Something is not right in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos. From what we now see, there is a high number of structures standing without official permission. It is clear that lots of building might get demolished by the government.
Ibeju Lekki Urban Development
The Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Oluyinka Olumide, said that most buildings in Ibeju Lekki don’t have official approval.
Dr. Oluyinka mentioned this in a recent interview. He explained that around 80% of Lekki buildings lack proper permission.
He said: “Just last week Thursday and Friday, the team and I 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% 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 next thing to do is the fence permit. If you missed the earlier information about not knowing the area’s zoning at the time of obtaining the fence permit, you would still be able to determine the area’s zoning. After that, the layout permits a large expense of land follows”.
Masterplan For Lekki Peninsula
After 2010, fast development messed up the masterplan for Lekki Peninsula, added Jide Odusolu, CEO of Octo5 Holdings.
He said that many newer estates didn’t follow the old regulations. They didn’t provide necessary infrastructure despite hefty taxes.
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He said: “The Lekki peninsula had a master plan originally launched when Bola Tinubu was the governor and updated under Babatunde Fashola.
“Almost all large estates along the Lekki corridor, especially those developed between 2000-2008, have approved layout plans.
“It was obligatory and rigidly enforced by the state government.
“However, starting in 2010, the plans became distorted with accelerated development, and many of the smaller schemes that sprung up deliberately sought to avoid the large infrastructure burdens carried by the legacy era developments.
Estate Developers Investigation
“I am sure investigations with developers such as UPDC (Pinnock Beach), Trojan Estate, Aircom (Northern Foreshore).
“Also, Cityscape (Buenavista), Howard Roarks (Lake View) and Octo5 (Ocean Bay) will reveal how they all spent huge sums providing infrastructure with zero support from the government while still paying punitive taxes”.
According to Odusolu, the government weaponised planning and titling for internally generated revenue, and that disincentivises compliance, leading to chaotic development.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Fame at Oyster & Co. Nigeria, Femi Oyedele, pointed out that most of the estates had layout plans that lacked coordination to form a planned city.
For Femi Oyedele, many estates in Lekki weren’t planned well. He suggested demolishing some approved estates to make way for better-planned roads.
According to him, there is the need for better urban planning in Lekki. he says its population is like that of Glasgow in UK.
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