Residents and property owners at FESTAC town, Lagos, have been thrown into panic following plans by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to demolish 677 illegal houses while 744 will be partially demolished over infringement by the developers.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the affected areas included Phase 2, FESTAC Town, Amuwo-Odofin area of Lagos STATE, where it was said to have been constructed without any approval.
This was disclosed by the FHA South-West Zonal Manager, Mr. Akintola Olagbemiro, during a visit to the affected area to assess level of disregard to building code and the enviroment by property owners and developers.
Mr. Olagbemiro stated that despite letters and stakeholders’ meetings, the developers have continued to build on the swampy land without meeting the requirements.
“After so many years of trying to get into the property belonging to FHA, which we labelled as FESTAC Phase 2; there has been encroachment and illegal development and it is turning the place into a slum. We are trying to see how best we can resolve it and make people live in a more serene environment.”
“Unfortunately, there have been cases of illegal developers and land grabbers.”
In a similar manner, the Deputy General Manager, FHA, Urban and Regional Planning, Southwest, Francisca Michael-James, stated: “We have given the residents several notices but to our surprise, works are still going on, without regard to the law”.
“Now, we have the permission of our management and we will ask for security back up and start enforcement. We will start removing structures from the roads and those on pipelines set back.”
“We will also remove the buildings constructed after the stakeholders’ meetings, where we agreed that everyone should wait until we are done with our assessment but some of them continued to build and concluded that we will regularise, but regularisation is not automatic. Now, the ones that did not meet regularisation will have to go.”
On the punishment for contravenors, she said: “In the law, if we demolish, we are supposed to penalise the owner of the building and charge for the fees for the cost of carrying out the operation. Assuming any of the buildings collapsed, the landlord will be charged for manslaughter but the first point of call will be pointing accusing fingers at the agency so, as to avoid that, that’s why we want to carry out the enforcement. The enforcement will be done soon.”
The declaration has thrown both the tenants and landlords into panic and confusion as some of the residents stated that the affected landlords will lose their property while the tenants will be displaced to look for new accommodations because of the demolition.