By Nasir Kura
The Lagos state Governor-elect Mr Babajide Sanwo -Olu said his administration would implement a robust urban renewal programme as part of efforts to address the incessant cases building collapse in the state.
The governor-elect said this Monday while fielding questions from State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Sanwo-Olu, who was accompanied by the Deputy Governor-elect, Mr Femi Hamzat, the urban renewal policy has always posed a challenge for successive governments in the state.
He said the incoming administration in the state would approach the urban renewal initiative with a human face by earning the trust of the people to implement the programme instead of clamping down on their property.
Asked what he would do differently on the issue of building collapse, Sanwo-Olu said the starting point is proper enumeration of the obsolete buildings in the state and entering into agreement with their owners, especially those that were constructed when the state was a colony under the British government.
“The recent building collapse is an unfortunate incident, even when I was serving in government, I used to be the Vice Chairman on issues that had to do with building collapse. It was about ten years ago, which is what led to us creating an agency called Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), it was meant to begin to identify structures well ahead before issues like this begin to happen.
“But it’s an unfortunate thing, extremely very unfortunate and it also means that we expect it would happen again. So imagine the current government had started very quickly the integrity testing of the properties in the state. You know Lagos is a part of the old colony of Lagos, so you will expect to see houses that are over a century old and in those numbers, we need to be sincere to ourselves and we need to be real.
“Lagos truly really needs regeneration, especially Lagos Island and that was part of the things we promised on the campaign train. So, it’s to have a conversation right round all these with families and we’ll see the kind of redevelopment that is important as it’s built on in a lot of other big cities like Lagos.
“The issue of urban renewal has been a big challenge to Lagos, over the years, it’s been a challenge to successive governments. We are bringing things that will be different from what others have done that will make Lagos what it’s supposed to be. It’s really not that it’s been a challenge, but because we have not been able to see it through to the end.
“When you want to take people’s properties and you want to regenerate, they must first see a sincerity of purpose – what are the additional plans that you have for them? Before you could regenerate, there must be a stop gap – in the next two to three years what are the plans you have for them? And you need to do what we call proper enumeration. Once you can enumerate properly and determine who are the original owners, and you sit and have an agreement, then the regeneration will start,” he said.
