The Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) has reiterated its commitment to embracing innovations and strengthening its strategies to prevent end to building collapses and promote a safe and sustainable building sector.
The General Manager of LASBCA, Mrs Florence Gbaye, said the agency would continue to ensure that buildings are constructed in accordance with approved plans, deepen collaboration with professionals, promote a maintenance culture and encourage building insurance to minimise investment losses in the construction sector.

Gbaye, who spoke to property and environment writers in Lagos, said LASBCA’s mandate covers the entire building lifecycle, from the design stage involving professionals and artisans to construction and post-construction activities.
“For all buildings in Lagos, every five years owners are supposed to ensure maintenance, and so we are looking at maintenance culture. We now have Certified Accreditors who are professionals from the private sector, who are part of what LASBCA is doing. If they are part of what the agency is doing, the professional bodies are affirming that they can actually do things right, and if anything happens, we can make reference to the professional bodies. When they are part of the construction; that is, from the consultants and the professional bodies meeting at a particular site, there’s no way one of us will not see if anything is wrong with a building design.

We will ensure that all buildings being constructed have a certificate of fitness, of completion and fitness qualification after construction. We are putting into place all these to ensure that there will be a sustainable and safe building environment,” Gbaye said.

She charged stakeholders, including building owners, to embrace the culture of doing the right thing with regard to construction activities, adding that the agency will ensure continual engagement with the public.
“Let’s do things in a rightful manner. It is not all about the government but a combination of efforts by all stakeholders. Developers and building owners should build according to the document granted but shouldn’t do otherwise. Developers must do things professionally; it is not about the government alone but about everybody. All buildings should have insurance. It is important, both for buildings under construction and for existing buildings, to have occupier’s liability insurance. Nobody prays for anything bad to happen, but if anything happens, it will assist,” The GM said.

On the State Electronic Physical Planning Process System (EPPPS), a digital platform launched by the government recently, she explained that the essence is to automate and streamline building permit applications and urban planning approval, adding that it has made it much easier for developers, consultants, and even governments to work much faster and align the state towards the vision of a mega-city and what is obtainable anywhere across the world.
Gbaye appealed to stakeholders within the sector to embrace it, noting it is accessible and that applicants can easily track stages of the application wherever they are.

“Accountability is there on the part of the government, the developers, and on the part of the professionals that are the consultants. LASBCA is not established to bring down buildings but to ensure that standards are adhered to at every stage of building and we want to change the narrative. We only remove buildings for non-compliance with approval standards. To have a safe building environment, professionals must always be on site,” she said.

The Chairman of the Property and Environment Writers Association of Nigeria (PEWAN), Okwy Iroegwu-Chikezie, pledged consistency among members towards promoting responsible property development and a healthy and safe building environment through accurate, ethical, and solution-driven journalism in Nigeria.
She emphasised the need to urgently address the housing crisis, climate crisis, and safety crisis in the Nigerian building sector. She further called for stronger commitment by critical stakeholders to end building collapses, stressing that the focus is to see a Lagos where no child or adult dies in a building collapse incident.