Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has reconstituted Lagos State Physical Planning and Building Control Appeals Committee charged with the responsibility of overseeing regulatory activities and investigate professional wrongdoing within the urban planning system.
Governor Sanwo-Olu inaugurated the 14-man committee from different sectors within the physical planning and legal ecosystem.
At the inauguration on Tuesday, he revealed that Town Planner Funmi Osifuye would head the team for a three-year term.
After their two-term tenure, former members submitted reports detailing their activities to the governor.
Section 79 of the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law of 2010 (as amended) provided the statutory basis for the creation of the Committee as an independent adjudication body.
Its full operations began in 2019.
Following the swearing-in of the new members at a ceremony held in the Banquet Hall of the State House, Marina, Sanwo-Olu granted the committee full executive authority to cleanse the planning environment and scrutinise operations within regulatory Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.
The governor emphasised that no well-intentioned regulatory system could be immune to error, noting that a government that solely focused on regulation without providing a mechanism for reviewing its activities would essentially place itself above accountability.
The reconstitution of the Committee, he said, would address public concerns in the State’s physical planning system, adding that the development would further aid the transitioning of the State regulatory oversight from a mere text to an institution.
Sanwo-Olu said: “No system administered by human beings is infallible.
“Where decisions can be wrong, there must also be a pathway for redress.
“It is, therefore, right and necessary to have an independent body to which any aggrieved developer, professional, property owner, or institution may turn when they believe a decision has been made unfairly, incorrectly, or without due regard to their rights.
“That body is this Committee.
“Under Section 82 of the Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law (as amended), this Appeals Committee has the statutory authority to investigate and decide on matters relating to planning permit applications, development plans and layouts, changes of use, approvals-in-principle, demolition orders, the conduct of planning and building control officials, and the service of regulatory notices.
“It may call for documents, summon witnesses, and consult the full body of physical planning law and regulations in the State.
“Its orders are binding.
“The Law requires that relevant agencies enforce them, just as they would enforce orders of the High Court.
“This is a significant mandate.
“I want the members of this Committee and the public to understand what this means in practice.”
Sanwo-Olu said the necessity of an independent appeal body could not be overemphasised, given that planning decisions involved complex judgements, while the decisions would affect people’s investments, livelihoods, and community well-being.
