Building collapse: Lagos Assembly to address menace with laws, regulations

The Lagos State House of Assembly during the week held a
stakeholders meeting on three bills and regulations designed to
address incessant building collapse in the state.

The bills and regulations are Urban and Regional Planning and
Development Amendment Bill, 2015, Lagos State Building Control
Regulations, 2018 and Building Construction and Development
Regulation 2018.

Present at the Public Hearing were members of the Nigerian
Institute of Town Planners, Nigerian Institute of Engineers,
builders, academics, consultants, civil servants and concerned
individuals.

In his overview, Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Sanai
Agunbiade, said that the amendments intended in the law and the
regulations would standardise and enhance building and planning in
the state “to make all ugly incidents of building collapse a thing
of the past.”

Agunbiade said that the stakeholder’s meeting was in respect of
the Building Control Regulations, 2018 and Planning Permit
Regulations to awaken consciousness of everybody as regards
building development.

While the speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa who was represented
by his deputy, Hon. Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni said that the amendment
to the existing regulations were important, adding that the recent
cases of building collapse in Lagos Island, where school children
lost their lives is a tragedy that was preventable if every
stakeholder had been careful.

In his contribution, the Vice Chairman, Nigerian Institute of
Town Planners, NITP Mr Lukman Oshodi, said that the ranking of
Lagos as city is relatively low with respect to building
regulations.

Professor Martins Dada, a building expert, called for adequate
planning and proper supervision of buildings in the state.

The state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban
Development, Mr. Rotimi Ogunleye said that the executive bill was
transmitted to the House in 2017, adding that “when we have a
substantive law, there must be regulations to implement it.

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