The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has ordered the demolition of over 80 buildings in Lagos Island earlier marked to be brought down.
The order follows the collapse of a three-storey building in the Ita Faaji area of the Island, housing a primary school said to be located on the second floor of the building, killing both children and adults.
During an assessment of the disaster scene on Wednesday, Governor Ambode vowed to demolish all illegal school buildings in the area and some structures marked unfit in Smith, Palm Church and Adeniji Adele Streets.
READ ALSO: Lagos Govt Confirms 20 Killed In Collapsed Building
Following the governor’s order, officials of the State Building Control Agency led by its Acting General Manager, Omotayo Fakolujo, moved in on Friday to begin the demolition
Mr. Fakolujo told Channels Television that officials were acting based on the governor’s directives, adding that most owners of some illegal structures were evading arrest despite disobeying the government’s order.
He said, “I can say that the owners and tenants are recalcitrant, inasmuch as we try to evict them, they continue to evade arrest and go through the back door and we feel that this structure might go down as soon as possible and that is why we have to bring it down today.
“There is a lot of legal tussles that relate to demolition. For this one, we just had a clearance from the court last week. We are moving to Smith, Palm Church and Adeniji Adele where we have marked over 20 structures for demolition.
He added that the government was also trying to evacuate occupants of most of the structures about to collapse.
