Repossess your abandoned property or lose them to govt, Sanwo-Olu warns

Owners of abandoned landed property and buildings scattered across Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, run the risk of losing such property to the Lagos State government.

There have been security concerns around the property within the Ikeja industrial estate. Some of these were once-thriving factories and warehouses owned and run by established organisations said to have shut down operations in Nigeria due to the harsh operating environment.

Across different other parts of Lagos metropolis, there are also abandoned property, owned by individuals and corporate organisations, some linked to legal tussle said to be harbouring people of questionable characters, some of whom, it was learnt are foreigners.

But speaking, Thursday, at the 7th Lagos Corporate Assembly, tagged “BOS meets business” Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu warned owners of such property to quickly repossess them or lose to the state.

Sanwo-Olu, who responding to a question bordering on the safety of Lagos amid rising insecurity in Nigeria,
said his administration is also concerned about this and is doing everything possible to ensure Lagos is safe.

The governor said his administration was already identifying such property across the Lagos landscape for purposes of publishing them and revoking their titles.

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“Sell your property if can’t develop them because they constitute a security risk. If you don’t, we will revoke the title and sell them off. If you have legal issues with them, get across to us and let’s see how they can jointly fast-track the process of resolving the issues.
We’re already identifying such property in the state,” said Sanwo-Olu.

They reassured the business community of continued support from the government to them their businesses to thrive, saying the state can’t be developed without their critical inputs.

Lola Akande, commissioner for commerce, industry and cooperatives, while delivering her welcome address, said the corporate assembly was designed to bring private sector players and the state government together to chart the way forward for businesses in Lagos.

According to her, the assembly over the years has achieved much for the state and its economy. Akande listed the harmonisation of inspection of workplaces by various regulatory agencies of the state government, as against individual inspections obtained in the past as well as the development of incentives and palliative schemes for businesses, especially MSMEs.

She said the state government also approved N1billion capital support for investment in the tourism and hospitality sector. This soft loan, she said is to enable the building of capacity to drive growth as the new frontier for job creation and economic prosperity of the state post-COVOD-19.

In his presentation, Tunde Sodade, managing director, Lekki Worldwide Investments Limited, disclosed that the first ship to herald the commencement of full operations of the Lekki Deep Sea will berth by December 2022.

Sodade, who spoke on the topic, “investment opportunities along Lekki free zone corridor”, invited the private operators and investors to take advantage of property development, oil and gas, manufacturing, logistical and transportation services which the Lekki free zone sitting on a 16,300-hectare land, offers.

Also speaking the event, Toki Mabogunje, president, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, (LCCI), decried Nigeria’s growing debts and the effect on the economy, where government uses a greater chunk of its revenue to service debts.

To reduce the country’s reliance on borrowing, the LCCI president advised the government to consider the commercialisation of its numerous abandoned and underutilised assets.

Mabogunje said there was the need for the government to identify all such assets scattered across the country and put them in a public assets register for proper valuation for assessment and ultimate commercialisation, to enable government to generate funds.

She also called for policy stability and consistency to enable businesses to plan their operations and thrive. She believed that the government can only up to its IGR if businesses thrive.