The Lagos State Government on Friday began the demolition of distressed buildings on Lagos Island.
The move is as a result of the collapsed three-storey building at Ita-Faji area of Lagos Islands in which 20 people, majorly school children were killed.
Officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA, backed by policemen stormed Freeman Street, Lagos Island around 9:50am and immediately began demolition.
A three-Storey building at 60 Freeman Street was being demolished as at 10.00am on Friday.
Acting General Manager, LASBCA, Omotayo Fakoluju said the demolition order was given by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and that the building was a distressed one.
He said owner of the building had gone to court to challenge government’s plan to demolish it, but that the court gave judgment in favour of the government which informed the demolition of the edifice.
Fakoluju disclosed that Ambode had given the agency the go ahead to demolish 80 buildings on Lagos Island before the end of this month, adding that the agency would carry out the demolition in phases.
He said the agency would be demolishing three buildings today (Friday), saying that after the Freeman Street demolition, the agency would go to Smith and Massey Streets to pull down two more structures.
The Acting GM, also disclosed that 20 of the 80 buildings earmarked for demolition were on Adeniji Adele, saying that the agency would no longer look back but ensure that distressed buildings were pulled down immediately.
He disclosed that lots of buildings on the Island had been marked for demolition, but that some of them were subject of litigation which prevented government from going ahead to pull them down immediately.
“Over 80 buildings are ready for removal but we shall be removing them in phases. In buildings which are subject of litigation, we try to evacuate the occupants from the buildings so that there will not be loss of lives,” he said.
Fakoluju also disclosed that about 150 distressed buildings had been identified on Lagos Island, out of which 30 had been demolished in the last one year.
