-going building constructions in the state.
According to Babatunde; “The main reason for the partnership which has been in the pipeline since 2021 is basically for zero tolerance to building collapses in the State through robust monitoring and inspection of all on-going constructions in the state as the government cannot do the job alone.
“The synergy with the private sectors as recommended by the White Paper report will enhance a better services delivery in some specifics aspects such as monitoring of the built environment, screening of drawings and inspection of projects above six floors and complementary roles for stage certification of projects above six floors, an initiative that will make the building process seamless and more effective”.
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He noted that Lagos is blessed with large numbers of professionals in the built environment who are ready to bring in their expertise and capacity to ensure that buildings in the state are constructed to meet international standards.
Olajide also emphasized that for seamless take-off of the Accredited Certifiers Programme to be achieved, various orientation workshops will be organized for successful Consortium and individual professionals that met the criteria of becoming an Accredited Certifiers.
The Permanent Secretary, Office of Urban Development, Engr. Shodeinde Nurudeen on his own part stated that, LASBCA is the sole enforcer of any form of building development in the State and in order to reduce or eliminate the multiplicity of enforcement agents in the built industry, other State Agencies and Parastatals must interface between LASBCA.
“LASBCA is a ‘One Stop Shop’ for all other Agencies/Parastatals of the State Government involved in monitoring and enforcement of building regulations in the state and in order to reduce the people’s misconception of multiple inspections, everybody will be allowed to perform their core responsibilities but LASBCA will be the sole enforcer” he stated.
Speaking earlier to newsmen in his office, the General Manager of Lagos State Building Control Agency, Arc. Gbolahan Oki disclosed that the agency would not condone illegal construction of buildings in any part of the state as the agency was fully ready to remove all buildings constructed without the requisite permit.
Oki, was reacting to the distortion of the master plans of some part of the state by people who he described as “omo onile” with their indiscriminate sales of lands earmarked by the Government for roads, drainages and other purposes of public interest to unsuspecting members of the public.
He noted that the government would not hesitate to remove buildings constructed on such lands earmarked for public interest as ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Oki, therefore, advised developers and land owners to always crosscheck titles of property they seek to purchase with the state land registry before finalizing the purchase agreements.
