AN OPEN LETTER TO THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE, HIS EXCELLENCY, MR BABAJIDE SANWO-OLU ON THE CONTINUOUS DISOBEDIENCE TO THE JUDGEMENT OF THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT, LAGOS IN SUIT NO: FHC/L /CS/ 1789/2020 BETWEEN SURV. ADARANIJO IBIKUNLE GANIYU RAFIU & SIX OTHERS AND SURVEYOR GENERAL OF LAGOS STATE & TEN OTHERS DELIVERED ON THE 2ND OF AUGUST 2022, BY THE SURVEYOR GENERAL OF LAGOS STATE, SURV. AYOKUNNU S. ADESINA.
Your Excellency Sir,
As group of Concerned Private Practicing Surveyors in Lagos State, we want to use this medium to commend Your Excellency, for the laudable social, economic and infrastructural developments since the commencement of your administration, which is aimed at improving the lives and welfare of the good people of Lagos State.
Lagos State under your leadership has continued to be a model for other states to emulate in terms of promotion of free enterprise, observance of the rule of law and application of innovation in delivering the dividends of democracy to the citizens.
Today, the 21st day of March 2024 is GLOBAL SURVEYORS’ DAY, which is set aside worldwide, to celebrate Surveyors and their contribution to development throughout the world, including Nigeria and we deem it necessary to call your attention to the disregard to the Rule of Law and disrespect to the sanctity of the Court orders by the Surveyor General of Lagos State, Surv. Ayokunnu S. Adesina, which is capable of tarnishing the good efforts of this administration, and frustrating the good efforts of the Surveyors and Survey Practice in Lagos State if not curtailed immediately.
The background to this letter is that on 2nd August 2022, the Federal High Court, Lagos in Suit No: FHC/l /CS/1789/2020 between Surv. Adaranijo Ibikunle Ganiyu Rafiu & Six others (“the Plaintiffs”) and Surveyor General of Lagos State & Ten others (“the Defendants”) delivered a judgment against the Defendants.
In the said judgement, Hon. Justice. D.E Osiagor, declared among others, that Registered Surveyors are qualified to practice anywhere in Nigeria including Lagos State; that the Surveyor General of Lagos State lacks the power to deny any Registered Surveyor the consent to conduct survey on any parcel of land in Lagos State and that the Surveyor General lacks the power to reject copies of survey plans prepared by Registered Surveyors for lodgement.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, the Surveyor General of Lagos, the Attorney General of Lagos State and others as Appellants have filed an Appeal with Appeal No. CA/LAG/CV/1144/2022, against the said judgment which is still pending before the Court of Appeal, Lagos division.
Following the delivery of the judgment, the Defendants applied to the Federal High Court to stop the Plaintiffs from taking the benefit of the judgement pending the appeal, but this application failed as same was refused by the Court.
However, in flagrant disobedience and utter disregard to the judgement of the Federal High Court, the Surveyor General of Lagos State has taken laws into his own hands, by rejecting the record copies of Survey plans lodged by Registered Surveyors, on the premise that the parcel of land falls within Lagos State Government Schemes and that it is the Government Surveyors in his department or Surveyors appointed by him, that has the power to carry out survey exercises on those parcel of land and all efforts to call him to order has failed consistently.
To corroborate our position and for ease of reference, we have itemized some of the numerous Survey Plan numbers of the survey plans that were rejected as follows:
BSD/2426/02/2024/LA -22/01/2024;
OAA/3635/030/2023/LA-12/10/2023; 3SG/LA/1677/2023/81-28/12/2023;
AAN/2799/028/2023/LA-01/12/2023;
AAN/2799/035/2023/LA-22/12/2023;
MOC/4900/003/2024/LA-18/01/2024; BGS/4731/034/2023/LA-07/12/2023;
OAO/3073/010/2023/LA-14/11/2023;
MGC/4906/014/2023/LA-28/12/2023;
MGC/4906/016/2023/LA-28/12/2023;
GSS/2293/A34/2023/LA-27/12/2023;
SGL/4960/2023/32/LA-31/12/2023;
SGL/4960/2023/22/LA-08/12/2023 and
SGL/4960/2023/31/LA-31/12/2023
In all the cases above, private individuals acquired land from Government schemes and appointed surveyors of their choice just as they would hire any other construction professional of their choice, but in each case, the plans drawn by the surveyors were rejected. Your Excellency Sir, the Surveyor General of Lagos State acts on the mistaken assumption that he is the only Surveyor permitted to work on the Government schemes (including those already transferred to private individuals), because it is (originally) a State land. His position has always been that Private Practicing Surveyors are not expected to carry out Survey work on Government Land. However, this erroneous position has been nullified by the extant judgement of the Federal High Court, Lagos which is yet to be set aside by any other court.
We need to emphasize that Survey plans prepared by Registered Surveyors in accordance with the directives of the Surveyors Council of Nigeria (SURCON), as the sole regulatory body of Survey practice in Nigeria, is valid for all intents and purposes, without any input from the Surveyor General of Lagos State or any officer in his department, because the Surveyor General of Lagos State is also bound to obey the directive of SURCON.
It is imperative to bring to the attention of your good office, that on the same Government Land, Private Practising Lawyers and not Government Lawyers from the Attorney General’s office prepare title documents; Private Architect (not Government Architect) designs building; Private Engineers/ Builders (not Government Engineers/Builders) develop the building; Private Electricians (not Government Electricians) carry out the electrical installations in the buildings; Private (not Government) Carpenters do the entire carpentry work; Private (not Government) Plumbers carry out plumbing work, and so on.
By implication, the Surveyor General of Lagos State has always been engaging in Private Practice by insisting that he is the appropriate authority to carry out the Survey exercise, hence he is rejecting the survey plans for lodgement, because the clients on these Government land are corporate bodies and Private individuals.
The activities of the Surveyor General of Lagos is clearly against the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, which states that Public Officers must not engage in Private Practice. Even though all lands within the territory of a state belongs to the Government land as contained in the Land Use Act, the clients are not Government agencies, but Corporate and Private Individuals that acquired the land from the Government.
It is ironic that while the Surveyor General of Lagos State has filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal against the judgement of the Federal High Court, Lagos, but whilst this appeal is pending, he is disobeying with contempt the judgement of the same judiciary, the same entity he is seeking to reverse its judgment.
Your Excellency Sir, your administration has always been known for respect for the judiciary and in upholding the rule of law. Therefore, it will not be in the best interest of this laudable administration to permit the Surveyor General of Lagos State, Surv. Ayokunnu S. Adesina, who incidentally is among the newly appointed Permanent Secretaries in Lagos State, to tarnish your image and drag the integrity of your administration in the mud as a result of his flagrant disobedience to a valid and subsisting judgement of a Superior Court in Nigeria.
We, therefore, urge Your Excellency to investigate this matter and call the Surveyor General of Lagos State, Surv. Ayokunnu S. Adesina to order, before he turns your administration into a haven of judicial recklessness and abuse of lawful judicial process.
Thank you,
SIGNED:
Concerned Private Practicing Surveyors in Lagos State
