In a bid to stem the rate of building collapse, the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), says it has demolished a nine-storey building at Osapa London in Lekki area.
Olalekan Shodehinde, the LASBCA General Manager, said on Friday that the demolition was due to lack of certified building plan approval, contraventions such as illegal conversion and non-compliance with approval limit.
Shodehinde said the building was detected in 2017, after which he said investigations were conducted and revealed that it does not have approval plan.
According to him, the finding also showed that the building does not conform to the approval limit and building pattern of the area.
“The building has nine floors, while the master plan of Osapa, the area it was situated, only allows for a maximum of four floors,’’ he said.
Shodehinde said that the structural stability of the soil could not carry such high-rise structure.
He said that the state government had given approval or order for the building to be pulled down.
Shodehinde added that the exercise was being carried out to curb the incidence of incessant building collapse in the state.
He said that the state government would not fold its arms and allow loss of lives and destruction of property.
Shodehinde said that several notices had been served to the owner of the structure, but failed to comply with the order.
“Though, the building does not have approval plan, what we are talking about goes beyond approval plan; because if the developer applied for approval of nine floors in the area, it will not be granted.
“When LABSCA discovered the building in 2017, a Stop Order Notice was served. In October of the same year when it was at its fifth floors, the agency sealed it.
“After few months, the agency visited the site to observe that the building had been constructed up to the ninth floors.
“Again, 14 days ultimatum notice was served to the developers to remove the structure at their own cost, which they failed to comply with it,” he said.
Shodehinde explained that once an illegal building had been demolished by the government, the owner would be given 90 days to pay the demolition cost, failure of which government would confiscate the land.
Commenting, Alaba Makanjuola, a resident around the area, said that the nine-storey building affected effective operation of her apartment’s WI-FI internet system.
According to Makanjuola, the network challenges started when the building is at its fourth floor and has persisted till date.
“I have been experiencing the network problem for long time now.
“In the process of trying to detect the cause, I contacted the engineer that installed it.
“He explained that the network obstruction is as a result of the nine-storey building behind my house,” she said.
