More homeless Lagosians may be on the way as FHA threatens fresh demolition

More Lagos residents currently living in their own houses as landlords may become homeless in the Festac area of the state if the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), owners of the sprawling festival town, makes good its threat of demolishing structures that have integrity concerns.

Oyetunde Ojo, the housing authority’s managing director, who gave this hint during an inspection of the on-going rehabilitation work in some parts of the town, disclosed that he would be visiting 6th Avenue to carry out demolition exercises on properties marked by the Authority, noting that “some of the marked buildings are showing visible signs of integrity failure and are on the verge of collapsing.”

He stressed that buildings showing visible signs of integrity failure on that Avenue will be demolished, advising the owners to carry out the demolition by themselves so that they can retain their land, because they risk losing the title if FHA undertakes the demolition.

Ojo disclosed that the Authority was on a mission to restore the lost glory of the festival town, stressing that “restoring the glory of Festac Town has gone beyond mere rhetoric and will be accompanied by visible actions.”

He noted that Festac Town is more than just an estate but a national monument, urging the residents to cooperate with the FHA by paying their statutory fees as the Authority needs these funds to operate independently of government appropriations.

He revealed that the Festac 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gates will be upgraded, illegal structures cleared, solar street lights installed, and palliative road repairs carried out, adding that the old first gate will be demolished while solar street lights will be installed on the stretch of 1st Avenue from the 1st gate to the junction of 11th Road,

In addition to clearing the median and keeping it clean, and conducting palliative repairs on the inward and outward roads of the 1st gate, the managing director said there will be “repairs of the 3.2km stretch of 2nd Avenue, which will cost about N7 billion; the FHA will seek to influence this through the Federal Government, though palliative jobs will be done to keep it in use.”