Sanwo-Olu will regenerate structures in Lagos – Jeje

Former Commissioner for Housing in Lagos State, Hon. Bosun Jeje is confident that the incoming governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, would regenerate buildings in Lagos Island to curb the incessant menace of building collapse in the area.

Jeje during an interactive session with journalist in Lagos at the weekend said indication towards that was Sanwo-Olu’s assurance when he visited the site of the recently collapse building at Ita Faji. He talked about regeneration of buildings in Lagos Island.

He said, “I am happy about that. That shows the direction the governor-elect would go. Lagos Island actually needs a lot of regeneration. And since the governor-elect has even said it, it is heart-warming.”

The governor-elect has been in the system for long, Jeje added, “He knows what we have been discussing in the administration of government in Lagos State. So, since he has said he would do that, I would encourage him to go ahead and do it so that we would not continue to have issues of collapsed building any more in Lagos State.”

And while setting agenda for Sanwo-Olu, the former commissioner said, “Well, I handled housing when I was in Lagos government and I know it is the heartbeat of a Mega City. So, I will further encourage him to focus more on housing. We did a lot when I was Commissioner for Housing and I want him to focus more on housing. Since he has also been in government, I know he has a lot of agenda himself. I will just encourage him to go ahead and execute his agenda which I am sure would be beneficial to the generality of the people.”

Taking a critical look at the reaction of the Lagos State Government to the collapsed Itafaji building, Jeje gave kudos to the government, describing its steps as pro-active, adding, “Asking occupants of houses to be demolished to move to a resettlement at Imota and Badagry, I could see that the government is really prepared to take the bull by the horn to be on top of the situation.”

To forestall future reoccurrences of the tragic event, Jeje advised that, “the next step to take is to look at the approvals for construction and strict monitoring of constructions in the state,” adding that, “it is not just the approval, because many of the developers would take the approvals and go ahead to have sub-standard materials in the construction of those approvals they have.”

He said the government needs to have effective monitoring of those approvals after they have gotten them. “So far, I commend the government for the steps taken.”

Credit: Leadership