Building collapse: Lagos bans construction on weekends, public holidays

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Following cases collapsed buildings in recent times in Lagos State, the administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola said yesterday that it would no longer tolerate building construction on weekends and public holidays.

The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Olutoyin Ayinde, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the activities of his ministry in the last one year.

This, according to him, is to check unscrupulous developers and building contractors who secretly engage in construction of buildings at night, weekends and public holidays in a bid to dodge building and control agents.

The commissioner also said the government would impose appropriate sanctions on owners of about 407 abandoned buildings across the state.

Ayinde, who also advised property owners to meaningfully take control of their buildings before they were confiscated, described the measure as means to check unwholesome developers who secretly build on weekends and other odd times to avoid sanction by government’s enforcement agents.

The commissioner urged the residents to inform government of illegal construction of buildings in their areas. He said: “More worrisome is the fact that some unscrupulous developers and builders have decided to embark on construction at the weekends, public holidays and even at night.

This will no longer be tolerated. “Consequently, the ministry would also extend its services to especially monitoring, removal of illegal structures and arrest developers and their workers found to on sites beyond the regular official hours so as to be able to tackle this unwholesome trend and behaviour head-on to stem the preponderance of these illegal activities appropriately.

“It is true that these activities take place daily on our streets, roads, in our neighbourhood. The ministry and its staff cannot comb the entire state 24/7 for illegal developments.

“I therefore use this medium today, once again, to solicit the cooperation of members of the public to report any construction work whatsoever, at any level, especially those taking place at odd times earlier mentioned to the ministry via phone calls, SMSs, e-mails immediately.”