The Nation Newspaper

Category: Building & Properties

  • We’ll change perception about real estate business – Akintoye

    We’ll change perception about real estate business – Akintoye

    Bullet Buyers Quarterly, a property magazine, was launched recently at the Radisson Blue Hotel in Lagos. The gathering had a roll call of stakeholders in the real estate sector and provided an opportunity to x-ray the challenges in the sector as well as chart a way forward for the industry.

    The brain behind Bullet is Bayo Akintoye, an Associate member of the Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV).

    He is also a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors of the United Kingdom.

    Akintoye, who has been practicing for about 20 years, revealed the focus of the magazine and his passion for the sector.

    He said: “I have worked in various firms and I was also one of the pioneers of Broll Nigeria, multinational real estate organisations that we have in Nigeria today.”

    He left Broll Nigeria in 2012 to start his own firm called Bullet.

    Akintoye added: “It is an acronym for Bulletins and Enquiries Networking Services Limited. The ethos philosophy is to provide information about the real estate business in Nigeria. In addition to providing consultancy, doing research, advisory services and marketing that is sales and leasing. And also property management and facility management.”

    “So, we give a full range of services but our underpinning principle is providing information; information is key. A lot of people get into trouble because they buy properties that are overly high-priced because they do not know; a lot of people are also looking for cheap and affordable homes. Usually, we ask for your needs and provide you with options.”

    He also talked about some of the strategic things his company has done to give its clients optimal satisfaction. “In 2012, we opened the Real Estate Boutique at the Ikeja City Mall. Anybody can walk in to make enquiries and we would advise and provide you with what you need – a house to rent or land to buy. We also hinge our services on integrity, transparent.”

    Real estate agents have been known to be fraudulent, mischievous and cut-throat, always asking for so much, but Akintoye said his team is different.

    “We want to change that perception and show that real estate practitioners can be transparent and they need to serve the client not so much about how much you make. So, you have a situation that you are paying and you are happy and not grumbling.”

    Akintoye talked about the challenges and how he copes with them: “There are so many challenges and this is what Bullets Buyers Quarterly is trying to address. The most important challenge is the perception of the practitioners, the middle man; that we are not trustworthy and we are working on that.”

    Another challenge Akintoye disclosed is the difficulty to find a match.

    “For instance, you have a property and you are looking to find a buyer and vice versa. That matching ability is it and if you have the ability, you would be closing deals on a daily basis. The problem here in Nigeria is that we lack data unlike what you find in other parts of the world where data needed is in the public domain. But here everybody is hoarding data. If I ask a colleague, how much he sold that property, he is not going to tell me.”

    “There is always secrecy and when this happens in a sector or industry, it becomes backwards, and this is what we are trying to change. So, this is what the magazine will be doing and giving data, so that people can filter the data and take what they want. For us in Bullet, another area that we pride ourselves is being innovative and we keep coming up with different ideas and projects that would make things better in the country,” he concluded.

     

     

  • Housing: Still a long way to go

    Housing: Still a long way to go

    Nigeria’s housing deficit has remained a sore point in the country’s history. Stakeholders are concerned that 17 million Nigerians are in need of shelter – a gap they claim has continued to widen. Has the several initiatives of the government made any impact on the shortfall in housing? MUYIWA LUCAS asks.

    Shelter  in Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs ranks prominent. It is, therefore, understandable why man’s desire to own his house remains a priority for him.

    However, considering the harsh economic environment in the country, this dream has become elusive for most Nigerians. And for a country, whose average citizens live on less than $1 daily, this dream of home ownership may remain just that – a dream.

    Although various states and the Federal Government are making  efforts to bridge the gap, these seem to have yielded very negligible amount.

    From the Rent-to-own scheme of the Lagos State government, to the various private initiatives, housing solution seems to be on the front burner.

    However, after 57 years of independence, stakeholders in the built environment have scored the government low in housing provision. This is because, over the years, the Federal Government did not see housing as a social responsibility until the preparation of the Third National Development Plan.

    According to a Fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Kola Akomolede, if there is any sector that has suffered neglect most, since the country’s independence, it is housing. Except for one or two regimes, he revealed, successive governments have treated housing as a non-important subject.

