Building collapse: Concerned stakeholders accuse Lagos officials of complicity

By Dada Jackson

Some concerned property owners and building professionals have accused a number of officials of the Lagos State Government of engaging in selective sealing and marking of defective buildings, thereby exposing the state to the danger of frequent cases of building collapse.

They specifically accused these officials found mostly in the Lagos State Building Control Agency of colluding with unscrupulous developers to circumvent the laid down guidelines aimed at riding the state of defective structures.

LASBCA is an agency of the state government established to regulate building development in the state.

Before construction starts in the state, a developer is expected to obtain an approval from the agency. The core mandate of the agency is to ensure the sustainability of any building development in addition to regulating the construction process from beginning to conclusion.

Those who spoke to News Trends on the issue, on condition of anonymity (for fear of being victimised by the agency), said very many defective structures had escaped the hammer of the agency due to this sharp practice.

According to them, this development may not be unconnected with the exchange of money between the culprits and officials of the agency.

Investigation by News Trends revealed that more often than not seals of the agency had allegedly been broken by developers who had for one reason or the other run afoul of the guidelines of the agency.

Some defective structures (especially on the island) were seen without any marking to warn the public that they are disasters waiting to happen.

Over the years, there have been alleged sharp practices by officials of the agency emanating from the enforcement of protocols hence, compromising standards.

These range from officials of the agency assigned to enforce compliance looking the other way after allegedly the greasing of palms by defaulting property developers or owners.

Efforts to reach the General Manager of LASBCA, Engineer Abosede Kosegbe, to speak with News Trends on the issue were unsuccessful.

In a text message sent to this reporter, she averred, that they(government officials) were forbidden by the state government from granting interviews unless they obtained clearance from the Ministry of Information.

But in a chat on the sidelines of the agency’s launch of the ‘Green Sticker’ in April this year by the State’s Commissioner for Physical Planning, Dr Idris Salako, she debunked the allegations, saying the agency had put in place mechanism that would deal decisively with any official of the agency caught engaging in any form of malpractice.

She promised to speak more on the issue later.