Federal secretariat: Hope rises as FG, Lagos agree to resolve lingering dispute

The federal and Lagos State governments have raised hope of concerned real estate professionals, home buyers and sundry stakeholders as the two governments have reached agreement to resolve the lingering dispute that has impeded the redevelopment of the old federal secretariat complex in Ikoyi, Lagos and allowed it to waste in the midst of scarcity.

The agreement was one of the major outcomes of a meeting between the vising Ahmed Dangiwa, minister of housing and urban development and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos, during a working visit of the minister to Lagos last Thursday.

The federal secretariat is one the many federal government’s properties that were sold out to private buyers by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration after they were abandoned following the relocation of the federal capital to Abuja in 1991 by the military president, Badamasi Babangida.

Resort International Limited, a subsidiary of Wale Babalakin’s Bicourtney, which bought the property, wanted to redevelop the complex into a residential building, targeting about 50 apartment units that could have provided homes for over 300 people, given about six persons per family.

Resort had started work on the complex before a dispute ensued between it and Lagos State government which requested the company to apply for a fresh redevelopment permit among other demands.

This was the basis for which Dangiwa and Sanwo-Olu agreed to set up a tripartite committee comprising the ministry, Lagos State government and the Resort International Limited, to review and assess all positions in order to solve the lingering dispute in a mutually beneficial way to all the parties involved.

Dangiwa appealed to the governor for common ways to resolve the lingering land problems with the federal government in Lagos state which, he said, has been a concern, emphasising the significance of coming together to consolidate on the existing relationship between the Federal Government and Lagos State being the former seat of the government

“Your Excellency, the Federal Government and the Lagos State are partners in development and land administration. It is important for us to work together in the spirit of cooperation and understanding” he said, expressing confidence that addressing the problems collaboratively will further strengthn the relationship between the two tiers of government, enhance urban development, and improve the lives of Lagosians.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has given a one-month ultimatum to developers on the shoreline in Lagos to come up for regularisation or risk revocation and demolition. Dangiwa, who issued the ultimatum during an inspection tour of the Lagos Lagoon Estates and shoreline.

The Minister stated that developments on the Lagos shoreline must be orderly and in line with existing laws and regulations, adding that his meeting with the Lagos State governor provided a common agreement that the Federal Government and Lagos State government will work together to ensure there is disciplined development on the Lagos Shoreline.

“The Federal government is taking stock of its assets and landed properties with a view to having proper documentation of its assets spread across the country”, he said.

Dangiwa, who took a boat tour with his team and officials of the Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority to see things for himself, explained that, what they found on the Lagoon Shoreline in Lagos was alarming.

According to him, the shoreline is littered with irregular developments where people carved some areas, sand filled it and built without first obtaining Federal Government title and necessary documentations. “There is no room for Haphazard developments on the Lagos Shoreline. We are working with Lagos State to fix these anomalies”, Dangiwa said.

However, the ministry noted that the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has the right to issuance and administration of title on shorelines in accordance with the Land (Title Vesting) Act 1975, adding that through Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority, it grants permit to dredging along the shoreline, while the State Government has the control over physical development on the shoreline.

He emphasised that the federal government will not tolerate such haphazard development and irregular activities on the shoreline, hence the ultimatum.