16022021 - Nigeria’s security architecture being re-jigged — SERVICE CHIEFS

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2021 — 21
NITP President decries deterioration of human settlements, blames govts
The President of the
Nigerian Institute
of Town Planners,
NITP, and former Lagos
State Commissioner for
Physical Planning and Urban
Development,
Olutoyin Ayinde, has decried
the deterioration of
human settlements across
the country, saying government
at all levels
should take the responsibility
for not being committed
to implementation
of physical plans.
Ayinde who made this
known recently at the
quarterly press briefing of
the institute in Lagos,
stated that governments
must be willing to provide
strong leadership, which can
only happen when the
system produces competent
people to run the affairs regarding
design of plans and
their implementation.
According to Ayinde, government
must take responsibility
for the chaotic and
unsafe human settlements,
pointing out that between
the early seventies to the
mid-eighties, there was
awareness on the need for
planning in the country with
the governments of the day
embarking on preparation
of master plans and other
levels of physical plans for
settlements.
He noted, however, that as
good as that step was, lack
of political will and funding
made the plans to end up on
the shelves of government
offices with little implementation,
insisting that the
poor attitude of government
towards implementation of
plans had greatly contributed
to the poor state of
human settlements in
Nigeria.
The former Lagos State
commissioner who said that
less than 30 per cent of Nigerian
states have adopted
physical planning laws deriving
from the Nigerian
Urban and Regional Planning
Law, CAP 138, LFN
2004, averred that this attitude
amounts to governments
either not believing
and/or abusing the law and
structures that they created.
According to the NITP
boss: “We are most familiar
with the consequences of
lack of planning which
manifest in the chaos in our
environment, congestion on
our roads, dysfunctional infrastructure,
building collapse,
unconnected
settlements, avoidable
flooding and other disasters,
leading to stressful living
and a reduction in life
expectancy.”
He said the roadmap for
Ordered Human Settlements
in Nigeria must include
the implementation of
the supranational and transboundary
level/multinational
regional strategies,
the national level/national
plans, the city-region and
metropolitan level/
subnational regional plans,
the city and municipal level,
city development strategies,
integrated development
plans and the neighbourhood
level, street development
and public space plans
and layouts to improve urban
quality, social cohesion
and inclusion, and the protection
of local resources.
He further noted that the
overwhelming ignorance
about the profession is preponderant
even amongst the
elite, which is why it is not
surprising that those at the
helm of affairs politically
also mistake physical planning
for a revenue generation
tool.
Also, a former president of
NITP, Remi Makinde, said
physical development plans
must be prioritised in government’s
agenda for sustainable
urbanisation in
Nigeria.
He advised government at
all levels to redirect the
growth of cities, and stop
those who build without
planning.
By Kingsley Adegboye
Cement is a major
component in con
struction works,
and accounts for between
40 and 45 per cent to deliver
a building project.
But the unexpected hike
in the price of cement in
November 2020 by about
50 per cent, which caught
Nigerians napping, has
remained a major headache
to players in the Nigeria's
building construction
industry who are already
grappling with several
other challenges.
Before the sudden hike
cement price in November
2020 to N3,500 per
50kg bag, the same 50kg
bag was sold for N2,600.
Subsequently, this astronomical
rise in cement
price has resulted to a hike
in the price of sandcrete
blocks, rings, concrete
and mortar products in
which cement is a major
input in their production.
For instance, when a bag
of cement was N2,600, 9
inch sancrete block was
sold for N180 while 6 inch
sandcrete block was sold
for N160. But with the
present price of a bag of
cement, 9 inch sandcrete
block now sells between
N200 and N220 while 6
How cement price rose to
N3,500 from N2,600 per bag
---Implication of astronomical hike on
construction activities, as stakeholders speak
inch sandcrete block
sells between N180
and N190.
Reacting to the development
the Director-General
of Federation
Of Construction
Industry FOCI,
Mrs. Olubunmi
Adekoje, an engineer,
said “The escalating
cost of cement poses
a major threat to construction
in Nigeria as
it could result in fluctuations
in construction
cost, reduce volume
of construction
output, increase risk of
project abandonment
and result in downward
effect on the national
gross domestic product,
GDP.
She therefore appealed
for stability in the price of
cement so as to reduce the
negative effects on construction
in Nigeria.
In his reaction, the national
president of the Nigerian
Institute of Building
NIOB, Kunle
Awobodu, condemned the
astronomical rise in the
price of cement in Nigeria,
Victory Park Estate Lekki landlords sue AMCON for
disregard for court orders
By Innocent Anaba
Residents and landlords
of Victory Park Estate,
Lekki, Lagos State, have
accused the Asset Management
Corporation of Nigeria
AMCON, of harassment
over their property
despite pending court cases
and orders.
Two of such cases were
filed by Mrs. B. Ibude and
Mr. Okechukwu Okoli and
his wife against AMCON
and its receiver-manager
Mr. Lanre Olaoluwa.
