IKOYI BUILDING COLLAPSE: TOWN PLANNING AGENCIES DERELICTION OF STATUTORY DUTIES

We could go on and on, we could give all manner of excuses, the fact of the matter is, in this Ikoyi building collapse and most other building collapses in Lagos State in specific there is negligence from the sector of the built environment with the statutory responsibility to be the general overseer and somewhat the gatekeeper, this sector is the town planning component of the built environment professional framework.

Taking a view of the law, pursuant to Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law, Cap U2, the Lagos State Building Control Agency Regulations, 2019 in section 2 and 3 specified that a developer gives the building control agency notice of intention to commence construction and similarly submit relevant planning permit documents. Furthermore, section 4 (I) of the regulation specifies that “an Inspector of the Agency or authorised officer shall inspect the construction site”. Pertinent to note further, the regulation in Section 8 (I) specifies that “Building Stage Certification shall be carried out by inspectors of the Agency…”. More importantly, the regulation stated in Section 8 (2) that “on completion of each stage of building construction, the developer shall obtain a stage certificate of satisfactory execution…” Section 8 (3) also mandated site inspection by the building control agency to the effect that “a copy of the signed logbook to be kept by the inspector of the Agency…”

The pertinent question is, if the professionals in the Ministry Physical Planning and Urban Development, Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority and the Lagos State Building Control Agency had performed their statuary responsibilities, would there have been the Ikoyi building collapse incident? Different excuses could be given, among which would include political interference in the physical development process in the State, rightly so but the question is, does this justify the abandonment of statutory duties?  

It could also be put forward that the incident was a result of developers’ greediness or negligence of other professionals or compromised decisions or even nature, however, if the relevant physical development and building control agencies were forthright the incident could have been nipped in the bud. The LASBCA Regulations 2019 Section 23 (2) stated clearly that “The Agency shall periodically probe all building developments within the State to identify defective and distressed structures” and in the same manner, the LASPPPA Regulations 2019 Section 28 stated that “As from the commencement of these Regulations, the Authority shall monitor compliance with Approvals issued by it”, hence it would not be out of place to state that if these functions had been carried out the Ikoyi development could have been stopped and ultimately demolished before the unfortunate collapse. But it was not so because there was the negligence of statutory duties by concerned agencies.

Tpl. Adeleke Akinpelu, MNIM, AITD, MNES, MGARP, RTP

Principal Consultant, SMC Professional Services, Lagos State.