Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babjide Sanwo-Olu says all state officials found culpable in the collapsed 7-storey building on Banana Island and other illegal construction there would be appropriately sanctioned.
Governor Sanwo-Olu reiterated this in Ikoyi, during an on the spot assessment of the collapsed structure and other buildings under construction.
The Governor had earlier set up a seven man committee to investigate the cause of the collapsed 7 storey building from which a yet to be identified corpse was recovered
and given a stop work order on all building construction on Banana Island
Lamenting that the original boundary marked out in the high brow estate had been breached by irresponsible developers, Governor Sanwo-Olu said all the properties abutting the waters were built without recourse to the Lagos State Government as the developers claimed to have gotten approval from the Federal Ministry of works and Housing and the National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA.
“The illegality is real, we have had to replace monitoring staff because the excuses that they don’t have access is not tenable, this is total recklessness, and we will make a strong point out of this place and all around Banana and other developments that we have. It is heartbreaking each time we have to go through these and it shows sometimes how irresponsible those developers and some of our citizens that just want to make quick money are. And of course our own officers who are also not alive to their responsibilities.We have had to change staff here and there so that we can bring forward a robust and very strong monitoring offices. But we believe that we are still far from; we are still short on it I must say, but we will continue to do what we need to do to ensure that we keep the lives of our residents safe at all times” he said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu ordered the immediate removal of a number of buildings across the estate and personally supervised the marking of some of the buildings for demolition.