By John Ikani
The Lagos State Government has arrested the developer of a collapsed 3-storey building at No. 16 Akanbi Crescent, Onike, Yaba for breaking the Government seal on the property and violating the stop-work order.
This was made known in a statement issued by the State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako.
According to the statement, “preliminary findings indicated that the site had been sealed off twice by the Lagos State Building Control Agency in 2021 for non-compliance with building regulations, after which the site was abandoned.
“However, the developer later broke the government seal, sneaked into the site and recommenced construction without official authorisation.
“As at 9:00pm, one person had been pulled out alive, while two deaths were recorded.
“The developer in charge of the site has since been arrested and handed over to the police, while rescue operation is ongoing”.
How the building collapsed
“The building which collapsed on Saturday at 3pm was said to have shown signs on Thursday and when one of the neighbours called their attention to it, they told him off,” Ibrahim Farinloye, NEMA Acting Zonal Coordinator, southwest, said.
According to an eyewitness, a part of the building had collapsed late last year, but the construction did not stop.
Another eyewitness on Lawani Street, a street off the scene of the incident, told our correspondent that her car was affected last year when a section of the building collapsed. However, construction continued despite the police being called in.
What you should know
The incident comes a few months after the collapse of a 21-storey building that claimed the lives of 45 persons at Gerrard Road, Ikoyi area of the state.
Building collapses are tragically common in Africa’s most populous country, where millions live in dilapidated properties and construction standards are routinely ignored.
Additionally, reports abound that many potential homeowners employ quacks who only adopt trial and error methods instead of using seasoned professional builders.
Sometimes, there are other factors such as human error; but greed, corruption, use of quacks and lack of adequate Government monitoring account for 90 per cent of building collapse.
