The Nation Newspaper

Tag: houses

  • NLC to build 3,050 houses for workers

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Sokoto State  will build 3,050 housing units for civil servants, its Chairman, Mr. Aminu Umar has said.

    Umar, represented by his Deputy, Mr. Abubakar Malami, at the May Day celebrations, said the houses would be built “in partnership with some private estate developers”.

    So far, about 100 hectares of land had been acquired by the NLC for the houses, including other facilities, such as clinic, mini-market and schools, among others.

    ”Therefore, I will like to solicit for your continued cooperation in order to help us achieve the set goals of improving the welfare of workers,” Umar urged.

    He praised the state government for ensuring the regular payment of salary and the payment of arrears of gratuities to retired civil servants.

    He extolled the cordial relationship between labour unions and the state government.

    Umar acknowledged the state government’s commitment to improving the lot of civil servants in the state.

    He, however, appealed to the state government to look into the plight of retired teachers and workers of local governments, as well as salary disparity between secondary and primary school teachers.

    Umar further urged the state to implement consolidated salary for legislative staff, as well as introduce a special media salary scale, among other demands.

  • How ex-minister bought two houses in Panama with shell firm

    A former Minister for National Planning, Rasheed Gbadamosi, owns two expensive and luxury penthouses in Panama, documents retrieved by PREMIUM TIMES from the leaked Mossack Fonseca database have shown.

    Gbadamosi, writer, businessman and bureaucrat,  bought the property in 2008, while serving as chairman of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

    The septuagenarian shelled out a staggering N836.8 million ($2.6 million) for the penthouses in a swanky tower in Panama, PREMIUM TIMES said.

    An official of Mossack Fonseca said in one correspondence that Gbadamosi was so enamoured, and in so much haste to acquire the exotic property that he once offered to fly to Panama in a private jet to inspect them.

    Details of Gbadamosi’s luxury acquisitions were part of the internal data of the Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, obtained by the German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with PREMIUM TIMES and over 100 media partners in 82 countries.

    According to the documents, sometime in early 2008, the former minister approached Gilberto Aleman, a Panamanian real estate broker, to help him secure two posh penthouses, owned by Nicolas Corcione, owner of Ciclones Corporation Inc. and Cosmopolitan Corp., the companies under which the property was registered.

    Valued at N436,800,000 ($1,365,000.00),  the first penthouse  Gbadamosi bought, is in Ocean Park Tower 2, and consists of a surface area of 537.33 square metres, on 35th floor

    The property is registered under the ownership of Ciclones Corporation Inc.

    The second penthouse, Penthouse 5, is in the same building as the first, Ocean Park Tower 2. It consists of a surface area of 479.88 square metres, on the 39th floor of the building. It is registered under the ownership of Cosmopolitan Corp.

    Ocean Park Tower 2, which was completed in 2006, is one of the most expensive residences in Panama City. Located within the lush, Punta Pacifica area of the city, Ocean Park Tower 2 is a 44-floor glassy skyscraper that stood at 463 feet.

    According to Panama-guide.com, an English Language website in Panama, the building, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean, comes furnished with controlled security and high-end luxury finishing.

  • Houses get notices for dirty environment

    Houses get notices for dirty environment

    Residents of Ikeja Local Government Area of Lagos State have been enjoined to take the monthly environmental sanitation seriously or face sanctions.

    The council’s Executive Secretary, Adekunle Adeokun, who gave the advice, ordered that all houses on Alhaja Kofoworola Crescent except House 40, be served notices for not cleaning their surroundings.

    He spoke during an unscheduled visit to Kofoworola, Modupe, Olu-Akerele and Regina Coker Streets, and Alhaja Kofoworola Crescent during Saturday’s environmental sanitation.

    Adeokun, who led the council’s officials on the inspection condemned the blocked, dirty drainages and environment, and vowed to punish defaulters.