    He noted that though the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) was established by the government in 1973, the most the Authority had achieved was the construction of the FESTAC Town –  a gigantic project abandoned half way. Part of the land acquired for the scheme is still undeveloped. The FHA further built more houses at Satellite Town in Lagos and some in Maitama and Asokoro in Abuja.

    Efforts to solve the housing problem led to the adoption of the roadmap on housing and urban development.

    This, it was hoped, will give effect to the National Housing and the National Urban Development Policies. These include the FHA’s restructuring and the opening of the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) – set up in 2014 – and the recapitalisation of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).

    “Mortgage finance is the bedrock of any housing scheme. During the Ibrahim Babangida regime, the National Housing Fund (NHF) was established to collect money from workers for the mortagage sector. Unfortunately, its implementation  was poor. The Goodluck Jonathan administration came up with the NMRC, but the effect is yet to be felt. As at today, housing purchase remains a “cash and carry “matter, which is not the practice in civilised parts of the word. It is, in fact, one of the reasons corruption will be difficult to stop in Nigeria,” Akomolede claimed.

    He said the outlook was still gloomy. Even without any accurate data or statistics, he explained, there is evidence of housing shortage, especially in the cities.

    This, he said, has manifested in high rents, overcrowding, slums and shanties. Akomolede went on: “There doesn’t appear to be any light at the end of the tunnel as far as the housing problem is concerned as there are no indications that the government is ready to take the bull by the horn, especially in the light of our economic situation.

    ‘’The minister of housing has promised us the construction of houses all over the country. I, however, doubt if this will be possible in  the face of the recession,” he said.

    A former NIESV President, Emeka Eleh, listed the impediments to housing delivery as: lack of long-term funds, worsened by  high interest rates, thereby making it impossible to use such funds for housing.

    Eleh said the mortgage sector remained largely inactive, while the National Housing Fund (NHF), meant to be  accessed  at  the  rate  of nine per cent, is not due to its numerous requirements. He however said the government was reviewing the process.

    The Land Use Decree (now Act) 6 of 1978, Eleh said, has also hindered housing delivery. The Act is meant to make land available for home  ownership. He said getting a Certificate of Occupancy has made transactions in land tedious, time consuming and expensive.

    In developed countries, he said, reliance on properties as collaterals for raising loans for other developments is common. However, in Nigeria, this is not the case as the decree has made properties unattractive for collaterals.The result, he explained, is that the properties, which could be easy to purchase and disposed of, are still lacking.

    Poor infrastructural development is also a factor because a large percentage of the population are cramped into those areas where  basic  facilities  exist,  leading to overstretching of such facilities and high cost of land and finished houses in those areas.

    Other reasons, he listed, include the high cost of building materials and the high import dependence of the sector, construction methods, which rely on the traditional, has also not helped the sector.

    Industrialised building systems, which are very costly and time efficient for mass housing projects are still uncommon, leading to low reliance on the capital market for funds for housing development.

    There are only about two property development companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and only one real estate investment trust (REIT).

    Eleh said the poor  state  of  public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements  at  the state and federal levels has also affected housing delivery.

    “With the level of funding available to the  government  reducing daily,  funding  of  projects through the PPP approach should be encouraged. It is noteworthy  that  this  approach  is   being  used  by  various levels of government but a lot still needs to be done to institutionalise it. It is pertinent to note  that the infrastructure concession an regulatory commission is working hard on this process,” Eleh added.

    However, experts and stakeholders said all hope for a better housing sector was not lost. This is only if the government can put its acts together and see to the implementation of effective housing policies and not just pronouncements.

  • Uphold global best pratice, surveyors told

    Stakeholders in the real estate sector have called for the implementation of international standards in their business.

    They spoke  at the yearly conference of the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Lagos State chapter.

    Its theme was: Standardisation of valuation reports in Nigeria.

    Nelson Thorpe Alonge Chartered Surveyors and Estate Valuers Senior Partner/Chief Executive Officer Victor Alonge said estate valuers work in a market that “shadows” other investment.

    He said the regulation and methods of property valuation were a subject of interest, in and outside the profession, particularly during recession when property values fall.

