By LYDIA NGWAKWE

The Lagos State Government, through the Office of Urban Development and the State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) has concluded plans to engage the private sector for effective service delivery in the built industry.

The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Electronic Geographical Information System (e-GIS) and Urban Development, Dr Olajide Babatunde, said this at LASBCA headquarters on Friday in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the synergy, to be named “Accredited Certifiers Program” is aimed at strengthening the capacity of government officials in monitoring and enforcement of building regulations in the state.

Babatunde said that the recommendation of the programme emanated from the Government White Paper on the report of the Lagos State tribunal of the building collapse on 44 (B, C, D), Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

He said that a more robust public private sector engagement was needed to help boost enforcement exercise through monitoring and inspection on-going building constructions in the State.

According to him, the main reason for the partnership which has been in the pipeline since 2021 is basically for zero tolerance to building collapses in the state.

He said this could be done through robust monitoring and inspection of all on-going constructions in the state since the government cannot do the job alone.

He said, “The synergy with the private sectors as recommended by the White Paper report will enhance a better services delivery in some specific aspects such as monitoring of the built environment, screening of drawings and inspection of projects above six floors.

“It will also boost complementary roles for stage certification of projects above six floors, an initiative that will make the building process seamless and more effective.”

He said that Lagos was blessed with large numbers of professionals in the built environment who would readily offer their expertise and capacity to ensure that buildings in the state were constructed to meet international standards.

He also said that for seamless take-off of the programme to be achieved, various orientation workshops would be organised for successful consortium and individual professionals that met the criteria of becoming Accredited Certifiers.

Also, the Permanent Secretary, Office of Urban Development, Mr Shodeinde Nurudeen, urged other state agencies and parastatals to interface between LASBCA to eliminate the multiplicity of enforcement agents in the built industry.

According to him, LASBCA is the sole enforcer of any form of building development in the state.

He said that other State Agencies and Parastatals must interface between LASBCA in order to reduce or eliminate the multiplicity of enforcement agents in the built industry.

“LASBCA is a ‘One Stop Shop’ for all other Agencies/Parastatals of the State Government involved in monitoring and enforcement of building regulations in the state.

“And in order to reduce the people’s misconception of multiple inspections, everybody will be allowed to perform their core responsibilities but LASBCA will be the sole enforcer,” he said.

Speaking earlier to newsmen, the General Manager, LASBCA, Mr Gbolahan Oki, said that the agency would not condone illegal construction of buildings in any part of the state.

He said that the agency was determined to remove all buildings constructed without the requisite permit.

Oki was reacting to the distortion of the master plans of some parts of the state by people whom he described as “omo onile”.

He condemned the indiscriminate manner by which they sold lands earmarked by the Government for roads, drainage and other purposes of public interest to unsuspecting members of the public.

He said that the government would remove buildings constructed on such lands earmarked for public interest, saying that “ignorance of the law is no excuse”.

He advised developrs and land owners to always crosscheck titles of property they sought to purchase with the state’s Land Registry before finalising the purchase agreements. (NAN)

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