Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Oluyinka Olumide, stated that 80 per cent of buildings in Ibeju Lekki have no approval.

He disclosed this in a recent interview with newsmen.

He said, “Just last week Thursday and Friday, myself and the team were in the Ibeju Lekki and Epe axis and you would agree with me that anybody passing through that corridor would see a lot of estates marked. We went there, and I can tell you that from what we saw, over 80 per cent of them do not have approval.

“The procedure to get approval is first to get the planning information, as to what those areas have been zoned for. In this case, what we have is agricultural land, and people now go to their families to buy agricultural land. Of course, those lands would be sold because those families do not know the use such land would be put to.

“The next thing to do is the fence permit. If you missed the earlier information on not knowing the area zoning, at the point of getting the fence permit, you would be able to detect what the area is zoned for. After that, the layout permits a large expense of land follows.”

Olumide noted that a layout permit cannot be obtained if it is not zoned for the purpose it was designed for or for the purpose it was being requested.

“So, you can see all these layers, but people still go ahead to start advertising. Some have even gone to the extent of displaying the sizes they want to sell. Imagine someone in the diaspora who wants to send money without any knowledge. Then, no approval is eventually gotten. Even if they pass the assignment and the survey to them, we would not grant the individual permit, because that area is not zoned for that purpose,” the commissioner explained.

In the same vein, the Chief Executive Officer of Octo5 Holdings, Jide Odusolu, said Lekki Peninsula’s masterplan got distorted post-2010 due to rapid development, with newer estates sidestepping old regulations.

He said, “The Lekki peninsula had a master plan which was originally launched when Bola Tinubu was the governor and updated under Babatunde Fashola. Almost all large estates along the Lekki corridor, especially those developed between 2000-2008, have approved layout plans. It was obligatory and rigidly enforced by the state government.

“However, starting in 2010, the plans became distorted with accelerated development, and many of the smaller schemes that sprung up deliberately sought to avoid the large infrastructure burdens carried by the legacy era developments.

“I am sure investigations with developers such as UPDC (Pinnock Beach), Trojan Estate, Aircom (Northern Foreshore), Cityscape (Buenavista), Howard Roarks (Lake View) and Octo5 (Ocean Bay) will reveal how they all spent huge sums providing infrastructure with zero support from the government while still paying punitive taxes.”

According to Odusolu, the government weaponised planning and titling for internally generated revenue, and that disincentivises compliance, leading to chaotic development.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Fame at Oyster & Co. Nigeria, Femi Oyedele, said most of the estates had layout plans that were not coordinated to form a planned city.

He noted that the communities that were not planned were the historic settlements that the government excised in the scheme.

“To do Lekki better, those estates which have been approved on the west and east arterial roads, which go down to Awoyaya on the east side and to Akodo on the west side of Lekki-Epe Expressway, must be demolished to make way for the planned roads.

“The kind of restoration done to Abuja by Nasir El’Rufai must be done in Lekki. Lekki Peninsular and Victoria Island have a population of over 3 million people. Glasgow has a population of less than 2 million people with twice the roads of Lekki Peninsula,” he enunciated.

Netizens have taken a swipe at Senator Rufai Hanga, who’s representing Kano Central Senatorial District, for donating 5,000 pieces of white fabric and clay pots to his constituents.

We gathered that the donation came amidst hardship that is currently rocking the country.

The donation is meant to assist with the burial process for loved ones, in response to the frequent requests for burial assistance from constituents.

Premium Times reports that Dawuud Auwal, one of Hanga’s social media aides, announced the donations on Facebook.

Auwal reportedly wrote, “We are used to these frequent requests from people soliciting money to buy white cloths and clay pots. Some have requested vehicles for transporting the dead.”

The senator, whose district covers 15 Local Government Areas, is an accountant who has been representing Kano Central since 2023, on the platform New Nigeria Peoples Party.

The Senator’s gesture is said to be in line with the traditional Muslim burial customs observed in the North.

White fabric is traditionally used to wrap the deceased, followed by broken clay pots as the initial covering before burial in sand.

Netizens have criticised the donation on the grounds that the Senator ought to have built hodpitals to attend to the the health of the people. They added that what the people need succour to ameliorate the hardship occassioned by the high cost of foodstuffs and not burial materials.

A pro-Hausa organisation, which uses the handle @VoiceofHausa, said, “This is a constituency project of Sen. Rufa’i Sani Hanga, Senator representing Kano Central.

“Instead of building hospitals, he distributed 5,000 pots and white cloths for the burial of the people of his senatorial District.”

SILAS TAFI-WARWAR, tweeting as @silastafi, said, “I don’t understand…. Is he wishing them dead or something?

“What is the rationale behind this gift or donation? Constituency project or something?

“In the face of hunger, serious hardship and unemployment! This is all He can do?”

A tweep, FAISAL, who identifies as @Iamumarfaisal, said, “This should be his personal assistance to his community as an influential and wealthy person. But making this look [like] a performance index being a Senator is shameless and denigrates the people he represents. We can do better Arewa.”

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has refuted a purported list of former governors under investigation for alleged corruption, which has now gone viral.

There were reports in the media that 58 former governors were under the investigation of the anti-graft agency over alleged corruption.

The former governors, according to reports, were accused of misappropriating N2.187 trillion over 25 years.

The 58 former governors were being probed, while others have been investigated, and prosecuted.

Reacting to the development, the EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, in a statement on Sunday, described the reports as false and misleading.

He said, “the so-called list is a disingenuous fabrication designed to achieve motives known only to the authors.

“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, feels obliged to dissociate itself from a phantom report circulating in sections of the media claiming it has released a full list of ex- governors being investigated for alleged corruption.

“The report headlined: “EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex- Governors that Embezzled N2 .187 Trillion”, in one of the news outlets, is false and mischievous as the Commission neither issued the said list nor entertained discussions on investigation of ex-governors with any news medium.”

The anti-graft agency, however, urged the public to disregard the report, saying “it is false and misleading.”

It also urged media practitioners to crosscheck facts about matters under investigation with the Commission to avoid misleading the public with false and inaccurate reports.

Recall that the EFCC has been probing some former governors over allegations of corruption and misappropriation of public funds.

The anti-graft agency is probing former Governor, Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.

He has been arraigned on 19 counts bordering on alleged money laundering, breach of trust, and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2 billion.

According to the EFCC, the embattled ex-governor withdrew $720,000 from the state’s accounts to pay his child’s school fees in advance just before he left office on January 27, 2024.

The EFCC said Bello moved the money from the state coffers to a Bureau de Change operator, and used the money for his child’s school fee in advance.