    This, he said, is justified based on the key role valuation plays in ensuring financial stability.

    Alonge said in the absence of any  standards, valuers have   a lot of “flexibility” in calculations and approaches.

    “It is the exercise of this unguided ‘flexibility’ by valuers that results in negligent property valuation practices with accuracy and integrity issues,” he noted.

    He said it was not surprising that  appropriate valuation standards and their regulations had become vital to promoting and sustaining public confidence in the profession.

    Uniform valuation standards, he further explained, help to reduce investment risks, boost financial reporting and provide an approach to portfolio and asset valuation.

    He, however, warned that the failure to capture the value of underlying assets of private and public sector entities could have severe global consequences not only for investors and shareholders, but also for the public.

    “Valuation underpins financial decisions and forms the basis of a range of market activities. It is, therefore, important that valuation is recognised as a coherent and skilled profession. The profession must, however, continue to ensure that it is fit for future challenges,” Alonge said.

    He noted that property business underpined a major proportion of financial decisions. This is why the valuation report of a property is one of the most-important requirements that guide decision-making in selling a property, he said.

    To achieve this, Alonge said valuation reports help to evaluate the property, and the buyer, and the seller, in understanding its market value.

    “A valuation report thus helps the parties in negotiating the price to be paid for the property. Also, if you are getting a loan from a bank to purchase a property, you will have to submit a  report to the bank. This is required by the bank to ensure that even if the loan amount is left unpaid, the outstanding amount is covered by the value of the property,” the chartered valuer said.

    Property valuations are, he went on, commissioned for the following reasons: to understand the difference between value and price, make an objective assessment of the asset;  remove personal attachment from  decision making and prevent funding shocks, among others.

    Prof. Gabriel Babawale, in his paper  titled: Asset valuation reporting, observed that the difference between a professional surveyor and a trade-test technician in surveying is the application of standards.

    He said that was why it is impossible to be a professional, if there are no standards, noting that valuation is not a fact but an opinion of a surveyor, who must  convince a client.

    Also, another estate valuer, Jimmy Omotosho, who spoke on land and building valuation reporting,  urged surveyors to ensure that their valuation conformed to  local and international standards.

    Lagos NIESV Chairman Rogba Orimolade said estate surveyors ought to be more diligent to get government’s patronage.

    He listed the two major challenges facing indigeneous practitioners as lack of technical expertise and financial incapability to acquire the necessary technologies to execute key valuation jobs.

     

  • Experts meet to tackle mercury pollution

    More than 150 countries have met in Geneva to tackle mercury pollution.

    Mercury is one of the most dangerous chemicals to human health and the environment. It is a neurotoxin with a global reach. The heavy metal is released into the environment as a result of human activities. In the environment, it enters the food chain, accumulates in the body and can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and immune system of persons of all ages.

    Mercury is, particularly, harmful to unborn children and infants whose nervous systems are under development. Damage to the brain cannot be reversed. There is no known safe exposure level for elemental mercury in humans, and effects can be seen even at very low levels.

    The Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which took effect on August 16, will implement the new global treaty, which includes banning new mercury mines and phasing out existing ones; regulating the use of mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, certain industrial processes and the production of everyday items such as certain compact fluorescent lamps, batteries and teeth fillings; as well as controlling the emissions of mercury as a by-product from a range of industrial sectors – including coal combustion.

    “This convention will save lives,”  Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment, said.

    “People are being poisoned and it’s time for this to stop. Now the work begins to remove it from our industrial processes and keep it out of our bodies and our fragile ecosystems.”

    Thousands of tonnes of mercury are emitted each year through releases to air, land and water. Mercury may be released naturally through the weathering of mercury-containing rocks, forest fires and volcanic eruptions. However, the most significant emissions come from human activities, particularly coal burning and artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Mining exposes up to 15 million workers and their families in over 70 countries to being poisoned by mercury, and this includes child labourers.

    Like other heavy metals, mercury persists in the environment and builds up in human and animal tissues. Exposure to mercury occurs mainly through ingestion of fish and other marine species contaminated with methylmercury, its most toxic and bioaccumulative form. People are also exposed to elemental or inorganic mercury through inhalation of mercury vapour during occupational activities or spills or through direct contact from mercury use.

