Lagos gives traders one week to remove illegal structures

The Lagos State government yesterday restated its commitment to the regeneration of Lagos Island Central Business District, giving traders and business owners one week to remove all illegal extensions on all buildings within the Lagos Island Central Business District (CBD).

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who handled down this directive at an inter-ministerial stakeholder meeting at the Onikan Youth Centre, said this is necessary as the government intends before year-end to begin the massive renewal of the Lagos Island CBD, arguably Nigeria’s foremost commercial nerve centre.

Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako, said it is unacceptable that despite its centrality and importance, in the nation’s economy, Lagos Island remains categorized as a slum area due largely to the inordinate planning and other challenges arising from the attitudinal disposition of the people.

Sanwo-Olu said the stakeholder’s summit was called to help find a solution to the rising cases of fire incidents, environmental degradation, street trading, traffic control and insecurity of the CBD. He said: “The Lagos State government has an approved regeneration master-plan for the entire Lagos Island CBD, and the government is determined to ensure strict compliance with the plan which is aimed at ensuring the development of a clean, safe and vibrant economy.”

Sanwo-Olu who addressed a huge session made up of traditional leaders, the Iyaloja-General of Nigeria, Chief Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, captains of industries, and top government functionaries in the built environment called for continued partnership with the organised private sector in order to ensure the provision of facilities that will be able to sustain the huge economic size of the markets in the CBD.