Light rail: Ogun Assembly tackles Lagos over planned demolition of 1,000 buildings
The Ogun and Lagos State government are set to clash over the planned demolition of about 1,000 houses and shops in their border communities to give way for the construction of the Rail Mass Transit project by the latter.
A notice of demolition was served by officials of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority on residents of Itoki, Agbado and Ijoko in the Ifo Local Government Area of the State.
The affected areas are in the border communities of both states.
According to the Lagos State Government, the red line is a 37-Kilometre North-South railroad project, which has the capacity to move over one million passengers daily when operational.
It indicated that the construction of the Agbado station and associated infrastructure “is in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the Nigerian Railway Corporation”.
The Lagos State Government added that the agency, LAMATA, was also “in close consultation with the Ogun State Ministry of Transportation about the development”.
However, the Ogun State House of Assembly, on Thursday, declared the removal notice as “null and void”.
The assembly called for a formal agreement between the two states through a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the planned removal of structures at the border communities.
It said the MoU would ensure the required compensation would be paid to property owners, whose structures might be affected in the course of the implementation of the proposed project.
The Speaker of the Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, gave the directive while responding to the submission of the lawmaker representing the Ifo II State Constituency, Ganiyu Oyedeji.
Speaking at the plenary, Oyedeji informed lawmaker of an unauthorized distribution of demolition notice by LAMATA to residents of Itoki, Agbado and Ijoko.
He stressed the need need for the governments of the two states to jointly agree on the modalities for the implementation of the projects and how the affected residents would be properly and promptly compensated.