    Mercury pollution is a global problem as it vaporises and can therefore be transported through the air over long distances far removed from its original emission source, polluting air, water and soil. As mercury is an element it is indestructible, and the Convention therefore also stipulates conditions for its interim storage and sound disposal once it becomes waste.

    The Minamata Convention stipulates phase-out of manufacturing, import and export of these mercuryadded products by 2020. Several health care facilities in countries like South Africa, Brazil and the Philippines have demonstrated that phase out is feasible. Countries have been promoting the use of alternatives/mercury free medical devices, lessening exposure of the health professionals and the general public to mercury.

    The Minamata Convention contains provisions that relate to the entire life cycle of mercury, including controls and reductions across a range of products, processes and industries where mercury is used, released or emitted. It also addresses primarymining of mercury, its export and import, its safe storage and its disposal once it is waste.

    Under the Convention, countries are to:

    Control mercury emissions from key industries (including coal, waste incineration, non-ferrous metals, and cement production); Ban new mercury mining and close existing mercury mines after a period of time; Control trade in mercury; Work to reduce the use of mercury in artisanal and small scale gold mining – the largest source of mercury pollution; Promote international cooperation on mercury monitoring and innovation.

    The UN Environment’s new report titled: “Global Mercury Supply, Trade and Demand” confirms artisanal and small-scale gold mining as the world’s largest source of mercury emissions (primarily in Africa, Asia and Latin America) followed by coal fire. The major mercury uses continue to be in artisanal and small-scale gold mining and for the production of vinyl chloride monomer, with these two applications responsible for over 60 percent of global mercury demand.

  • Lagos to traders: vacate roads or face sanctions

    The Lagos State Government has warned traders, particularly those in Ogba Market and its environs, to vacate the roads or face heavy sanctions.

    It said no one was permitted to convert the roads, their medians, set-backs and walkways to markets or street shops.

    Commissioner for the Environment Dr. Babatunde Adejare stated this while on inspection of the Abibatu Mogaji Sunday Market, Oluwole Mini-Market and Ogba Retail Market.

    Adejare lamented that despite   appeals from the government, some traders were still violating the environmental laws. He said the government would longer tolerate lawlessness by any trader.

    ‘’Our focus is to maintain sanity in our markets, now dotted with all manners of shanties and illegal structures, such as attachments to tenements and containers,’’ he said.

    He urged owners of street shops to fence them off the road, if they must continue to exist as that is one way to reduce the havocs to the environment.

    He warned that if the fence was not erected within a time, the street shops would be demolished and the tenants penalised, according to the laws.

    Ogba-Oluwole Community Estate Association Chairman Mr Lateef Abass pledged support to the government.

  • Firm restates commitment to affordable housing

    The Managing Director of RevolutionPlus Property Development, Bamidele Onalaja, has restated his firm’s commitment to affordable housing for workers across the country.

    He spoke at the inauguration of the company’s corporate head office in Ikeja, Lagos, at the weekend.

    According to Onalaja, housing deficit dates back to 1957, when the first white paper on housing deficit was released.

    Despite the past administrations’ policies to solve the problem, he explained, the issue has continued to linger, making the deficit to hit 17 million.

    “As Nigeria’s population keeps growing, especially urban settlements, in terms of births and rural to urban migration, the demand for houses keeps growing as well but without a commensurate response from the government at various levels,” Onalaja said.

    He called on the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, to champion the reform of the Land Use Act, create an enabling environment for  families to acquire houses by liberalising the processes of obtaining mortgage at government institutions.

    He recalled that between 1985 and 1993, former military president   Ibrahim Babangida initiated the  “Housing for all by 2020 policy,”, which, he claimed, has not yielded results because the houses, where available, are beyond the reach of the people.

    Lagos State Surveyor-General Mr. Olutomi Sangowanwa praised the firm and other private investors in housing for their intervention in the state and country.

    He further said the government alone could not provide housing for all, and that was why the banking sector, too, had keyed into the sector by providing mortgage facilities.

  • Govt, BCPG seek collaboration on building collapse

    The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Abiola Anifowoshe, has said rofessionals’ contributions and ideas from residents will be further explored to stem the rising incidence of building collapse in Lagos State.

