Press Releases

SSS Turns Over Defective Buildings To Lagos Govt For Demolition

Jun 29, 2008 - Lagos State Government’s call on owners of defective property in the State to approach it for either inspection or demolition has begun to yield results as the State Security Service (SSS) recently turned over for demolition some defective buildings in its estate in Ikoyi.

The Service also requested the State Government to assist it in demolishing the affected buildings on the estate, located on James George Street Ikoyi.

It would be recalled that the State Government directed individuals and organisations who own defective property in the State to report such property to the Government for proper inspection or demolition.

According to the directive, any owner of a defective property who fails to report to the Government will bear the cost of demolition of such property if it collapses while the property itself will be confiscated by the Government.

The State Director of Security, Mr. Ibrahim Audu, who confirmed the move said the Service approached the State Government to assist it to demolish the structures pointing out that this was both in line with the directive given by the State Government and the Service’s concern for life and property.

“As a government agency, we requested the Lagos State Government to assist us in pulling the buildings down because we found them to be caving in. It is important to highlight the fact that the buildings have been there for over 20 years”, the Director said.

According to him, “We have experienced incidents of building collapse where lives and properties were lost, so we thought it would be wiser to pull them down before they cause havoc”, adding that the 98 families affected by the demolition have already been given alternative accommodation at different locations across the State.

He said in approaching the State Government, the Service was also trying to identify with the State Government’s Mega-City initiative where, according to him “everything is expected to be orderly so that we have less incidents of building collapse and save more lives”.

Blaming the frequent incidence of building collapse in the State on lack of monitoring, Audu called for effective monitoring on the part of government agencies to ensure that property owners use standard building materials and qualified engineers while putting up their structures

Investigations at the estate revealed that four blocks of 24 flats each were affected by the demolition which is being carried out at the cost of N10 million to be borne by the State Government.

Fielding questions from Property Correspondents at the demolition site at the weekend, District Officer for Ikoyi District office of the Lagos State Physical Planning and Development Authority, Town Planner (Mrs.) Iyabode Osiyoye disclosed that after government was contacted, a joint inspection team comprising both government and SSS officials undertook an inspection of the estate adding that four of the blocks were found to be terribly bad and could come down anytime hence the decision to demolish them.

She said the inspection was done late last year while demolition commenced last week adding that both the demolition work and carting away of the debris would soon be completed.

Commending the SSS for heeding the State Government’s directive, Mrs. Osiyoye called on other individuals and organisations having such property to take a cue from the Security Service’s move and come forward with such reports pointing out that it would be both in their interest and that of the State Government. “It is better to call in the government before any life is lost”, she said.