No fewer than 13 buildings said to be in close proximity to the Murtala International Airport, Lagos have been pulled down in a joint effort between the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Lagos State Government (LASG).
The buildings are situated on I.K. Peter Street, Ajao Estate.
Giving reasons for the demolition on Friday, the General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) Gbolahan Owodunni Oki, explained that the buildings lacked required approvals and while some were cited around Airport restricted areas some were cited on aviation fuel pipelines.
Oki who feared the havoc that a fire outbreak from the pipeline could cause to lives and properties, said the builders also lacked required documents as approvals for construction in that area.
According to the GM, the buildings were illegally constructed out of clear disregard for the requirements of extant laws.
Mentioning that the buildings had no planning permission and were built around the pipelines, he remarked that “nobody in his right thinking mind will go and buy a plot on a pipeline and build on the pipeline.”
He added that due consultations and communications have been made with enough time of about two years given to the occupants of the affected buildings to evacuate the structures.
The LABSCA boss lamented that building collapse in Lagos had been a subject of “attitudinal problem”, mentioning that the buildings were a national risk to the airport being “extremely close”, mentioning that no life of a Nigerian is worth being lost to the dangers that the citing of the buildings pose.
The GM who called on Lagosians to report cases of illegal structures to the government, said “turning a blind face to such constructions”, would bear untoward consequences with far-reaching losses.
On its part, the authority of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said the agency is happy Lagos State Government is stepping into the issue after several warnings in an attempt to stop the construction of buildings were not yielded to by those it called “encroachers”, who “stole” from the land of the Airport.
The General Manager, Business Development, FAAN, Mr. Ngwu Hycienth, applauded the partnership with LASBCA to bring normalcy and decency to the Airport environment.
He lamented that the Authorities of the Airport began to notice encroachment on its land in 2015, defying the standard rule that no building must be cited close to the perimeter fence.