    He spoke at this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), which held in Lagos.

    Anifowoshe explained that the state, under Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, placed high premium on regulatory authorities’ collaboration with other stakeholders. This, he said, is why the administration welcomes suggestions, brilliant ideas, technical and professional advice towards curbing the menace. With this, according to him, the hydra-headed problem of building collapse in the state will be checked.

    Anifowoshe further said the state was ready to provide necessary assistance  in tandem with constructive engagement and high point of planning inclusion as contained in the state’s urban governance.

    Also at the event, Director-General, Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr. Hakeem Dickson, contended that the spate of building collapse suggested that some professionals could have been cutting corners, by either using substandard materials, or not complying with set standards. He said the governor was worried about the spate of collapse, especially those involving buildings under construction.

    According to the host and BCPG President, Mr. Kunle Awobodu, one of the major problems of building collapse is the total disregard and wilful violation of the law. Awobodu, who is worried by the development, explained that in an organised society where the laws of the land are strictly adhered to, building collapse is an aberration.

    “A person, who cheats on the recommended setbacks is aware that he has created problems of insufficient ventilation, lighting, parking space, privacy and protection from fire incident in the adjoining or neighbouring buildings. The two-storey building that collapsed at No. 68, Herbert Macaulay Way, Ebute Meta in Lagos on August 31, 2017 affected the four-storey building on No. 66 simply because No. 66 reduced the setback specified by the building regulation,” he explained.

    The BCPG President regretted that while building law provides for minimal airspace of three metres between a building and its fence at the sides and the rear, including six metres in front, sadly, according to him, most developments are at conflict with this specification. “This type of situation,” he said, “is an indication that the developer of such buildings, including the supervisors, must have disobeyed many other specifications in the building construction process.”

    He continued:“Such a person, who could have taken the risk of leaving a permanent evidence of disregard for setback regulations, will not hesitate to disobey other specifications such as concrete mix ratio and steel reinforcement, bar spacing that will remain hidden after construction. Obvious compromise on setbacks in many locations in our society heightens our suspicion and our fears that quality of several buildings has all along been compromised.”

  • Reviewed fees will stimulate better services, say surveyors

    The reviewed professional fee charged by surveyors in Lagos State will enhance quality service and professionalism.

    This was the position of the Association of Private Practising Surveyors of Nigeria (APPSN), Lagos branch Chairman, Mr. Olufemi Odetunmibi, at the body’s 2017 annual workshop, last week in Lagos.

    “The essence of the reviewed fee is to ensure that surveyors render proper services to clients, because when the fee is not right, you can be sure that the service will not be right,” he explained.

    Odetunmibi, while welcoming participants to the workshop, themed: “Corporate business ethics: Repositioning surveying as an enterprise,” said the essence was to encourage members to be alive to their responsibilities.

    “Our members should have the mind-set that they must practice the profession within the ambit of the corporate profession. That will not increase our fees, but will allow the public to have value for their money,” he said.

    Odetunmibi called for an increased patronage of professional surveyors for sustainable development, urging the public to be proactive by getting quality services from his members in developing their property.

    He said although surveyors’ services where being utilised, it can be better as any major development should have the input of a surveyor, warning that people who short-circuit developments have themselves to blame at later dates.

    “If we are looking for sustainable development, then the people, who have the technical capability to do that should be carried along from the beginning. Even when it is completed, we should be carried along to ensure that it is sustained and not developed and left unattended to,” he observed.

    Odetunmibi noted that land administration would remain very important in the scheme of things; hence, he urged that the global approach should be closely monitored so surveyors could be active players in the way things are shaped. This, he said, is because prevailing events place greater responsibilities on private survey practitioners to reposition the practice of surveying.

    “Anytime you see any infrastructural decay, find out if any registered surveyor is involved; most times, you find that our people are not fully involved in the foundation and we are asking that this should change. Surveyors, especially those in private practice, have contributed a lot to economic growth by ensuring that proper foundation was always laid,” Odetunmibi said.

    The guest lecturer and Managing Partner of Sanya Alabi and Co., Mr. Julius Olusanya, urged members of the association to add value to their services in order to give back to the society.

