.Cautions against conversion of residential buildings to commercial use
Lagos State Government has restated its commitment to safeguarding and protecting school children in the state.
To this end, the state, through the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), in partnership with relevant stakeholders, met to address the current situation in line with the state’s principles of safeguarding and child protection policy.
Executive Secretary of the DSVA, TitilolaVivour-Adeniyi, who spoke at a review of the joint visitation exercise of the Lagos State Task Force on Child Safeguarding and Protection in the state, said the meeting was convened to review the report that was conducted last year to ascertain the level of compliance of the policy of safeguarding and child protection in schools.
Also, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Toyin Oke-Osanyintolu, called for more cooperation of stakeholders with the government to ensure safety of school children.
The Permanent Secretary said the meeting would allow the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to identify the problems observed during the school engagements and proffer solutions and recommendations.
She said that the visitation aimed to assess compliance with Lagos State safeguarding and child protection policies in public schools.
In another development, the state government, yesterday, warned residents against the unwholesome practice of illegally converting residential buildings to commercial premises.
Besides, it cautioned against undue erection of attachments to buildings.
The state’s Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Oluyinka Olumide, who gave the warning, maintained that the state would not tolerate the spate of lawlessness witnessed in commercial centres, such as Lagos Island, Ikeja and Iyana-Ipaja, where shops are illegally extended with sheds and steel external stairways in a bid to attract customers.
He gave two weeks’ ultimatum for owners of illegal extensions to remove them, adding that failure to comply with the government would commence demolition.
The commissioner further said those that erected structures within the Right of Way (RoW) of Power lines, canals and pipelines should prepare for a massive enforcement by the ministry.
He also promised that the government would stop at nothing to ensure a livable and sustainable building industry in the state.
