In recent years, Lagos State has been facing excess flooding issues and like many major cities of the world, is predicted to be submerged under water in the next 50 to 60 years.
This accounts for why with very little rains, the roads flood beyond measure and the residents of Victoria Island and Lekki are hardest hit.
This factor is an environmental degradation issue because it, amongst other things, compromises the roads, facilitates the spread of disease-causing germs and generally affects the quality of lives of the people of the state, whether directly or remotely.
The state government, in dealing with the issue, has had to look into how the waters will be drained away from the roads and streets. Of course, the pathways of water are the gutters and canals. That’s the primary reason for their creation.
However, the residents of Lagos State have erected structures of different sizes and purposes on the pathways of the water and this largely accounts for the build-up of the water on the roads.
In the last 2 days the Commissioner for Environment in Lagos State, Tokunbo Wahab has gone around supervising the demolition of structures sitting on these canals in the Victoria Garden City (VGC) and Ikota areas of Lagos State, and this has been received with accusations of insensitivity and illegality by the residents.
Every side has a story to tell. Let us look a little closer.
The residents are claiming that they are
Taxpayers.
Have building approval
Have those houses metered by the same government.
Pay Land Use Charges on the same properties.
They are therefore saying it is not possible for the government to say it does not know that they are there otherwise these forms of government recognition should not have arisen.
The government on the other hand is saying some of them were warned in the early stages of construction not to proceed but they decided to do otherwise.
The Commissioner further said. The residents were contacted 3 years ago on this same issue, warning them of impending demolition but the residents did nothing.
The viewing public on the other hand has developers to blame. They claim the developers knew better but chose to ignore the facts and sell the properties any which way. Now the developers are said to have moved on, leaving the residents to bear the brunt.
Indeed demolitions are taking place in other parts of Lagos but these in the news are the most prominent, because there is a concerted effort by the state government to open up drains in different parts of the state.
The title of this post is that the demolition of valuable real estate was not meant to be. And that is very true.
In a certain video, the residents were seen asking the commissioner if they would get compensation for the demolition and he replied in the negative because one cannot be compensated for an illegality, even if it is an expensive one.
Let me give you perspective on the issue with these 2 problem causing red flags in real estate investment, whether for houses or vacant land are these.
We don’t garner enough information before proceeding.
We ignore indicators that there might be issues in the future because to a large extent, it is possible to get away with a lot of things in this clime.
What we fail to realize is that when the chips are down and there is a need to take some hard decisions, the government will take a position irrespective of whose ox is gored.
In this case, overriding public interest trumps all other claims such as metering and building approvals. What the government can do is enable investigations into how these other processes sailed through. But these will not stop the demolition.
This is what happened in the case of Maroko many years ago. This is the same measure that was applied to resolve the flooding concerns in Obalande many years ago.
Let me share with you 5 things to know about this situation that can save you from having this sorry experience of heavy loss and despair in your property investment journey.
The minimal setback required for construction in an area where there is a canal is 20 meters from the center of the canal. This implies that if the property is on the boundary of the canal, you should not bother conducting a search or doing any other forms of due diligence. Just take a walk and save yourself the headache.
Any area within a committed acquisition can not and will not be released either today or in the near future. If there is anything that amounts to threat to life and the environment close by, chances are that the area where the life threat is will be a danger zone that will attract government attention today or in the future.
If you construct any structure on the right of way of any environmental element or government structure, all you are entitled to before demolition is 7 days notice. Everything else is a surplus that you cannot determine because it is controlled by the discretion of the Government of the day.
No matter the kind of title you managed to procure, if the construction is an illegality, you are not entitled to compensation when the Government demands that you relocate.
Some other things that have right of way aside from water are road right of way, power line/electricity right of way, and railway right of way. All these portions of land will be within committed acquisitions and this implies that there is no release in the pipelines for those areas.
In conclusion, where there is doubt as to the status of property, it is best to consult professionals to help you determine what is safe and what is not.
But you can also learn the basic signs of property to run from in our class on 4 Things to see on site inspection and run. It’s part of the comprehensive bundle on how to buy scam-free real estate.
If you would like to get the bundle at the current discounted fee before the price goes up, you can send a mail to bimpe@adebimpeshowunmi.com and we’ll be glad to read your mail and promptly respond to it.