    “In business, you are potentially managing men, money and materials to achieve a purpose. You can either add value as an individual by giving back to the society through providing job opportunities to others, or you just make profit,” he said.

  • AMF Business Service, Safety awards

    Alpha Mead Facilities (AMF) has been adjudged winner of the High Quality Professional Business Service Award, organised by the 9jaSAFE Awards.

    The Award, which is designed to distinguish firms and individuals, who record outstanding results in their industries, recognised AMF, a facilities management (FM) company with operations in Nigeria, Dubai, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal and Cameroun for its outstanding achievements in the FM industry.

    “This is a well-deserved award, which we are convinced is merited, given the amount of time, financial and very high quality human resources that we have deployed to take charge of this aspect of our business,” Femi Akintunde, an engineer and Alpha Mead Group Managing Director,  said.

    He described the award as apt, giving the level of awareness about Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) in most organisations. “It’s quite unfortunate that some people still assume that safety is expensive, when in reality the cost of an accident or fatality far exceeds the initial cost of preventing same,” he added.

    He further explained that as a Health and Safety conscious organisation, the firm has, in its 10 years of operations, implemented strategies that ensure the strict compliance of its HSE policy, which is periodically reviewed to suit the dynamic nature of the business environment. Similarly, the company recently won the achievement award for Outstanding Commitment to Health, Safety, and Environment by the Nigeria Safety Award for Excellence.

    The Awards Co-ordinator, Mr. Jonathan Hicks, expressed pride in the success of the winners: “Working in this vibrant and exciting region offers many challenges and opportunities. Therefore, it is my pleasure to congratulate Alpha Mead Facilities and wish them the best of luck as they look ahead,”he said.

    The 9jaSAFE Awards is one of Nigeria’s most prestigious and respected award for Safety Professionals/Practitioners and organisations across the country. The award aims to recognise outstanding performances and laudable initiatives of companies and individuals, to foster and promote Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) best practices in the workplace and in the nation at large.

  • Ecotourism: Pupils to champion conservation ideals

    Ecotourism: Pupils to champion conservation ideals

    To uphold environment sustenance, Lagos State Government has focused attention on secondary school pupils to champion the ideals of conserving the state wetlands and its biodiversity through ecotourism.

    Its Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Babatunde Adejare, who disclosed this last week in Alausa, during an event to mark the commencement of the second edition of the Conservation Ecotourism for pupils in state Secondary Schools, said ecotourism had the primary intention of changing the perception of the public about conventional tourism, especially as it relates to the environment.

    “The goal of this programme is to encourage sustainable travel practices that promote the conservation of protected natural areas in the state and expose students to the natural environment,”he said.

    According to him, the Youth Wetlands Education and Eco-tourism programme will provide science-based, hands-on activities for pupils to gain proper understanding of the functions and values of wetlands, and explore strategies for sustaining the unique ecosystems.

    He said the government was not comfortable with the alarming rate of wetlands and biodiversity loss in the state as exemplified by the National Theatre and Iju wetlands, which were as a result of indiscriminate destruction of natural habitats, reclamation for housing estate development and population explosion.

    Adejare disclosed that in realisation of the need for people to have a change of heart, the state was educating the young ones, who are leaders of tomorrow, to embrace the correct use of God-given environmental resources and spread the message to others.

    His words: “The Lagos State Government, being mindful of the capacity of the young ones to communicate and bring about change, has adopted the strategy to educate every young pupil to embrace sustainable use of environmental resources and discourage unhealthy abuse of the wetlands in the state.”

    Adejare pointed out that the 10 participating pupils, who were selected through a rigorous process, would have the opportunity to visit some pristine and fragile ecosystems, zoological gardens and conservation centres across the five divisions of the state to acquaint them with the abundant wetlands resources and biodiversity.

    He said the recommendations from the first edition of the programme last year, led to the protection of some wetlands in the state, especially in Iyafin, Badagry and Itoikin-Orugbo in Epe.

    He enjoined Lagosians to commit themselves to a lifestyle which encourages environmentally friendly options and embrace the attitude of visiting eco-tourism sites for relaxation and knowledge of the environment.