Lagos adopts zero tolerance for illegal buildings, seals 56 houses

Supports farmers with maize, sorghum to avert food scarcity

The Lagos State government has adopted zero-tolerance for illegal development to curb unprecedented rate of unapproved building construction in the state.

Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako, who disclosed this at the weekend during the continuation of the Special Enforcement Operations in Ikoyi and Banana Island, described the rate at which developers in elite areas flout planning laws as disturbing.

According to him, this untoward habit of erecting buildings without the necessary permits is inimical to the sustainable development of the environment and must be curtailed in the interest of all.

Salako said that property owners in the area would henceforth come forth with their planning permits granted for the building construction and evidence of stage certification obtained from the Lagos State Building Control Agency(LASBCA) or have their buildings sealed.

He stressed that the exercise would be extended to other parts of the state to send strong signals of government’s determination to guard the state operative development plans and curb illegal physical development, stating that over 56 buildings/building construction sites have been sealed since the beginning of the Special Enforcement Operation midweek.

“Property owners in Ikoyi and Banana Island must produce on demand their planning permits and evidence of stage certification or risk their property being sealed up in furtherance of the state policy of zero-tolerance for illegal developments,” he said.

Salako, therefore, urged those whose property were sealed due to these infractions to report to the Office of the Commissioner, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, to perfect their documents.

In another development, the state government has begun the distribution of maize and sorghum to feed millers, farm settlements and other stakeholders in the livestock industry as mitigation measures to boost agricultural production in the state and avert food scarcity in coming years amid COVID-19 pandemic.

The state’s Acting Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, who disclosed this at the weekend, noted that the injection of these ingredients into the feed mill industry would have a multiplier effects on the input and output of feed millers and consequently on food production.

Olusanya said that maize, being the major source of energy in the feed mill industry, as well as accounting for between 60 and 70 per cent of the total ingredients used in feed formation and production, usually determines the final cost of the finished feed such that any fluctuation in the cost of maize in the market also has direct effects on the finished feed and seems to be the life line of the feed mill industry.