    “I am not too pleased that on Alhaja Kofoworola Crescent; only House 40 complied with the sanitation. Others chose to do nothing. It is quite unfortunate that this is happening in one of the reserved areas in our council, where the elites reside. Look at the drainages and see grasses beside their houses. It is shameful that some people are living here and they can’t observe simple hygiene.

    “We have taken a decision that all the houses, except House 40, be served notices to come to the council. We are going to impose sanctions on them.

    “When we see them, at the first instance, we will ask them to go and comply within seven days. But if they fail to do so, then, appropriate action will be taken.

    During the tour The Nation observed that there are illegal structures and shanties on Modupe Street; some buildings are also sinking.

    The drainages, are also blocked, leaving the streets flooded whenever it rains.

    The team also visited the new Alade Market site were shops have been built for the relocation of 500 traders.

    Adeokun, who hinted that the project will be commissioned by the end of this month, said there were 300 lock up shops and 200 KAA clamps.

    “We are relocating about 500 traders from Alade Market to the new site. We are targeting May ending for the commissioning. This new site has three access roads to avoid causing traffic and inconveniencing residents.

    “More than 400 traders have complied by paying the necessary fees. For the lock up shops, allocation fee is N150,000 while the fee for allocating the KAA clamp is N50,000 and over 400 traders have complied. We are not going to encourage the use of ‘I pass my neighbour generators’ here. So, the facility will include a 360KVA generator which will be maintained and fuelled by the council,” he said.

  • Fire razes six houses in Ilaje

    Six houses were razed in an inferno that gutted a Mobil petrol station on Saturday in Igbokoda, Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the fire, which began at 7.30p.m, was as a result of a spark from a house beside the station.

    No life was lost in the inferno but the absence of a fire service station worsened the situation.

    An eye witness, Prince Ayoola Odidiomo, said:“It was through the efforts of residents that the fire was put out to stop further wreckage.

    “We saw the fire this evening burning the Mobil petrol station before we later discovered that the fire started from a house beside it, which was loaded with diesel.

    “It was so sad that there is no fire service station here in Igbokoda, the headquarters of Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC).

    “We, the residents tried our best to put off the fire to stop further damage,” Odidiomo said.

    The Divisional Police Officer, Ifeanyi Godswill, could not be reached for comments.

  • ‘We need better, cheaper houses’

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Malam Muhammad Bello wants better houses for residents of the territory but he also desires affordable shelter.
    To achieve this, he called for a multi-disciplinary meeting of all professionals involved in the building industry.

    Bello made the call while receiving a delegation from the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) led by its President, Arc. Umaru Aliyu that paid him a courtesy visit.

    He reiterated that the call was necessary i order to enable professionals to brainstorm and ensure that sanity is brought to the sub-sector, thereby providing more housing delivery to the populace.

    Malam Bello noted that the industry is robust, with the capacity to provide ready employment to the teeming populace in the FCT, because of the diverse professionals and unskilled labourers involved from the conception to the completion stage.

    He expressed delight to meet professional bodies like ARCON that have contributed immensely to the development of the Federal Capital Territory, recalling that recently, he had a similar meeting with the Town Planners Association Nigeria.

    According to a statement issued by the Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the minister said architects, engineers, town planners, surveyors and builders should all come together to find a better way to fast track the entire process from the drawings, building plan approvals, setting out and the entire building construction process in the territory.
    The Minister decried a situation where houses are built in estates without giving enough space for greening, planting of trees and at least a garden at the backyard as well as space for children play area.

     

  • Ikpeazu’s wife builds houses for widows

    Ikpeazu’s wife builds houses for widows

    The wife of Abia State Governor, Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu, in collaboration with the Vicar Hope Foundation, has inaugurated two bungalows for two indigent widows in Bende and Ohafia concils of the state.

    Speaking during the Commissioning, Mrs. Ikpeazu stated that the houses were built in fulfilment of her covenant with God to provide succour to this class of people who have no one to help them.

