Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, has advised artisans to avoid approved building projects without the supervision of the Lagos State Building Control Agency.
Gatekeepers News reports that Sanwo-Olu gave this advice while speaking at a stakeholder’s engagement themed “Achieving Building Compliance: A Task for All Stakeholders,” organised by LASBCA on Friday in the State.
Sanwo-Olu who was represented by his Special Adviser on E-GIS and Planning Matters, Dr. Babatunde Olajide, asserted that the stakeholders’ engagement was important because artisans were important stakeholders who could checkmate site fractions.
Olajide said, “When buildings collapse, apart from the loss of lives, the artisans also lose their means of livelihood and credibility. They shun projects without approval.
“Hence, any project that had approval but was not being supervised by LASBCA officials should be avoided.
“Please rise against injustice, don’t keep quiet when things are being done wrong on site because if you keep quiet and the building collapses a lot of people may die.”
He further called for collaboration against environmental infractions causing flooding.
The General Manager of LASBCA, Gbolahan Oki, said collaboration of artisans was needed for the agency to adequately supervise projects to tame building collapse.
Oki said, “Without all of you seated here, what we call building construction is completely incomplete.
“All the artisans are extremely important in the construction industry, and not just this sector, but in various others.”
Oki, who spoke in Yoruba, said contractors, developers or property owners who want to cut corners usually used artisans because they were always present on site, adding that no bad business could happen except artisans agreed.
He added, “Artisans can prevent the menace of building collapse if they insist things must be done right, quality standards upheld and they report infractions to LASBCA.”
On his part, the General Manager, Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, Kehinde Osinaike, advised residents to always approach his agency from the moment they plan to purchase land and before construction for proper guidance.
Osinaike said, “In this sector, we are the first point of call, even before you purchase that land, it is important that you come to the town planning office for planning advice, where we are going to tell you what kind of building you can build on a particular piece of land, what height, density and units you can build on it.
“It is not everywhere that residents could build anything because different areas were delineated for different purposes, such as commercial, residential or mixed settlements.”
Also, the Secretary, the Nigerian Institute of Building, Mubarak Gbajabiamila, warned artisans to avoid helping developers or property owners to rehabilitate defective buildings without permission or supervision of LASBCA to avert disaster.
The event had masons, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, welders, painters, and other artisans in attendance.
