LAGOS TO REMOVE STRUCTURES UNDER POWER LINES IN MAKOKO COMMUNITY
Read Time:2 Minute, 12 Second
By: Sefiu Ajape
The Lagos State Government has announced plans to remove illegal structures built under high tension cables in the Makoko community, Yaba, as part of ongoing efforts to safeguard residents and prevent looming dangers.
The move follows recent enforcement activities by the state, through the Office of Urban and Regional Planning, which saw the demolition of dilapidated buildings and shanties at the Oworonshoki end of the Third Mainland Bridge in Kosofe Local Government Area.
According to the government, several stakeholders’ meetings have been held with Makoko residents, a densely populated waterfront community, over the continuous construction of shanties under high tension cables. Authorities also expressed concern about illegal extensions of the settlement to areas under the Third Mainland Bridge.
Permanent Secretary, Office of Urban and Regional Development, Arc. Gbolahan Oki, emphasized that the government’s priority is citizen safety.
“We have held several meetings with people living in Makoko because many of the shanties are built under high tension cables. We have told them to move but they have refused. They are even extending to the middle of the third mainland bridge and we have warned them several times,” Oki said.
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He continued: “As a government, we don’t just start removing buildings, we are working with their community leaders in clearing illegal structures under high tension power lines in the Makoko community. If any of those cables falls and anything happens to the people, the blame will be on the government. The lives of the people are more important. They are also encroaching on the third mainland bridge.”
Oki stressed that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration remains committed to protecting lives in the state.
“We want to work but some people don’t want us to work but we are going to do it. What is bad, is bad. Some people are making money hiding under these bad attitudes but as a people we just have to change,” he said.
On the recent demolitions in Oworonshoki that triggered protests and the blockage of the Third Mainland Bridge by residents, Oki clarified that the government had engaged stakeholders for over three years on the need to regularise their building approvals.
He revealed that only two residents complied despite the amnesty period granted. The affected structures, he said, were defective and unsafe.
“We don’t just go to demolish, due process was followed. The buildings demolished were dilapidated and cracked, they just painted them. People also complained that those that rob on the third mainland bridge run back to the shanties,” Oki added.
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