    She also said the gesture was equally to thank God for her husband’s victory at the Supreme Court.

    Mrs Ikpeazu urged well-meaning Abians to assist the government in ameliorating the plight of the widows and other vulnerable persons.

    She said that with the dwindling economic fortunes of the state, it was becoming very difficult for government alone to take care of the indigent and vulnerable people in the state.

    The beneficiaries included Mrs. Egbichi Okorie from Ezeukwu Community in Bende Local Government Area and Mrs. Aria Ugba from Nkporo in Ohafia Local Government Area.

    The beneficiaries, Mrs. Egbichi Okorie and and Mrs. Aria Ugba thanked Mrs. Ikpeazu and prayed for God’s protection and divine health for the gesture.

    Some of the dignitaries witnessed the inauguration were the Deputy Governor of the state, Sir Ude Oko Chukwu, the Commissioner for Youth Development, Mr. Hagler Okorie, and the Commissioner for Women Affairs Lady Chinedu Brown.

  • Landlords, developer trade words over demolition of houses

    Landlords, developer trade words over demolition of houses

    Some landlords in Ilamoshe Estate in Ejigbo, Lagos, have accused a developer of illegally demolishing their houses.

    The developer is allegedly relying on a court judgment to carry out the demolition, but the landlords are claiming their buildings do not fall within the area covered by the verdict.

    The landlords, Idowu Malomo, Adewale Adenuga, Mrs Funmi Sanni, Andrew Itimi, Captain Joseph Awodeha, Raymond Uzor and Hammed Ishola Makanju said their houses were not part of the land covered by the judgement.

    In a petition to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Inspector-General of Police and Lagos State Chief Judge, their lawyer, Mr Gbenga Ojo accused the developer of vandalising his clients’ houses in a bid to “forcibly eject them”.

    The January 22 petition reads: “We are writing because as the governor of Lagos State, you are the Chief Security Officer of the state and we have absolute confidence that you will protect the lives and property of our clients from land grabbers/ajagungbales using authority of the police and the judiciary to perpetrate acts of violence, brigandage and gangsterism without any regard for the rule of law.

    “The landlords have been in peaceful and undisturbed possession of their property for between 15 and 25 years.”

    The petitioners alleged that their buildings were destroyed despite not being under the judgment relied upon by the developer.

    They said: “Some group of people led by Alhaji Hakeem Osuolale, first pasted public notice on the front doors of our clients’ properties to warn them about series of court judgments granted in favour of Abiodun Omodele Ojo and Mrs Jokotade Bakare. “Our clients met him and informed him that their various parcel of land are outside the land covered by the judgment but he refused to listen.

    “Unfortunately, what followed was unbelievable and unimaginable. He brought some policemen and over 500 hoodlums to pull down part of the buildings and fences of our clients in broad daylight. After all these, apparently fearing loss of lives, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), requested all the parties to go to the office of the Surveyor-General of Lagos State to determine the extent of boundary covered by the judgment and this was done.”

    They said they were still being harassed despite the Surveyor-General’s report that their houses were not captured under the judgment.

    “This”, they said, “is an act of impunity, which we know and believe that your government, which is a government of change will not tolerate from anybody or authority in the state. We, therefore, appeal to you as a matter of urgency to protect our clients, members of their families and their properties from these vandals threatening the peace and security of the state. The report of the Surveyor-General clearly showed that the various parcels of land that belong to our clients are not within the land covered by the judgment.”

    Contacted, Osuolale advised the landlords to go to court if they are dissatisfied with the judgment.

    “If they (landlords) have any issue with the judgment they should approach the court instead of making their case on the pages of newspaper,” he said.

    Speaking with The Nation, Ojo said there were two orders restraining Osuolale and others from trespassing on his clients’ properties.

