BY ROTIMI DUROJAIYE
A Development Permit issued by the Lagos Government for the 21-storey building which collapsed in Ikoyi, Lagos, shows that only 15 floors were ratified for construction.
The Permit, sighted by The Point, revealed that it was approved by the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority and was issued on April 9, 2019. It has Development Planning No. DCB/DO/2442IV) and signed for the General Manager.
The registration number obtained on April 5, 2019, also has number IV2019/DO/033/67.
The Development Permit, issued in favour of Fourscore Height Limited, is for the construction of three blocks of 15 floors at 44B, C,D, Gerrad Road, Ikoyi (West), Ikoyi, Lagos.
Obafemi Hamzat, the deputy governor, had said while addressing journalists at the site of the collapsed building on Tuesday morning that the owner of the building got approval for 21 floors.
On Monday, Gbolahan Oki, the suspended general manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, said the government approved 15 floors for the 21-storey building.
“He got an approval for a 15-storey building and he exceeded his limit. I am on ground here and the materials he used are so inferior and terrible,” Oki had said.
But the deputy governor contradicted the claim.
“This particular one was approved for 21 floors, not 15. If you count, the second building was 14 or 15. The approval was done about three years ago, it is not something new, it is the construction that failed apparently from what we can see,” he said.
