Sanwo-Olu, getting the best out of amnesty

Lagos State Government has recently opened an amnesty window on Planning Permits in the form of a three-month moratorium in penalties on completed buildings without approvals across the State.

In other words, property owners and developers of completed buildings without planning permits can obtain building plan approvals within the stipulated period of 2nd May to 30th July, 2024 without payment of statutory penalties associated with erection of buildings in Lagos without approval.

According to the report, those who fail to obtain building approvals within the time frame will have their buildings demolished after the amnesty period.

There is no doubt that the amnesty window is a great offer by Lagos State Government. I believe most property owners without building approvals would strive to take advantage of this opportunity.

However, as attractive and desirable as this offer is, funding may be a challenge. It is common knowledge that this is a trying period for most Nigerians.

Therefore, making payment to Lagos State Government within the 90 days window will be difficult for most of the affected people.

As a solution, therefore, I would like to advise Lagos State Government to consider enlisting a few banks to participate in the programme so that those who do not have funds immediately can get the bank to fund the payment of the required fees using their title documents as collateral.

Without government’s involvement, banks will ordinarily not accept the title document of a building that has no government approval.

If this is done, it will be a win-win for all the parties involved. For Lagos State Government, the purpose of the amnesty which s to generate revenue and certify the fitness of already built houses would be achieved.

For the banks, substantial revenue would be generated as interest income from loans given to house owners. For the house owners, their age-long dream of securing approvals for their buildings would be realised.

In the light of the obvious benefits, Governor Sanwoolu should please give a thought to this recommendation. There is a Yoruba adage that says ” a gbatan lan gba ole, taba da aso fun, aatun pa laro” which literarily means “ if you want to help a weakling, you should go the whole hog”.

Laitan Agbeja is a Concerned Nigerian.

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