Tuesday, May 05, 2009 Guardianonline
Fashola signs new model city bill into law
By Seye Olumide
THE Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), yesterday signed into law the new model city plan bill.
The law, meant to address the frequent collapse of buildings, is described as one of the most important legislations that the administration has enacted to prevent re-occurrence of collapsed building and carelessness of developers and structure owners in the state.
It stated that any landed property developer who embarks on construction or development facility contrary to the provisions of the physical town planning and development law shall henceforth be liable to two years imprisonment and a million naira fine or both if convicted.
According to Fashola: "The new bill will become very handy as it will help in the enforcement of town planning law, incidence of collapsed and unorganised buildings in the state.
Reiterating his commitment to fulfil the promises made to Lagosians, Fashola said "we would find a workable solution towards effectively addressing the incidence of collapsed building in Lagos. The law stipulates that any occupier, developer or owner who embarks on any construction or erection of any structure or development facility contrary to the provisions of the physical town planning and development law of Lagos State, if found guilty, shall be liable to two years imprisonment, N1 million fine or both."
The governor, who said this is one of the first steps his administration is taking towards resolving the disaster of collapsed building, added that other approaches would be adopted for full enforcement of the town planning laws and regulations on urban development.
Fashola added that the bill put into 30 sections was the awaited law for rapid urban development in the state.
According to him, "the model city development committee will be the implementation arm of the new law in their respective areas where they have been designated. Part of the power of the committee will be to monitor compliance with the state building development plan and approval order.
"By so doing government would be bringing into force the concept of participatory development and encouraging members of the public, Community Development Associations (CDAs), to come on board and participate in the development of their areas. The committee would also be empowered to enter into any premises to inspect and ensure compliance with urban development law of the state", the governor said.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Fashola warns against wholesale amendment of Land Use Act
Published 5/5/2009 2:52:00 AM Punchonline
Fashola warns against wholesale amendment of Land Use Act
Simon Utebor
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has cautioned against a wholesale amendment of the Land Use Act for its sake, saying the solution lies in making its administration more efficient through the use of technology.
In a statement by the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello, on Saturday, Fashola was quoted as saying this at the annual dinner of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch, Lagos.
The governor said, “It has taken 31 years of painstaking efforts by judges at different levels to interpret every section of the Land Use Act to ensure that Nigerians have a clear regime of land administration. This portends a grave danger for the country to move from certainty to uncertainty.”
Governor Fashola explained that the Land Use Act was not new in terms of the land tenure system it prescribed, but was modeled after the old land tenure law of Northern Nigeria, which has now been consolidated upon by the country to develop a uniform system of land administration.
He added that because of the increasing population of the country and the resultant need by people in diverse areas of life for land, methods of keeping records and gaining access to records should be made more efficient to respond to the increasing demand and make transaction more seamless before tearing down the law.
This necessity, he said, informed the several innovative steps taken by the present administration to improve efficiency in land transaction; adding that the state government had embarked upon the GIS mapping of the state towards ensuring that it was put to use before the end of 2009.
Fashola, while supporting the call for electoral reforms, argued that electoral reforms would not be effective in Nigeria until everyone insisted that rules were meant to be binding and that those who violated them must face sanctions.
He identified what he called ‘the fundamental problem with the country’ as the inability to make rules work; adding that despite the fact that elections were governed by rules, Nigeria had never had an election enquiry as to why elections had not succeeded.
Fashola said, “I think all attorneys-general and members of the legal profession must begin to get creative, if possible, to initiate private prosecution to begin to punish those who threaten our collective patrimony.”
Also speaking, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), warned the operators of electoral laws in the country not to set the country ablaze with their unwholesome conduct; adding that when elections were conducted in a free and fair manner, results would be gladly accepted by all parties.
Fashola warns against wholesale amendment of Land Use Act
Simon Utebor
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has cautioned against a wholesale amendment of the Land Use Act for its sake, saying the solution lies in making its administration more efficient through the use of technology.
In a statement by the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello, on Saturday, Fashola was quoted as saying this at the annual dinner of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch, Lagos.
The governor said, “It has taken 31 years of painstaking efforts by judges at different levels to interpret every section of the Land Use Act to ensure that Nigerians have a clear regime of land administration. This portends a grave danger for the country to move from certainty to uncertainty.”
Governor Fashola explained that the Land Use Act was not new in terms of the land tenure system it prescribed, but was modeled after the old land tenure law of Northern Nigeria, which has now been consolidated upon by the country to develop a uniform system of land administration.
He added that because of the increasing population of the country and the resultant need by people in diverse areas of life for land, methods of keeping records and gaining access to records should be made more efficient to respond to the increasing demand and make transaction more seamless before tearing down the law.
This necessity, he said, informed the several innovative steps taken by the present administration to improve efficiency in land transaction; adding that the state government had embarked upon the GIS mapping of the state towards ensuring that it was put to use before the end of 2009.
Fashola, while supporting the call for electoral reforms, argued that electoral reforms would not be effective in Nigeria until everyone insisted that rules were meant to be binding and that those who violated them must face sanctions.
He identified what he called ‘the fundamental problem with the country’ as the inability to make rules work; adding that despite the fact that elections were governed by rules, Nigeria had never had an election enquiry as to why elections had not succeeded.
Fashola said, “I think all attorneys-general and members of the legal profession must begin to get creative, if possible, to initiate private prosecution to begin to punish those who threaten our collective patrimony.”
Also speaking, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), warned the operators of electoral laws in the country not to set the country ablaze with their unwholesome conduct; adding that when elections were conducted in a free and fair manner, results would be gladly accepted by all parties.
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