Lagos Assembly summons commissioner, landowners over planned demolition of houses

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday summoned two officials of the state government and some landowners over the alleged planned demolition of some houses in Jakande Estate in the Eti-Osa area of the state.

The two government officials are the state’s Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, and the Managing Director of Lagos Building Investments Company (LBIC) Mr. Oluwatobi Lawal.

The House summoned the officials after the Deputy Majority Leader, Noheem Adams, raised “Matters of Urgent Public Importance” at the plenary in Ikeja.

Adams told his colleagues that the residents who were the ages of 70 and 80 stormed his house in the early hours of Tuesday and appealed to the state government to stop the demolition of their houses.

The state government had earmarked houses in Jakande Estate and other areas in the Eti-Osa LGA for demolition as part of the developmental programmes in the state.

He said: “It will be recalled that the majority of the residents lived in Maroko before their houses were demolished in the 1990s and they were relocated to the Jakande Estate in Eti-Osa local government area of Lagos State.”

The lawmaker noted that the residents had lived peacefully in the area until recently when the threats of demolition came up.

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The residents, according to him, had written a petition to the House for the resolution of the matter.

Adams added: “On September 23, some members of the House led by the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Petitions, Victor Akande visited the Jakande Estate with some officials from the LBIC who had promised that they will not demolish buildings in the area.

“However on October 12, officials of the LBIC went to the estate to mark houses for demolition.”

Another lawmaker, Rotimi Olowo, described the situation of the residents as pathetic.

The Speaker of the Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, before approving the invitation of the commissioner and the LBIC boss, stressed the need for the lawmakers to understand the government’s position before taking any decision on the issue.

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