Ogun orders owners of marked buildings on waterways to remove them

The Ogun State government on Tuesday warned owners of houses illegally built on drainage channels statewide and marked for demolition for obstructing the flow of wastewater to remove them voluntarily or have them removed by the state on their behalf at a cost payable by them.

Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya gave the warning when he led a state government multi-sectoral team on flood mitigation and control to assess the impact of urban flooding in the Ikenne Local Government Area of the state.

Oresanya said that if the owners of the marked buildings who have been given enough notices and ultimatum wait for the state government to remove the property, they will have to pay the state government for using the tax-payers to remove it for them and further face possible penalty as the government will drag them court for contravening the state environmental laws.

He therefore directed those involved to do the needful as quickly as possible to avoid these sanctions as the state government is interested in them obeying the ultimatum and the environmental laws that prohibit them from building on flood planes.

Oresanya said “Any house owner that fails to comply with these directives by allowing his or her wastes water to flow onto the roads will be penalized as the state and the local authorities will not watch them drain their wastewater directly into the road thereby destroying the road infrastructure “

“We will not fold our hands and see people destroy these roads built with taxpayers’ money. If you go round the state, you will see that the state government has invested heavily in this road infrastructure in the interest of the public and one of the key things that destroy them is this habit of our people which must stop forthwith”.

The commissioner announced that in conformity with the new flood realities in Nigeria and globally, the state government will soon start upgrading its drainage plans which will be followed strictly while efforts are also on to expand the drainage network for better flood mitigation and management.

He however advised house owners who may fall into these new alignments with genuine approvals to file for compensation as the state government is determined to see through its new drainage master plan.