LASG defends Oworonshoki demolition, targets Makoko

The Lagos State Government has said that it engaged relevant stakeholders in the Oworonshoki area of the state before carrying out demolition in the community, adding that the Makoko community would be next for the removal of illegal buildings.

The problem with reports that residents of Oworonshoki trooped out on Monday to protest the demolition that rocked their buildings on Saturday.

Then aggrieved occupants, who lamented loss of shelter and property to the exercise, blocked the Third Mainland Bridge as they called in the government to halt the demolition and compensate the victims.

However, the Permanent Secretary, Office of Urban and Regional Development, Gbolahan Oki, while addressing a press conference on Tuesday evening, said the state government had, for the past three years, held stakeholders’ meetings with the residents on the need for them to regularise their building approvals.

We don’t just go to demolish; due process was followed. The buildings demolished were dilapidated and cracked, they just painted them. People also complained that those who rob on the Third Mainland Bridge run back to the shanties,” he said.

Oki also noted that the government was set to remove illegal structures built under high-tension cables in the Makoko community, Yaba.

Expressing the desire of the state government to ensure the safety of the citizens, Oki said the government would continue the enforcement activity at the Makoko community by removing illegal structures in order to prevent looming dangers.

We have held several meetings with people living in Makoko because many of the shanties are built under high-tension cables. We have told them to move, but they have refused. They are even extending to the middle of the Third Mainland Bridge and we have warned them several times,” Oki said.

He added, “As a government, we don’t just start removing buildings; we are working with their community leaders in clearing illegal structures under high-tension powerlines in the Makoko community. If any of those cables fall and anything happens to the people, the blame will be on the government. The lives of the people are more important. They are also encroaching on the Third Mainland Bridge.”

Meanwhile, one of the leaders of the protest, Ayoyinka Oni, said the demolition notice “is an illegal one.”

He queried the decision to evict people who had occupied the Oworonshoki area for decades, “on the excuse that they don’t have a building permit.”

He said, “About 80 per cent of the buildings in Lekki don’t have permits, over 60 per cent of the buildings in the country don’t have building permits. Is the government going to take them down because of that? A community that the government abandoned and refused to develop, now that it has shown prospects, some elites have interests and desire to turn the place into an elite villa. You now want to drive low-class people out of their properties so you can pave the way for the elite who want to make money.”

Another resident, Ismail Ogunsola, sought compensation for the victims.

“The issue is not just about permits, and then you demolish people’s houses. What are the alternatives for the thousands of residents displaced? We are also Lagos residents and deserve a decent living, but where are the affordable houses? Governance must be inclusive,” Ogunsola said.