Lagos agency tasks estate developers on building collapse

THE Lagos State Building Control Agency ( LASBCA) has appealed to estate developers to follow due process in building development.

The agency’s General Manager, Gbolahan Oki, made the appeal when he received the executives of Real Estate Developers of Lagos State ( AREDOL), who were on a familiarisation visit to LASBCA office in Lagos.

Oki noted that the services of developers would be needed to checkmate the malaise of building collapse in the state.

He said due to increased cases of building collapse, it has become necessary for the agency to engage all stakeholders in the building industry to unravel the causes and remedies to building collapse. According to him, the association should adopt best practices to ensure structural integrity, prevent loss of lives and properties.

The Head, State’s Planning and Environmental Monitoring Agency ( LASPEMA) Saheed Lawal, Board Secretary of the agency, Mr. Kunle Odubiyi, supervising Directors and senior management team, attended the forum.

Oki urged them to obtain building permit and other relevant documents before embarking on building project, stressing that the agency will henceforth enforce the relevant section of the law, arrest any workers on the site, who refuse to comply with the state directives and laws.

The General Manager told the association to be ambassadors of the state in preventing building collapse in the state, and to reject any pressure to work on site without building permit.

The Chairman of the association, Chief Lawal Oluwa, noted that buildings developed by its members still stand firm and can withstand the test of time. Oluwa said the country got it wrong when contractors jettisoned indigenous bricklayers and hired the services of Ghanaians and Beninese bricklayers.