Bennett Oghifo
Lagos State Government has warned residents of state owned housing estates to desist from modifying the approved designs of structures.
The Permanent Secretary in the State Ministry of Housing, Mr. Wasiu Akewusola gave this warning during a meeting with the representatives of the Residents Association of Abraham Adesanya Estate at the State Secretariat, according to a statement from the ministry.
He said “It is in the best interest of all residents of government owned estates to stop alterations of structures of buildings in government owned estates”.
According to him, “such reconstructions include restyling, extension of, and additions to existing facilities and in some extreme cases, increase in levels of buildings.”
He observed that these alterations are deviations from the terms and conditions stated in the deed of sub-lease signed by the two parties and warned that it could lead to a penalty as stated in the Law.
Akewusola noted that “the government owned Estates are designed and built by the State Government in compliance with global environmental and physical planning rules to ensure durability and liveability.
“Contravention of such standards often result in dire consequences such as reduced durability of the structure both for the home owner and the other people in the environment,” he said.
Based on this, Akewusola then advised the Residents to desist from any form of redesigning of the building as this may cause damages to the building and the entire environment in no distant time.
He also underscored the need for the residents to maintain the original structural design to prevent future disasters. According to the Permanent Secretary, “a building is a permanent load whose capacity of erection can only be known and accessed by certified engineers. This capability, which is environmentally determined, had already been quantified before the buildings were erected. Any plans to overload the capacity may result in disaster, he warned.
He also alerted the residents that all unapproved remodeling contravene the Physical and Urban Planning Law of the State government, hence affected buildings will be demolished by the appropriate agency of the state government .
“The demolition exercise of illegal and unapproved structures in government owned estates will commence very soon without any further warning, “Mr. Akewusola disclosed.
He also added that the state Government is aware of some residents who have turned the government housing estates setbacks into marketplace and alerted that it will no longer be a business as usual as the state will not rest on its oars in ensuring that sanity returns to the government owned Estates.
He informed them that the state monitoring team has scaled up its surveillance activities to ensure compliance with set environmental standards.
In addition, he intimated that Lagos state is set to upgrade the drainage systems in the area to combat incessant flooding in the estate. Akewusola promised that “government will continue to be responsive to the challenges confronting the people in the Estates and the State in general.
In response, the residents commended government’s efforts in maintenance of the estates and pledged full support for governmentp actions in penalising offenders. They also requested for a recreation center and other joint community facilities for the estate.
Present at the meeting were the Chairperson of Elders Forum of Abraham Adesanya Housing Estate, Madam Sulaimon Theresa, Vice Chairman of Abraham Adesanya Housing Estate Community Development Association, Elder Samuel Ogunseitan JP, Chairman of Abraham Adesanya Residents Association, Mr. Oguntoye Oyebanji, Facility manager of Abraham Adesanya Housing Estate, Mr. Yomi Adebesin and the management staff of the state’s Ministry of Housing.
