9-Storey Building Demolished In Lagos

A nine-storey building at Osapa London in Lekki area has been demolished by the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), in a bid to stem the rate of building collapse.

Mr Olalekan Shodehinde, the LASBCA General Manager, today said the building lacked certified building plan approval, contraventions such as illegal conversion and non-compliance with approval limit.

Shodeinde said the building was detected in 2017, and after various investigations, they found out 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.

He said that the structural stability of the soil was not strong enough to carry such high-rise structure.
He said the state government approved that the building be pulled down.

He said this was necessary to curb the incidence of incessant building collapse in the state, adding 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.

Shodeinde noted that after demolition of a structure by the government, the government give 90 days for the owners to pay demolition cost, after which they would confiscate the land if the owners failed to pay.

Commenting, Mrs 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.