Less than 25% of property in Lagos have no approval

The Lagos State government says that less than 25 percent of property in the state have approval, meaning that more than 75 percent of the buildings in the state are standing on borrowed time, as they risk ‘angry bulldozer’ anytime if nothing is done to regularise their status.

“The percentage of buildings with approval in the state is low; we want people to look at it and address these challenges—the legal and financial framework. We carried out some study on the level of approvals and found out that, compared to other states, approval in Lagos is below 25 percent,” Oluyinka Olumide, the state’s commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, said.

He noted that in other states, the approval level is between 18 and 28 percent with the highest estimated at 32 percent.

The commissioner noted that the state has a lot of challenges to contend with, adding that there were plans in place to ensure stakeholders in the state complied with required regulations before putting up structures.

He highlighted some of the buildings that were due for demolition in the state, including those without approval, structures and buildings under high-tension wires on drainages and gas lines, among others.

The commissioner spoke at a press briefing on an upcoming summit with the theme, ‘Rethinking Lagos: A New Vision for a Regional and Integrated Megacity’ scheduled for October 15 and 16, 2024 at Eko Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos.

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He highlighted the essence of the summit, saying that it was aimed at positioning the state to enjoy the status of a megacity against the various challenges. He pointed out that it would be a unique one “to map out what we want to achieve and back it up.”

According to him, the percentage of buildings with approval in the state, comprising 3,577 square kilometres of land and 75 percent water, coupled with a mass influx of people, which are creating threats to the state, remained low.

“There is a need to look at it and address these challenges, the legal framework and financial framework; there is also a need for the state to make plans to meet up with the challenges. That is why we are having the summit. We want a bottom-to-top approach; we want to go to the grassroots,” he said.

He stressed that the summit plans to go from lower order to higher order, disclosing that what the state now runs is a bottom-up approach. “The percentage of building approval is low; we need to meet to reach out to the people,” he said.

The Badagry master plan, he noted, has so far been distorted, saying that a portion of land reserved for waste management in the area had been converted to residential buildings.

He affirmed that approval couldn’t be granted for buildings that were on any land that falls under committed acquisition, declaring that buildings found on the wasteland would go.