The Federal Government, through the National Inland Waterways Authority, and the Lagos State Government have divergent views over the collapsed seven-storey building in the Banana Island area of the state.
The state government recently accused the National Inland Waterways Authority of being culpable in the incident of the collapsed building.
The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, reportedly accused officials of NIWA of being reckless in the manner in which they issued permits without regard to the topography of the area.
He further stated that the site of the collapsed building was not originally part of the island’s plan.
Reacting to the governor’s claim, the General Manager of Corporate Affairs, NIWA, Jibril Darda’u, in a statement on Friday, said the report by the state government carried a distorted account of what transpired over the collapsed building in Banana Island.
He said the information contained in the report was a misrepresentation of the issue that led to the building collapse.
The statement read in part, “The attention of NIWA has been drawn to a misleading report that has gone viral in social media. The agency vehemently dissociates itself from the statements and allegations of the Lagos State Government over the collapsed building in Banana Island as contained in the said publication. The information contained in the publication is false, baseless and a misrepresentation of the issues that led to the collapse of the building in Banana Island with the intent of misleading members of the public regarding what actually happened.”
Darda’u said that the Lagos State Government in the said publication admitted that it was its responsibility to issue building approval.
He quoted Governor Sanwo-Olu to have said, “We have responsibility for building approval. All four buildings at the back never got our approval. This is an illegality that is real. In another admission by the Lagos State Governor, he specifically stated that some officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency are corrupt, stressing that they would be held responsible for the recent collapse of a seven-storey building on the island”.
The NIWA image maker, however, said that it was clear that building permits are within the jurisdiction of the state governments of Nigeria including Lagos State.
“Therefore, where such permits are illegally obtained such faults or omissions can only be attributed to the state government that issued them and not the Federal Government or any of its agencies as in the instant case.
“The agency is established by NIWA Act CAP N47 LFN 2004 and there is no provision in the said Act where the agency is mandated by law to issue building permits/approvals and Certificate of Occupancy,” he argued.
According to him, NIWA as a law-abiding agency of the Federal Government and in compliance with its establishing act issues permits for the use of the right of way, activities within the waterways of Nigeria, and reclamation.
