Sanwo-Olu orders the destruction of houses on Banana Island and blames the Federal Housing Ministry and NIWA

Three two-story houses on Ikoyi’s upscale Banana Island have been ordered to be torn down by Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Sanwo-Olu gave the order on Saturday, when the spot where a seven-story building collapsed two weeks ago was being looked at.

NAN says that the governor ordered the building at 310 Close to be torn down because it was built without permission.

At 306 Close, the governor told the owners of two buildings next to each other to tear them down because they were built on water and power lines.

The governor said that the people who wanted to make quick money were to blame for what happened on April 12.

Sanwo-Olu also said that the Banana Island line was extended with the help of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).

He also said that the building officers in Lagos were not doing their jobs well and that those who were found to be at fault would be punished.

“We have told all of the building sites on Banana Island to stop working, not just this one.

“You have seen how far the building has grown without permission into the water. You can see that we are not even near the original queue for Banana Island.

“Both the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and NIWA have given us some extra time. “These are the responsible federal agencies,” Sanwo-Olu said.

After the most recent failure, Abiodun Oyefusi, the second candidate for governor in Lagos for the Labour Party (LP), asked Sanwo-Olu to step down for “incompetence.”

In November 2021, dozens of workers were killed when a 21-story building under construction on Gerrard Road in Ikoyi fell down.

Chief Magistrate O. A. Komolafe, who was in charge of the investigation, said that Lagos agencies were to blame because the building’s density and distance from the site were in clear violation of rules.