Sanwo-Olu Gives Amnesty to Developers, Building Owners Without Approval Till Dec

•Fashola underscores importance of town planners in government, Lagos mega status

Segun James

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, extended the provision of amnesty to owners and developers of existing buildings without planning approvals till December 31st in the state.

Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Oluyinka Olumide, had recently disclosed that the deadline for the amnesty would last till end of October.

However, Sanwo-Olu’s extension, yesterday, at a two-day Physical Planning Summit organised by the government at Eko Hotels, Lagos, was greeted with wild jubilation and acceptance by the audience.

The theme of the summit was, ‘Rethinking Lagos: A New Vision for a Regional and Integrated Megacity.”

Sanwo-Olu, who acknowledged the impacts of the achievements of one of his predecessors, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, which he claimed other successors had continued to build on, noted that town planners must be placed in the rightful position.

In his keynote address, Fashola noted that, “A megacity is not a choice; it is not a destination, but a status. The number of people within a designated area is 10 million and above. Once you have that, you have a megacity.”

He explained that this status of megacity has placed a burden on Sanwo-Olu, which meant there were more headaches because of the number of challenges that go with it.

Fashola challenged town planners in the state, saying in the megacity arrangement, “the most important member of that cabinet is the town planner. It is the responsibility of town planners to ensure how the megacity evolves.

“The town planners have become docile; they have not taken the driver’s seat; they have not been vocal. If the town planners had taken a step on the journey of visioning, some of the problems we face today would be solved.”

On the environment, the former Minister of Power and Housing added that, “Nature has been kind to us, if not kinder because we have almost everything. But how do we use those resources? That is the role of town planners.”

He stressed that part of the problems in the country was that people built houses before constructing the roads, saying unfortunately after the building, they have no roads to their houses.

He charged the town planners to take the frontal role, adding: “It is the responsibility of the town planners to play a pivotal role before the economic planners come on board.”

On the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT), Fashola pointed out that the government should carry out steps to curtail the excesses of motorcyclists and tricyclists.

He recalled how he had to use veto power as the then governor during a State Executive meeting to have BRT scale hurdles for the betterment of the transport system in the State.

“The government will have to reclaim the BRT from the tyranny of motorcyclists, tricyclists, and Europe. I saw hesitancy during my time. The power of the governor can be used to be a good bully. We must reclaim the BRT, we spent a lot of money to build it.”

He observed that the proliferation of Okada, tricycles,  was in conflict with what was envisioned on climate change.

Earlier, Olumide said, “The Summit is aimed at better positioning the State for investment as proposed in the ODPs. It has brought experts in urban planning, resilience, development partnership, legal and policy analysis, risk management, project finance and governance to explore options available for implementation of the sustainable development.”

He explained that operative development plans have been exploited by the governor to be “very responsive to the need for an orderly, organised, livable and sustainable environment and has demonstrated it by a dogged implementation of the THEMES+ Agenda especially the Making Lagos a 21st century Economy Pillar.”