A significant number of individuals currently identifying as landlords in Lagos, especially those residing in the Ibeju-Lekki and Epe regions, face the possibility of losing their landlord status due to the revelation by the state government that approximately 80% of structures in those areas lack official approval.

Following the disclosure made by Oluyinka Olumide, the Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, anxiety and uncertainty have become prevalent among owners of unapproved buildings in the affected areas.

The concerns and fears arise from the ongoing demolitions of structures across the state, primarily due to the absence of building permits or their construction on government-owned land. These buildings are susceptible to demolition at any time, potentially displacing their owners and forcing them to re-enter the rental market.

“Just last week Thursday and Friday, myself and the team were in the Ibeju Lekki and Epe axis and you would agree with me that anybody passing through that corridor would see a lot of estates marked. We went there, and I can tell you that from what we saw, over 80 percent of them do not have approval.

“The procedure to get approval is first to get the planning information, as to what those areas have been zoned for. In this case, what we have is agricultural land, and people now go to their families to buy agricultural land. Of course, those lands would be sold because those families do not know the use such land would be put to,” the commissioner said.

Continuing, he said, “The next thing to do is the fence permit. If you missed the earlier information on not knowing the area’s zoning, at the point of getting the fence permit, you would be able to detect what the area is zoned for.”

Though the commissioner did not state it explicitly, the expectation is that many of these buildings, like those in other parts of the states, will be reduced to rubbles by the angry teeth of the state’s rampaging bulldozers.

In recent months, the Lagos State government led by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has embarked on a series of building demolitions that have raised questions about the underlying rationale and objectives, especially considering the significant number of individuals living in precarious conditions, such as under bridges and in informal settlements.

A religious leader from the Celestial Life Ministry has denounced the state government’s demolition campaign as a form of genocide directed against non-indigenous residents from a specific region of the country. In a widely circulated video, the priest alleges that the demolitions are motivated by political retaliation against those who did not support the incumbent governor in the previous election.

Stakeholders in the housing industry and observers of the state’s real estate market have expressed surprise at the commissioner’s revelation regarding the high number of unapproved buildings in Ibeju-Lekki, given that the area is widely recognized as one of the most rapidly developing real estate hubs in West Africa.

“If this part of the state that is just developing does not have building approval, then there is something quite worrying about planning regulation and monitoring in a state that calls itself centre of excellence,” Emmauel Ibeneme, a property consultant, told our reporter Tuesday morning.

Though the government explains that all the buildings demolished so far, which run into hundreds of thousands, have no approval from its authorities, Ibeneme notes that “demolition has been so frenetic that it has no respect for locations. It happens everywhere and anywhere and so, affects everybody and anybody.”

As good and justified as the government’s explanations seem, the demolition of buildings is seen as a needless and avoidable waste that hurts not just the lives and livelihood of the owners, but also the economy of the state in particular and Nigeria at large.

“Buildings demolition is good, more so if such buildings contravene physical planning and approval laws. But it would have been better if such houses were not allowed to be built at all. Government needs to be proactive and not reactive by preventing such buildings from being built,” Hakeem Oguniran, CEO, Eximia Realty, noted.

Samuel Ukpong, former chairman of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valers (NIESV), Lagos Chapter, agrees, stressing that “no state or country that demolishes people’s houses, almost willfully as we have seen in Lagos, prospers because buildings are symptoms of prosperity.”

Ukpong questioned the whereabouts of the government agency and its officials tasked with approving building plans, wondering why they allowed construction to commence, continue, and be completed before emerging with bulldozers to destroy people’s homes and investments.

Prior to the recent demolitions, the Lagos State government had conducted similar exercises in affluent neighborhoods such as Banana Island, Ajao Estate, Ikota in Lekki, and Abule-Ado in the Oriade Local Council Development Area, where residents of King’s Royal Estate on 91 Road in Festac Phase 2 were displaced from their homes.

The state government’s demolition campaign has recently expanded to other areas, significantly impacting several private estates, including Mende Estate in the Kosofe Local Government Area. The state Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, expressed disapproval of homeowners who criticized the demolition of their properties.

“The developer who is sponsoring many of you knew what he was doing. He encroached on the part for which he was not approved. If you build beyond the approved plan, you have violated the conditions of approval, and your approval becomes entirely invalid. As they say, ‘The wheel of justice may be slow, but one day, it will grind to a halt,” the commissioner said.