Breaking: Lagos begins demolition of illegal buildings on Banana Island

The Lagos State Government has begun demolition of illegal buildings on Banana Island on the order of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Over 10 buildings had been earmarked for demolition after Sanwo-Olu visited the Island where a seven-storey building under construction collapsed last week.

On Wednesday, officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) began demolition of buildings on Banana Island that are in contravention of the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning Development Law (2019).

The demolition team was led by the General Manager of LASBCA, Gbolahan Oki, and the Task Force Chairman, CSP Shola Jejeloye.

During his visit to the Island last Saturday, Sanwo-Olu condemned the illegal activities of developers hiding under agencies of the Federal Government to build illegal structures at Banana Island in Ikoyi area of the State.

He blamed the collapse of the recent seven-storey building on First Avenue, Banana Island on ‘reckless’ operations of some developers hiding under the pretense that Federal Government agencies had issued approvals to hoodwink unsuspecting property owners.

The governor said his administration would no longer tolerate the activities of greedy developers who reclaim land from water illegally in connivance with some government agencies.

Sanwo-Olu, who expressed his displeasure against illegal structures in Banana Island ordered the immediate demolition and sealing of many completed and uncompleted buildings with various building infractions and those that were not granted appropriate approvals for construction by agencies of government.

The Governor’s order was carried out immediately by officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, who immediately marked the affected buildings for demolition.