Uduegbunam ChukwujamaIt would appear that building crisis has hit Edo State, South South Nigeria as virtually all structures erected in its capital, Benin City, and environs are either without a certified building plan or they were built by quacks.
Governor Godwin Obaseki, who revealed this in a statement Sunday night, said the state had declared ”operation show your building plan” and would seal off buildings whose approvals were suspect.
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Obaseki has flayed indiscriminate development of structures across the state by property developers without obtaining the necessary building plan permit, noting that more than 90 percent of structures in the state are without a building plan.
The governor was said to have made the declaration when he received the executive members of the Nigeria Institute of Builders (NIOB), Edo State Chapter, who were on a courtesy visit at the Government House, Benin City.
Represented by his Chief of Staff, Hon. Osaigbovo Iyoha, the governor decried the rot in the sector, reassuring that government would continue to strengthen laws to ensure sanity in the built space.
According to him, “Obtaining building plans is one aspects people take for granted when erecting their structures. The association has a lot to do in the building an ecosystem, as about 75 percent of structures are not built by professionals. The decay in the system creates loopholes leading to building collapses across the country.
“The failure in the system starts from town planning as town planning seems to have been neglected. This is affecting the building industry in the state. Today, visit a development area, you will discover that not up to 10 percent have a building plan. The Edo State Government is working on correcting this abnormality and will want you to partner with the state to achieve this move.
“We have strengthened our Physical Planning, Urban and Regional Development Ministry to help check this abnormality, ensuring sanity returns to the system by putting back all the standards required to avert building collapse.
“It’s good you are here now, and important you come on board and have your place to contribute to the success of the built sector in Edo State.”
Earlier, the Chairman of NIOB, Edo State Chapter, Ononfa Sunday, who praised the governor’s reforms in the sector, said the visit was to inform the governor of its one-week event which was organised to commemorate this year’s Builders Day, with the theme, “Building with Integrity.”
The State Government had, at the weekend, begun a re-certification exercise for house owners in Ugbor and Amagba communities within the Benin metropolis.
As a part of the exercise, property owners and developers within the affected areas were expected to provide their building plans upon demand at their houses and sites for clearance and re-certification.
Officials of the Edo State Enforcement Team under the Ministry of Physical Planning, Urban and Regional Development, however, marked houses that could not provide evidence of their building plans and served them contravention/demand notices, either by hand or by posting them on the buildings.
Commissioner for Physical Planning, Urban and Regional Development, Isoken Omo, said the exercise was in line with the government’s vision of actualising the 30-year development plan.
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