Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Oluyinka Olumide, has said that 80 percent of buildings in Ibeju Lekki are unapproved.
In January, the Lagos State Government unveiled plans for a massive crackdown on illegal buildings in 2024.
Since the announcement, the state government has gone ahead to seal and also pull down illegal structures across the state.
One of such steps taken by the government in clamping down on unauthorized buildings was the sealing of four properties in Ikoyi in April.
Speaking with journalists Olumide explained the necessary steps that need to be taken before approval can be given for a building.
“Just last week Thursday and Friday, myself and the team were in the Ibeju Lekki and Epe axis and you would agree with me that anybody passing through that corridor would see a lot of estates marked,” Olumide said.
“We went there, and I can tell you that from what we saw, over 80 per cent of them do not have approval.
“The procedure to get approval is first to get the planning information, as to what those areas have been zoned for.
“In this case, what we have is agricultural land, and people now go to their families to buy agricultural land. Of course, those lands would be sold because those families do not know the use such land would be put to.
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“The next thing to do is the fence permit. If you missed the earlier information on not knowing the area zoning, at the point of getting the fence permit, you would be able to detect what the area is zoned for. After that, the layout permits a large expense of land follows.”
The commissioner noted that a layout permit cannot be obtained if it is not zoned for the purpose it was designed for.