    He said: “On February 23, Justice L. A. F. Oluyemi of Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja gave an interim order restraining them and the police from going to our clients’ land while Justice Ganiyu Safari, also of Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja on Wednesday February 24 equally granted an order restraining the developer from going to our clients’ landed property.”

    In a communiqué issued at the end of a meeting, the Joint Ilamoshe Community Development Association, to which the landlords belong, said: “The meeting observed that the said judgment did not affect all the land in Ilamoshe, by virtue of the areas verged red in the judgment-creditor’s survey plan. Such areas not included in the said judgment include all the areas in the streets not mentioned at all in the judgment which do not fall within the area verged red in the judgment-creditor’s survey plan No: LA/1425/001/2011 dated 22nd August, 2011. It also includes streets not mentioned at all in the said judgement, which includes, but not limited to the following: Alimi Bada Street; Omoyele Street; Olokobi Lane; Adeyemi Odumade Street; Hammed Makanjuola Avenue; Peace Estate comprising of Labake Adepoju Street; Dim Alor Street; Alhaji Ademola Saka Street and Alhaji Wasiu Sholola Streets.

    “It is only the Deputy Sheriff of the High Court of Lagos State that has the right to levy execution of judgment of the said court in company of police officers. Unfortunately, the judgment-creditor has resorted to self-help in the execution of the said judgment.”

  • Houses without toilets

    •Why would anyone build a house without toilet?

    In the 21st century, who would believe there are houses without toilets in Lagos? So, what do   residents of such houses do when they need to use a toilet? The situation clearly contradicts the megacity’s high level of urbanisation. It is a welcome development that the Lagos State government is reportedly shutting houses without standard toilets.

    The Director of Public Enlightenment in the state’s Ministry of Information and Strategy, Mr. Oluwatoyin Awosika, said: “We would continue to educate people on the need to stop open defecation”.  He added:  ”Again, you don’t blame some of these people for doing these things; so many houses don’t have toilets. So many houses don’t have bathrooms, so naturally, you find these people doing it outside.”

    Statistically, The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) last year reported that over 50 million Nigerians do not have access to toilets, and that Nigeria ranks among the five countries in the world with the greatest rates of open defecation. In a report to mark last year’s World Toilet Day on November 19, Sanjay Wijesekera, head of UNICEF’s global water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, highlighted the problems created by where people go to toilet. For instance, he said: “Where rates of toilet use are low, rates of diarrhoea tend to be high… 88 per cent of diarrhoea cases in Nigeria are attributed to unsafe water and sanitation.”

    The point is that open-air defecation has a great potential to cause human illnesses, even of epidemic proportions.  When people don’t have access to toilet facilities that are both clean and safe, and are forced to defecate in the open, the resultant contamination of both the air and water supply poses a hazard to human health.

    Indeed, the public health consequences of open defecation cannot be ignored. It is reassuring that the Lagos State government is focused on enforcing building regulations that discourage the construction of houses without toilets. Why on earth would anyone build a house without a toilet in the first place?  Awosika stressed:  ”The environmental law is clear, every house must have a standard kitchen, standard toilet, standard bathroom; they must have proper drainage around the house and water system.”

    He continued:  ”Government cannot take all landlords and start inspecting all the houses, but the Ministry of Health, through its health inspection officers, visit some houses and where they find that there are no toilets, they seal them up.”

    A proper toilet culture is essential in the society; open defecation is inexcusable and unacceptable. It must be said that open defecation is not only unhygienic, but also undignified. The official monitors should carry out their duties without fail to ensure that the message is communicated effectively.

    Modern thinking regards having a toilet that is clean and disposes of waste properly as a human right that every person can and should enjoy. The World Toilet Day, initiated in 2001 by the World Toilet Organisation (WTO), is meant to help spread the word and make safe toileting the standard for the world’s population. It is a testimony to the importance of the subject that the global non-profit group that started with 15 members now has 151 member organisations in 53 countries. In addition to the World Toilet Day, the World Toilet Summits and World Toilet Expo and Forum reinforce the place and propriety of toilets in the modern world.

