FOLLOWING the fireworks that rocked the Jankara/Dosunmu area of Lagos Island last week, the Lagos State Government has directed that inventory of buildings within the neighborhood be taken, ostensibly, to assess their level of integrity or otherwise.
And any building found to fail the integrity test, risked demolition, an official of the state government, who preferred anonymity, had said. As at last weekend, all the affected buildings in the explosion were being demolished.
Although, while unconfirmed source put the number of the buildings that should go through the test at 12, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Olutoyin Ayinde, a Town Planner, who spoke with The Guardian, said the first thing to do is to clear the debris within the area.
According to him, after clearing the site, the surrounding structures still standing would be tested to ascertain their structural integrity. “It is the results that would determine the next step. Government is also going to take inventory of the area to ensure that residential accommodations are not within the congested areas characterized by commercial activities”, said Ayinde, assuring that owners of the buildings that may eventually pass the test has nothing to fear.
Aftermath of the explosion in a warehouse that rocked Lagos Island last week, where six persons reportedly killed, and more than 30 injured, reactions have continued to trail the incident.
From professional bodies, came a flurry of condemnations, angst and disappointment.
The disappointment was informed partly by what some analysts described as nonchalant attitude by the government for its inability to enforce control on conversion of buildings to other purposes, as witnessed by the last week incident.
According to some of them, though, confirmed by government officials, that the affected warehouse were purely residential, with their ground floors accommodating shops.
Besides, some of them were said to have converted the first floors to either shops or stores, as some of the owners and tenants occupy the upper floors of some of the buildings.
Reacting to the development, National President, Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Mr. Chuks Omeife and the National Publicity Secretary of the institute, Mr. Kunle Awobodu, regretted that government has failed to properly implement planning law, especially, in the area of conversion of building for other usage.
According to Omeife, the site of explosion in Lagos Island is aberration, noting that most of the houses there were meant for residential, but converted into warehouses, shops and stores.
He noted that if there was no political will to do what is necessary, either by the federal, state, or local government, Nigerians should expect disasters, either through building collapse, flooding, or fire outbreak.
The NIOB president, therefore, urged the National Assembly to hasten the passage of the building code, adding that it is the only instrument that can curb the nonchalant attitudes of various governments’ towards the effective implementation of planning laws.
“We implore the National Assembly to hasten the passing of the building code. Enough attention is required at this point in time, so that legal instrument that can allow punishment for infractions is in place”, he said, adding that it is the only way to stem the tide of these unfortunate developments.
He also asked Lagos government to carry out integrity test on the adjoining buildings to ensure if they can stand the test of time, or that they would need to be demolished.
To Awobodu, It is the believe of the institute that attention should be given to the illegal change of use, urging that relevant agencies and departments should be alive to their responsibilities.
“We have been clamouring for proper implementation of the relevant building laws without necessarily making things difficult for the people. If attention is given to any development at the conception stages, this kind of calamity would be avoided”, he counseled, noting that in the already built-up areas, such as Lagos Island, workable solution should be adopted.
The President, African Union of Architects (AUA), Chief Tokunbo Omisore, who described the incident as “unfortunate”, said the ongoing campaign by the architects on city changing, will address the issue.
According to Omisore, AUA is not only concerned itself with housing provision, but also on how to change our cities for better living.
“Our mission in AUA is beyond provision of housing for the people. The objective of city changers is to ensure that provision of infrastructure, or urban development/redevelopment put into consideration, the needs of the people. If we develop our cities without developing its peoples would amount to nothing. So, we need to join hands with government to ensure that development is not concentrate on the cities alone, but also in the rural areas”, noting that migration from periphery is the cause of congestion that caused the explosion.
Experts believed that development control is a potent tool for city management and that it ensures that the continual growth and management of a city can be such that make for orderliness, improved city image, healthy and aesthetics.
It also ensures that the environmental challenges as a result of city growth can be reduced to tolerable levels.
In metropolitan Lagos, development control requires special skill as a result of the daily problems the authorities are confronted with, which is attributed to the sheer size and rate of increase of these settlements and the complexities of the tasks involved.
The problem, according to them, ranges from uncontrolled change of use of property, non-compliance with space standards and approved design, unguided and ineffective enforcement of building regulations.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
