22nd June, 2012
The Lagos State Government has vowed to enforce the law prohibiting illegal installation of masts, base stations and towers by telecom operators in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
The General Manager, Lagos State Urban Furniture Regulatory Unit, UFRU, Mr. Joe Igbokwe said henceforth, it would be illegal to install masts, base stations and towers in Lagos without permission from the agency.
Igbokwe said the state took the decision in order to forestall death of persons and loss of property to collapsed masts and towers, which he said had become a re-curring issue in the state.
He gave instances of recorded deaths and loss of property, resulting from collapsed masts and towers in the state, especially the most recent one that happened at Idumagbo area of Lagos, where two people sustained injuries from a collapsed tower belonging to a bank in the area.
“With the advent of Urban Furniture Regulatory Unit, it is now illegal to build masts, towers, base stations and other related structures without permit in Lagos State. It is therefore mandatory for all telecoms operators or intending developers of telecommunications structure to apply to UFRU and obtain permit prior to carrying out any construction work on site,” Igbokwe said.
He added that in line with the law establishing UFRU, telecoms operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), banks, builders of masts and other user companies were now mandated to forward the addresses and locations of all telecoms infrastructure in the state to the unit for better monitoring and determination of the integrity of the structure.
According to him, UFRU had been mandated by the Lagos State Government to regulate the placement of urban furniture, including telecommunications antennae, masts, towers on land and buildings in Lagos, and to approve and supervise the location, position, dimension, appearance, display and manner in which urban furniture shall be fixed to land.
To enforce compliance, Igbokwe said UFRU shall from time to time, issue contravention notice, stop work order notice and demolition and evacuation notice.
He said any permit granted in respect of any telecommunications structure shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of issue of the permit, and that holders of such expired development permit shall apply for its re-validation.
Addressing the issue of collapsed and dilapidated masts and towers, Igbokwe said henceforth, all collapsed or dilapidated structures shall be subjected to a new development permit before re-construction shall be allowed to take place.
He stated that all obligations attached to a development permit under the regulation of UFRU, would be carried out by the developer.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga