80% of buildings in Lekki, Epe corridor have no government approval–Commissioner

The Lagos State government has revealed that 80% of buildings around the Ibeju Lekki and Epe corridor do not have government approval.

This was made known by the Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Oluyinka Olumide, during a recent interview with newsmen.

This is coming at a time when the Lagos State government is facing a lot of criticism for the way and manner it has been handling the demolition of buildings and shanties across the state.

Olumide said despite the rigorous procedures involved in securing government approval, property developers and owners are still circumventing due process.

Olumide said, “Just last week Thursday and Friday, myself and the team were in the Ibeju Lekki and Epe axis and you would agree with me that anybody passing through that corridor would see a lot of estates marked. We went there, and I can tell you that from what we saw, over 80 percent of them do not have approval.

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“The procedure to get approval is first to get the planning information, as to what those areas have been zoned for. In this case, what we have is agricultural land, and people now go to their families to buy agricultural land. Of course, those lands would be sold because those families do not know the use such land would be put to.

“The next thing to do is the fence permit. If you missed the earlier information on not knowing the area zoning, at the point of getting the fence permit, you would be able to detect what the area is zoned for. After that, the layout permits a large expense of land follows.”

Olumide noted that a layout permit cannot be obtained if it is not zoned for the purpose it was designed for or for the purpose it was being requested.

He added, “So, you can see all these layers, but people still go ahead to start advertising. Some have even gone to the extent of displaying the sizes they want to sell. Imagine someone in the diaspora who wants to send money without any knowledge. Then, no approval is eventually gotten. Even if they pass the assignment and the survey to them, we would not grant the individual permit, because that area is not zoned for that purpose.’’