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Banks, eateries take over Lagos streets

By Jude Njoku


PRIOR to the advent of modern technology and its introduction in banking transactions, many Nigerians dreaded leaving their money in the custody of commercial banks. This was principally due to the fact that a lot of man-hours that could have been utilized in other productive sectors were lost in the process of either lodging or withdrawing money from the banks. This obviously gave rise to a popular advertisement of a man who went to the bank with his mat to sleep while awaiting his turn to be attended to.

There were also very few banks in those days. It was a known practice for people to come to the bank early in the morning, drop their cheques and pick their tally only to return to their homes or offices instead of waiting endlessly to be attended to. They would make a return to the bank about three hours later when they envisage that it would now be their turn to receive attention. Apart from the time wasted, the distance to the banks was another factor that discouraged people from patronising them.
All that is now history as the ongoing stiff competition in the banking sector especially among the new generation of banks has led to the siting of branches along almost all major roads and streets in Lagos and other commercial centres across the country.

Areas hitherto designated “Residential Neighbourhoods”, have since been turned into bank streets with the attendant environmental hazards and security problems to nearby residents. In Lagos when you see an old building being refurbished or entirely redeveloped, check who the new tenant would be and your discovery would be either a bank or a fast food company. Allen Avenue, Opebi Road, Obafemi Awolowo Way, Adeniyi Jones Street, Aromire Street and Isaac John Street GRA all in Ikeja are supposed to be residential areas but today, these streets have little or no sign to show that they were once residential neighbourhoods. Banks, eateries and other light commercial activities are now competing for dominance there.

The same situation is also playing out at Ajao Estate, Airport Road, Adeniran Ogunsanya and Bode Thomas streets in Surulere, all of which were previously residential areas. The entire Victoria Island and South West Ikoyi which were designed as residential neighbourhoods for the upper income class have become high streets with the attendant over-stretching of the available infrastructure. In these areas, competing signposts of banks and eateries adorn the landscape. The siting of these banks and eateries appear not to have taken into consideration the narrow roads in most of the locations. Most of these banks and fast food joints have little or no parking spaces for the vehicles of their teeming customers who have no other option than to park in unauthorized and oftentimes dangerous spots, a situation that has led to the obstruction of the free flow of traffic, especially during business hours.

First Vice Chairman of the Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Dr Ajayi Patunola said the rapid and unprecedented growth in the population of Lagos makes the increase in bank branches inevitable.

According to him, it is estimated that about 3,000 new people come into Lagos everyday and most of these people come to stay permanently, hence the need to have more banks to service them.
Dr. Patunola who observed that the whole of Victoria Island, supposed to be a high network residential area, has been taken over by commercial banks, noted that most landlords disregard professional advice of estate surveyors and valuers in preference to the huge amount of money they (banks) are ready to cough out as rent.

“Many of these banks are ready to pay between N4-5 million per annum for five years up-front for a bungalow in Victoria Island. Most landlords will not listen to any advice that will make them not to rent out such a property. He (landlord) will collect the money at your back and relocate to places like Surulere or other parts of the mainland where he is ready to pay N1 million from the N20 million he has collected as rent from the banks.

Decrying the activities of “Omoniles” in the sale and lease of properties in Lagos, Dr Patunola said the illegal activities of these so-called owners of the land have made adherence to the planning laws almost impossible. “What advice do you give to an Omonile as a professional? They operate like lords and won’t allow the local government officials and town planners to do their work,” he lamented.

For Pastor Abiodun Oluwaluyi, the planning system in the country that makes it possible for banks to be sited within residential neigbourhoods is faulty. Pastor Oluwaluyi who is the Lagos State Chairman of the NIESV, however, noted that the upsurge in economic activities in Lagos gave rise to the opening of banks branches along major roads and streets in Lagos. He, however, faulted the conversion of residential buildings to commercial uses, but was quick to describe it as a town planning problem. Banks, he said, have a lot of money, especially since the recapitalization was concluded to outdo any other competitor when it comes to leasing a property.

Pastor Oluwaluyi who is a director in the State’s Ministry of Housing recalled various measures taken by the government to discourage change of uses but regretted that they have not been able to achieve the results envisaged.
“Our planning system in this country is faulty. You are looking for a two-bedroom flat and go through the entire neighbourhood and you cannot find such a house. What type of neighbourhhod is that? In a neighbourhood, you should have one-bedroom, two bedroom and three-bedroom houses. That is what obtains in advanced countries. It is an error in planning if you cannot find these types of accommodation in a particular neighbourhood. Each neighbourhhod is planned such a way that you will know how many people will live there,” he said.

Another realtor, Mr Kunle Awolaja said there is presently a high demand for banks and eateries to satisfy the overblowing population of Lagos. For him, it is a matter of the “highest and best use or demand and supply forces coming into play”. Mr Awolaja, a former Publicity Secretary of the Lagos branch of NIESV lamented our attitude to planning, noting that this apathy is adversely affecting a lot of things in the country.

Would you like to live near a commercial bank? That question received an emphatic No from Ms L.O. Aluko, an estate surveyor and valuer attached to the Governor’s office. “Ordinarily I won’t want to live near a bank. I would rather like to live in the satellite towns and come to the city centre for work as is the practice in most developed countries”. But she was quick to point out that the increase in population and the high demand for banking services and fast foods necessitated the springing up of such service outlets in all nooks and crannies of the city.

According to her, Allen Avenue and Obafemi Awolowo Way in Ikeja became commercial nerve centres when Lagos Island became over saturated. She, however, refused to associate the plethora of branch networks to the just concluded consolidation in the banking sector. “Even before the recapitalization, a lot of banks branches had sprung up. Now that the banks have more money to do anything, the situation will get worse if not checked”, she said.

Speaking on the change of uses particularly in Victoria Island and South West Ikoyi, a former Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, (NITP), Dr Femi Olomola noted that before the government decided to apply the brake on further change of uses in these highbrow areas, a lot of damage had already been done.
“On the change of use which came up in VI and Ikoyi, I think there was a time the Lagos State Government decided to take stock and they halted it via newspaper advertisements. They said they will no longer entertain any other application for change of use until they come up with a policy framework. I don’t think that they have lifted that ban. But I think that even before they decided to halt it, a lot of damage had already been done. At the time they were doing it, the emphasis was on revenue generation. That was the concept. In my opinion, a lot of sound planning principles were abandoned , all in the name of revenue generation.

"If you are to do a study on the amount of revenue government made on planning in the past five to six years, you will be shocked. There was an exponential growth in their income on planning matters particularly those involving change of use in Lekki and VI which was virtually done left, right and centre.

"There was huge income that government derived from it and in my opinion, some of these revenues were derived at the expense of good planning. I am happy, there is this association in VI, (VIIRA) that suddenly came up and they are now able to assert some level of authority and they are able to bring some sanity to what was a very undesirable level of change of use in that axis. I think they were even able to stop one hotel that was about to be built. It was a commendable effort because if not for them... There was a petrol filling station somewhere in front of Dolphin. I was shocked when I passed there about a week or two ago, I saw that the petrol station has been demolished. That is one of the notable achievements

Asked why Planners cannot stick out their neck and insist that the right things are done, Dr Olomola who worked in government before going into private practice said sound planning recommendations made by his colleagues are often discarded by those at the corridors of power especially during the military era. “You know I worked in government myself before going into private practice. I want to say that many of the decisions are virtually beyond the control of the professionals there. Let me tell you. If you look at the scenario of those changes, majority of them were done under one Military Governor’s directive or the other.

"It was so common. They come in, everybody wants land in VI, this particular land is allocated for children’s playing ground, instructions will be given to whoever is the Chief Planning officer and the Surveyor-General of the State that this land should be cut into plots. These are directives from the Governor under the military regime and under military regimes, as a civil servant, your rights are limited.

"What I am saying is that many of these things were done with directives from above which you can not possibly challenge as long as you still want to be in service. You can write your memo or whatever you want to write but at the end of the day, if government wants to do anything and you seem to be dillydallying, you will be labelled a saboteur and with the flimsiest excuse, they can retire you for one careless reason or the other or even sack you. Many of them are done against that background," he lamented.

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