•Housing Minister Ahmed Musa Dangiwa
The federal government has issued a month’s ultimatum to developers and residents of Banana Island, an upscale Ikoyi area of Lagos, and others on the Lagos shoreline to regularise their title and other necessary documentation or risk revocation and demolition.
Housing and Urban Development Minister Ahmed Musa Dangiwa issued the ultimatum and warning after he visited the Lagos Lagoon Estates and shorelines, reports The Nation.
The minister frowned at what he called noticeable lapses and contraventions in the highbrow areas.
Dangiwa, in the course of a visit to the Island Boat Club, raised concern that some residents allegedly built under high tension wires.
He urged those concerned to rectify such infractions or face the full wrath of the law.
The minister described Banana Island as a federal government estate, stressing that the residents should not think they are above the law of the land.
“They should stay within their limit… The charges they collect should be used to maintain their estates, but they shouldn’t collect Ground Rent because it’s solely the responsibility of the Federal Government to do so.
“We will optimise our revenue by collecting what is due to us. The residents’ association should concern themselves within their limit. They are at liberty to raise revenue to take care of what they feel is important to them, but definitely not to the extent of collecting ground rent on behalf the government.”
Dangiwa also warned that developments on the Lagos shoreline must be orderly and in line with existing laws and regulations.
The minister said his meeting with Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu arrived at a common agreement that both governments needed to work together to ensure disciplined developments on the Lagos shoreline.
“The federal government is taking stock of its assets and landed properties with a view to having proper documentation of its assets spread across the country,” he said.
Dangiwa, who took a boat tour with his team and officials of the Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to see things for himself, explained that what they found on the Lagoon shoreline was alarming.
The shoreline, according to him, was littered with irregular developments where people carved some areas, filled them and built without first obtaining federal government’s title and other necessary documentations.
He said: “There is no room for haphazard developments on the Lagos shoreline. We are working with Lagos State to fix these anomalies.”
