The Lagos State Government has restated that only Government Agencies empowered by law are authorised to carry out physical planning enforcement exercises across the state.
Tayo Bamgbose-Martins, the commissioner for physical planning and urban development, gave the warning while reacting to media reports on the inauguration of an enforcement team by the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) during the Nigerian Institute of Builders’ (NIOB) conference held recently.
Bamgbose-Martins explained that the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law 2019 (as amended), vests the responsibility to regulate the built environment of the state in the ministry of physical planning and urban development and its agencies. He reiterated that the government had at no time ceded the responsibility to any group or individuals.
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He, therefore, urged stakeholders not to confuse the opportunity offered by the state government for partnership in whistleblowing with the mandate to enforce the law.
The commissioner stressed that whistleblowing was to maintain vigilance and report observed infractions in the built environment to the appropriate authorities, and not an avenue for any group (s) to take the law into their hands.
He warned that the state government would not condone any unlawful enforcement drive capable of unduly belabouring the people and reversing the gains recorded in making Lagos a 21st century economy.