    The Lagos State government, and indeed the country at large, must continue to pay serious attention to the objective of improving toilet and sanitation conditions in the social environment.  The country cannot afford the image of backwardness that goes with open defecation in the modern era.

  • AFTERMATH OF HISTORIC CUP TRIUMPH : Akwa Utd yet to get cash, houses

    AFTERMATH OF HISTORIC CUP TRIUMPH : Akwa Utd yet to get cash, houses

    A month after they won the Federation Cup, Akwa United players are yet to get the reward of a house and N2 million  each promised by  Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel.

    Akwa beat Lobi Stars 2-1 to win the 2015 Federation Cup in the final played at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos on November 21.

    Players of the team revealed that they are yet to get the N2 million  and house  promised each of them by the governor as a reward for clinching a first-ever.

    “Up till now we haven’t been given the house and the money the governor promised us for winning the Federation Cup,” lamented one of the players.

    “Our families and friends don’t believe us that we are yet to get the largesse as they see us as liars. We are pleading with the governor to fulfill the promises and make us smile.”

    Another player said the promises raised their hopes, but they are down as these pledges have not yet been redeemed.

    “The promise of N2 million  and house made us happy and we are seriously waiting to have them but it’s taken long than expected and our morale is down now,” he admitted.

    “We were told like two weeks back that it is being processed. It’s a month now that we won the trophy and  we haven’t got the house and the money yet, we are pleading to the governor to help us  fulfill his promise so as to have a very nice Christmas and New Year celebration,” urged another worried player.

    It was also gathered that the players were only paid half salary for the month of November with an excuse from the management that they do not have money to pay full salary.

  • Houses for the needy in Abia

    Houses for the needy in Abia

    The poor will always be around, but that is no reason to leave them to their devises.

    Wife of the Abia State governor,  Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu, through her pet project, the Vicar  Hope Foundation, has built and inaugurated  seven bungalows for six indigent widows and one blind man from Osisioma, Obingwa and Umuahia North local government areas of Abia State.

    Speaking during the commissioning, Mrs. Ikpeazu said that her passion to help the indigent widows and other less privileged persons in the society was her covenant with God and complementary governance role of providing succor to this class of people who have no one to help them to have a decent accommodation.

    Mrs Ikpeazu said that whatever her pet project is doing for the indigent people in the state is only designed to compliment what her husband the state governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu is currently doing for the people of the state and urged the people of the state to support the present administration.

    She thanked some important Abians who contributed funds towards the buildings through her pet-project the VICAR HOPE FOUNDATION and urged them not to relent in their effort to ensure that the partner with her to help her husband to make the state a better place.

    The wife of the governor called on well endowed Abians to assist the government in ameliorating the plight of all indigent widows and other vulnerable persons in our society stressing that the present administration has an Abia house community ownership project aimed at making Abians house owner in their various communities with little assistance from government.

    The beneficiaries include Mrs. Happiness Nweke, 63 years from Umuosu village Amavo in Osisioma, Mrs Ngozi Nwaze Nwachukwu, 37 years of Umugbugo Etili Ohanze, Obingwa, Mrs Ahaoma Nkuba, 34 years from Itungwa Umuobiakwa, Mrs Oluchi Anyanwu, Mr Isaac Otuji of Umulelu Itungwa, 68 years and Mrs Lovina Emenike from Avonkwu Ibeku in Umuahia North Local Governor Area.

    In their remarks, the Transition Committee Chairman of the councils commended the wife of the Governor, Mrs Nkechi Ikpeazu for her giant strides within a short period of stay in office and assured the people that the PDP led administration will dole out more dividends of democracy.

    Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Happiness Nweke thanked the wife of the Governor, Mrs. Ikpeazu and prayed for God’s protection and divine health for her selfless services to mankind.