Abuja – December 15, 2023 – Viewpoint Housing News
Following the demolition of homes in Lagos’ FESTAC town during the last week of November, the incident has continued to provoke contradictory reactions.
The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the local landlords engaged in weeks and months of discussions before the demolition effort.
According to accounts, several landlords in Lagos State’s FESTAC town broke down in tears as bulldozers tore down multimillion-naira mansions.
FESTAC Phase 2 and Abule Ado Estate, located in Lagos State’s Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, were the homes that were most impacted.
Many of the residents claim their life savings were lost in the destruction and are still in shock.
However, the FHA brought up a number of concerns, the most important of which were erroneous paperwork and an improper site, which called for the destruction.
More than 677 homes and 744 more have been designated for complete and partial destruction by the authorities.
In an activity known as VRR (Verification, Regularisation and Recovery), the authorities had approached householders prior to the demolition exercise, which began on November 26.
It was discovered that the majority of the property owners had purchased their land from a number of private estates, including King’s Royal Estate, Ezi Gold Estate, and Stone Water Estate.
However, since the demolition process started, there have been differing opinions expressed regarding it. Laments have followed the destruction, ranging from claims of bribes to politics to claims of ethnic discrimination.
One of the impacted owners, who only went by Mrs. Igwe, said she purchased the land from an estate agency without realising the papers she was handed was fake.
Mrs. Igwe continued, saying that she built her four-bedroom home with her life savings, which was quickly demolished.
“It is a traumatising moment for all of us who have now been rendered homeless suddenly. We saw a notice that the federal government was going to demolish but we never knew it would be that early. We have been making frantic efforts to regularise with the authorities but they didn’t temper justice with mercy at all,” she said.
The building of the Phase 2 housing estate has been the subject of an ongoing dispute between the FHA and the homeowners over the years.
The second phase was developed using a conventional layout by the FHA. However, the development was delayed because of legal disputes that emerged with some families and the ensuing court rulings.
However, it was discovered that some individuals had taken advantage of the delay by selling individual parcels of property. But the FHA swiftly added restrictions after observing the extensive encroachment, alerting the public to the need to stay away from purchasing land from such people.
Members of the public were also advised to visit FHA offices for legal searches before transacting any business with respect to the land.
But those who allegedly bought lands from various individuals without verifying with the FHA started developing the land without getting the requisite documentation. Many were said to have built houses without approvals and against the master plan. Houses were also built at the centre of major roads, very close to the canal with no proper setbacks, and very close to oil pipelines.
The FHA in a statement disclosed that the initial attempt to rectify the anomaly was met with stiff resistance.
“The authority’s attempt at checking this was met with heavy resistance. Armed thugs molested and beat up staff on development control duties, and in many instances, the staff were beaten to a near point of death,” it said.
The authority stated that it, in 2018, sought the collaboration of the Lagos State government to provide security and enable staff to enter the site on official duties, adding that even though the team started serving ‘Stop Work’ orders and eviction notices in 2019, it was not until 2021 that they decided to embark on the demolition of “these illegal and substandard structures that had rapidly sprung up in total disregard to the existing layout, and in defiance of the numerous `Stop Work’ orders that were issued by the authority.”
Reacting to the ethnic colouration that trailed the demolition, the FHA stated that, “These narratives have been tailored towards falsehood with the intention to create mischief of ethnic dimension. Management wishes to put the records straight and correct the erroneous impression of ethnic targeting being peddled by mischief makers, especially those who are serial land grabbers.”
According to the FHA, such illegal structures pose dangers to the public, hence its determination to carry out the demolition.
The authority said such substandard buildings under construction in the encroached areas were on swampy land, with high chances of collapse due to soil type and behaviour and therefore requiring both professional approvals and supervision.
They further noted that some of the structures were at the centre of major roads because they were built outside the master plan. Also, “the buildings never had approvals and were not supervised by approved professionals as provided by law, such that FHA cannot vouch for their structural integrity.
“Other structures were on road setbacks, drains and other infrastructures. Houses were built below the level of the roads and prone to collapse because of soil settings.”
However, it was learnt that after several appeals from some of the affected persons, who accepted to have illegally built on government land, the authority said they had initially decided to reconsider the exercise after a stakeholders’ meeting in FESTAC Town in January 2022.
It was at that forum that the FHA decided to reconsider the demolition exercise to save many buildings without necessarily compromising standards.
The stakeholders’ meeting however came with caveats which include that all developments along the roads must be demolished; all buildings close to the canal, and pipelines must go; and that every building not certified by FHA officials must undergo integrity tests; and that all forms of developments must stop.
They said contravention notices and conditions for regularisation were served on affected buildings through the VRR exercise.
But the FHA insisted that many house owners failed to agree with the term while more houses were being constructed.
This was why the FHA decided to move in and serve notices of demolition from September 2023.
“Management wants to state here that there are many buildings that are standing in this area. There are also hundreds of buildings that are undergoing regularisation. The Federal Housing Authority would not wait until a building collapses in this area before reacting. Our proactive action which predates now is to save impending danger that looms around this area of Festac.” The Authority asserted.
