The management of a school, Edwards Private School in Agege, Lagos State, and the Agege Local Government Area, are currently locked in a heated argument over the demolition of the school’s 30-year-old three-storey building.
While the school insists that it is the rightful owner of the building and the land where it is located and accused the council authority of illegal demolition, the council however defended its decision to demolish the building due to lack of title to the property.
Newsmen who witnessed the demolition of the school building at the weekend sighted a “confiscation notice on the school fence.
Some residents and old students of the school, sighted at the scene, lamented the action of the council, stating that the school had been beneficial to a lot of indigent Agege residents for many decades.
The school’s books, files, and other properties were scattered within the premises as the staff were denied the opportunity of removing them before the demolition.
Reporters who covered the demolition was also harrassed and assaulted by the council officials.
A staff of the school simply identified as Mrs Adetoro said that the school had an approved building plan, court judgment, a Registered Conveyance and governor’s consent, together with a government letter of excision/release of the land (amongst others) to the original land owners, from where it derived its Title/Conveyance.
She also said the titles were duly registered with the Lagos State Government after obtaining the governor’s consent some 30 years ago.
Mrs Adetoro also stated that the school had paid various levies, taxes and rates to Agege Local Government Area since 1992.
She also showed our reporter a copy of the school’s registered title, building approval number and other school approval documents and a copy of the letter the school owners wrote to the Agege Local Government Chairman and acknowledged in his office a day before the demolition.
It was gathered that the council chairman, Ganiyu Egunjobi, had claimed that the half-plot of land where the school was built, is part of the extension to the Proposed New Agege Model Market, Old Ogba Road, Agege.
Egunjobi was also said to have claimed that the council got its title from the Lagos State government.
LG reacts
When contacted, Egunjobi confirmed that his council was responsible for the demolition. He said “The question is, is the school a public school?; it’s a private school. We had asked them to provide the land title but they don’t have valid papers of ownership.”
Lagos govt keeps mum
Meanwhile, a source at the Lagos State Ministry of Local Government Affairs, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the ministry cannot meddle in the case because of LG autonomy. The source said: “We have a Local Government Monitoring Department that deals with such matters.
“My suggestion to the owner of the school is to write a petition to the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Local Government for intervention and further action.”
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