The Lagos State government has warned against attacks on its officials, as hoodlums assaulted the monitoring team of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), while sealing a construction site for infractions.
This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday in Lagos by LASBCA spokesman, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem.
The statement said the agency’s monitoring officers were attacked on Wednesday by a property owner and hoodlums at a building under construction at Nanka Avenue, in Alimosho Local Government Area, Lagos.
It said the property owner was served a “Contravention and Stop Work Notice” by LASBCA District Office, at Ikotun/Igando, Alimosho, earlier in June for commencing construction without requisite approvals.
“A Seal-Up Notice was to be served on the building for non-compliance on the same building, when the building owner mobilised some hoodlums numbering about 20 and unleashed terror on the officials.
“The hoodlums disrupted the Seal-Up exercise and manhandled the officers. The three officials were beaten to stupor, held for hours in inhumane conditions,” said the statement.
It added that the officials were forced to repaint the building marked for contravening the state’s laws before the intervention of LASBCA enforcement team and the police, who rescued them.
The statement said consequently, LASBCA’s General Manager, Gbolahan Oki, led an enforcement exercise to the area, in collaboration with the Special Operations Team and Men of the State Taskforce, to effect the arrests and reseal the building.
Mr Oki said the agency was set up to ensure that constructions conformed with global best practices, National Building Codes and the State Urban and Regional Planning law 2019 as amended.
He added that the agency was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring quality assurance in building construction, to prevent collapse and haphazard development.
He said the property owner and the hoodlums who attacked the officials had been charged to court for prosecution, in accordance with the state’s Building Regulation laws and other related offences.
The General Manager said LASBCA’s officials were working in line with the agency’s mandate to achieve a better and well-planned environment.
“We are more concerned about the safety of the people in making sure that their abode is safe and secured,” he said.
He reaffirmed the governments’ zero tolerance to building collapse in the state and the need to build right.
He, however, warned that anybody who assaulted officials of the state government while on duty would face the full wrath of the law.
Mr Oki appealed to all building owners and developers in the state to comply with the relevant laws and obtain their Building Plan Permit, Letter of Authorisation to Commence Construction from LASBCA, before embarking on construction of any structure. (NAN)
Source: Premiumtimes Ng
