Lagos Govt insists no attachment to shops, buildings

Lagos State Government has maintained its zero-tolerance stance against illegal construction of extensions and attachments to shops and buildings in any part of the state.

General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Gbolahan Owodunni Oki, an architect, stated this.

He spoke at a multi-agency enforcement carried out to remove extensions and attachments affixed to shops and plazas within the Lagos Island Central Business.

The action, he said, would bring about safety and orderliness to the markets and streets in the area.

A statement by Olaoye Olusegun, Director of Public Affairs at LASBCA, quoted Oki as saying those extensions affixed to shops and buildings within the area were constituting nuisance and a hindrance to rescue operations during emergencies.

He cited the case of fire outbreak in Mandilas building where first responders such as the state fire and rescue services could not access the burning building due to blockage of the roads and streets by traders with their extensions and attachments.

He told all owners of shops and business premises with extensions/ attachments to remove them immediately.

Oki disclosed that the removal exercise would be continuous and extended to other parts of the state.

He stressed that Lagos State would no longer tolerate the level of lawlessness going on in the commercial areas, especially Lagos Island where every available space was being converted to shops extending to the roads.

Oki also frowned on the practice of mounting diesel and petrol generators on rooftops, penthouses and iron staircases of shops and plazas within commercial centres.

The multi-agency exercise comprising the Lagos State Building Control Agency, Lagos State Neighbourhood Watch, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Central Business Districts and Lagos State Environmental Services amongst others, witnessed the removal of attachments to shops around Nnamdi Azikiwe Street, Dosunmu, Ereko, Eyin Eyo, Martins, Balogun and its adjoining streets.

The removal is part of the recommendations of the Dosunmu Fire Incident Committee headed by the Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr Gbenga Oyerinde.