OGUN SEALS OFF DILAPIDATED BUILDINGS; MARKS 526 OTHERS FOR DEMOLITION

In order to prevent disaster and loss of lives, Ogun State Government has ordered occupants of two dilapidated buildings along Nepa Road, Isabo, Abeokuta, which had partially collapsed, to vacate the building within 24 hours.

 The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning, Mr. Nafiu Adebiyi, in company of other management staff during an inspection to the site, gave the order, frowning at the critical nature the buildings, which he noted could totally collapsed  anytime, thereby endangering the people's lives.

 According to him, "As Government, we would not keep our eyes wide open and allow the building to collapse totally, while people still resides in the building", he said.

 Adebiyi also said a total number of 526 houses built on water ways, canal and erosion channels had been identified and marked for demolition across the state, saying the State Government is awaiting response from National Emergency Managment Agency (NEMA) on the promise to provide alternative shelters for affected victims before demolition can take place.

 "Demolition of houses is not what can be done in a hurry, no matter  how illegal such structures are, because human beings live in such houses, we must follow the rules in carrying out such demolitions", Adebiyi said.

 He affirmed that government’s intention was to ensure that  nobody was negatively affected as a result of preventable natural disaster, which was predicted by the National Methological Agency (NimET) earlier this year that there would be flash flood

" It is not easy to dislocate people from their comfort zone, that is why we are approaching the process with human face, and many houses affected were not at fault, because as at the time most of the house were built, those places were not close to water banks but because of the climate change those water levels began to rise, and erosion began to hit the ground and many places became erosion prone areas, reason why we are very careful so that we don't solve a problem by creating another one", He submitted.