The plaintiffs obtained injunctions
against the respondents
AMCON and
Olaoluwa appealed.
The estate spans almost 50
hectares of land and is one
of the gated communities in
the Igbokushu area of Lekki
Peninsula Scheme 1.
The residents are accusing
AMCON and its receivermanager
of outright disregard
for law and order and
illegal use of official powers.
They claimed to have
bought plots of land in the
estate from Grant Properties
Ltd, a company promoted by
the late Rev Olajide
Awosedo and his family,
and obtained the relevant
title documents.
According to them, in 2003,
Grant Properties and
Knight Rook approached
some of them individually
and offered them plots in
the estate, following which
they invested their hardearned
money and live savings,
while others obtained
mortgage loans.
The residents said before
paying, they carried out
checks to ascertain that
there were no caveats in the
Lands Registry or the Corporate
Affairs Commission,
CAC.
Assured that the coast was
clear, they purchased their
various plots legally from
Grant Properties/Knight
Rook, the only companies
authorised to sell plots of
land in the estate.
The homeowners said they
found that at the time of
purchasing the plots of land,
Knight Rook’s title to the
estate was free from any encumbrance,
as no mortgage,
pledge or charge had been
obtained against it by any
financial institution or any
other company.
The homeowners said from
2003 till June 2017, they continued
to buy into the estate;
some developed their property
and started living in the
estate without harassment.
They also registered their
titles, obtained the consent
of the Governor and paid
their Land Use Charge as
and when due.
Issues arose when
AMCON moved to recover
alleged credit facilities
granted to the late Awosedo,
the chairman of Grant Properties
Limited and Knight
Rook Ltd, which executed
the title documents to the
property in the estate.
To the residents’ shock,
sometime in June 2017, they
woke to a publication that
Knight Rook, the owner of
the global certificate of occupancy
over Victory Park
Estate, was in receivership
with other companies over a
loan Grant Properties Ltd
allegedly took from Sterling
Bank, Skye bank (now Polaris
bank), Wema Bank and
FCMB.
According to the residents,
following the steps taken to
recover the outstanding indebtedness,
the late
Awosedo and other shareholders
of Knight Rook purportedly
transferred their
shares to the nominees of
the banks and resigned
their positions as directors,
thereby relinquishing their
right to continue to act as
such.
The plaintiffs alleged that
despite the removal of the
Awosedos from Knight Rook
Ltd, an agreement was entered
into sometime in 2006
by the banks with Grant
Properties Ltd to market
and sell the land at Victory
Park Estate and remit proceeds
to the banks.
The residents said it was
very puzzling that from 2006
until AMCON’s publication
of putting the companies in
receivership in 2017, members
of the public were
made to believe that the
Awosedos were executing
the banks’ instructions.
AMCON appointed Mr.
Olaoluwa as receiver/manager
to take over the assets
of Knight Rook Ltd and its
parent company, Grant
Properties Ltd.
pointing out that the low
purchasing power of Nigerians
will promote
temptation for
quality compromise
in construction activities.
Awobodu therefore
called on the government
to step in
quickly and save
the nation from imminent
danger of
substandard building
construction,
pointing out that
Nigeria is a country
that is blessed
with population,
intellect and resources,
stressing
that the population
can be a strength
or a liability depending
on how resources are
managed.
According to Awobodu,
for investors and manufacturers,
the population
presents a large market for
their products, while for
citizens, the population
presents a raison d'etre for
crash in prices because of
the law of large numbers.
He said the recent increase
in the price of a 50
kilogram bag of cement
from around N2,600 to
N3,500 and beyond, portends
a bad omen for the
construction industry and
the nation at large, insisting
that whatever the underlying
reasons given for
the hike in price, the
NIOB is actuated by altruism
to bring the attendant
or unintended consequences
to the limelight
so that stakeholders can
appreciate and respond
to the emergency that the
nation is confronted with.
“Even at previous prices
before the hike, Nigerians
were confronted with the
challenge of owning their
homes and developing
other infrastructure. Reports
of 'cutting corners'
due to compromised material
inputs abound.
Sandcrete blocks, concrete
and mortar are products
in which cement is
part of the inputs for their
production. These products
also play a major role
in the cost and strength of
structures built with them.
“Virtually all the material
inputs for cement production
are available locally.
All the cement manufacturing
plants have been
existing in Nigeria before
the lockdown. We acknowledge
that there may
be need to maintain and
repair, it is our view that
this, however, is not
enough justification for
the astronomical increase
in cement price”,
Awobodu stated.
A developer who preferred
to be anonymous
lamented that the likely
price variation for most
construction projects
might cause confusion
and pitch contractors
against their clients as a
result of hike in cement
price. He added that resistance
to requests for
adjustments in construction
costs might force a
resort to unprofessional
construction practices
with consequences for the
integrity of construction
projects.