Posted by On Sunday, officials from Ogun State alleged that the DATKEM Plaza in Ijebu Ode was built without proper permits.
The state administration also stated that the building was illegal since it went against the state’s physical planning laws.
According to a government statement signed by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development Permanent Secretary, Engr. Olayiwola Abiodun, the building has multiple flaws that make it illegal according to state construction rules.
He said that the developers had repeatedly disregarded requests from the state authorities to halt construction.
It was ignored, he added, when government officials asked the building’s structural engineer for a report on the structure’s stability.
The statement referenced the many building disasters that have occurred across the country and promised that the government of Ogun State will not stand idly by.
Many lives were lost in these tragedies, it said, citing fire outbreaks in Ikorodu as an example.
The permanent secretary has stated that the government’s decision to demolish part of the unsafe structure was an example of proactive maintenance.
Engineer Abiodun demanded that the building’s owners show him proof that they had obtained the necessary permits.
According to him, employees and customers of a commercial building of that kind would need access to parking spaces both within and outside the structure. According to the statute, between 45 and 50 percent of all developable land must be designated as such.
According to the permanent secretary, certification is generally granted at each step of construction, but this structure lacked it.
Owners were allegedly given abatement, violation, stop work, and demolition notices between May and October 2022 but did not comply.
The application for the office building at the address along Ibadan Road in Ijebu Ode was filed by DATKEM Enterprises Limited in 2009 under the registration number CB/05/299/2009, as stated in the statement.
The proposed building would have had five stories and airspace of three meters on the right, five meters on the left, and five meters at the back, with a 32.5516-meter setback from the center of Ijebu Ode/Ibadan road, Ijebu-Ode.
A variance from the airspaces and setback was spotted by the Zonal Town Planning Office during routine monitoring, indicating that on-site development did not adhere to the approved plan.
“Additionally, the structure had been altered and enlarged with a storey-and-a-half building added to the rear, making it excessively dense.
In light of the foregoing, the following steps were taken:
On May 24, 2022, we issued a “Contravention Notice” with serial number 0106983.
On May 24th, 2022, Stop Work Order 000623 was issued.
After the initial notification was disregarded, on July 22nd, 2022, another Stop Work Order with Serial Number 001065 was issued.
The 11th of October 2022 saw the service of Demolition Notice No. 0007549.
On October 4, 2022, a notice to seal was issued with serial number 000815.
The complaint went on to say that the developer ignored all of the warnings and kept building nevertheless.
On August 1, 2023, due to this, the facility was sealed again. Even though the property had been sealed off, the developer continued to work there.
However, the developer submitted a request for unsealing, and it was granted so that the contents of the building could be removed. A quit notice with the serial number 0030750 was subsequently given out on August 31, 2023.
Given the foregoing, and the developer’s continued resistance, the Zonal Town Planning Office’s recommendation that the office building be demolished was sustained, the statement continued.
The state government restated its unwavering dedication to citizen safety, promising that all unsafe structures across the state will be brought crashing down.