The Guardian
The sudden termination of 44 human lives occasioned by the collapse of a 21-storey building under construction on Gerard Road, in the affluent Ikoyi neighbourhood of Lagos is yet another horrifying tragedy that will forever deface
the building sector in Lagos State in particular and Nigeria in general. The catastrophe is more pronounced because it could have been averted if only the responsible state government authorities had done their job with the due diligence and care required; and strictly adhered to laid down rules and regulations for such high rise building. If they had so performed, the developer would have had no choice but to comply. That might have saved the pathetic loss of innocent lives, the huge investments running into billions, as well as the national embarrassment.
The incident clearly signposts that the official attitude towards building regulations is still largely carefree; coupled with compromise and sharp practices on the part of the regulators, which have given room for developers to cut corners with resultant frequent building collapse disasters wrecking the society. The burden of checkmating recurrent collapse of structures is on the Lagos State Government, which should enforce its building regulations. Any compromise is fraught with disaster as the current calamity has shown.
Though, the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has in a swift reaction, suspended the General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Mr. Gbolahan Oki, to register government’s outrage over the disaster, the matter goes beyond that and should not be handled in a typically Nigerian fire brigade manner, which have been employed in previous buildings disaster without any positive outcome to prevent recurrence. Like government’s much publicised outpourings on the incident, the suspension is medicine after death; as the crux of the matter, which is enforcing building regulations, remains untouched.
While the suspension of Mr. Oki might signify that the business of enforcing building regulations will no longer be business as usual, it will be more expedient for government to ensure that ugly incidents of this nature are permanently avoided.
The magnificent-looking Ikoyi luxury structure suddenly collapsed on November 1, 2021, trapping scores of workers and personnel, including the developer, under a mountain of rubble of concrete and iron rod mesh. And as if to drive home a sour point, another two-storey building under construction at Osapa London in the Lekki-Ajah axis of the metropolis collapsed the next day.
At the last count, the death toll in the Ikoyi collapsed building stood at 44 with 15 survivors pulled out and hospitalised. Governor Sanwo-Olu said 49 families had filled the missing persons’ register about a week ago, meaning that some people are still unaccounted for. According to him, the register has helped the state government to reconcile the details of victims rescued alive and also medically account for bodies recovered.
Unfortunately, the developer, Mr. Femi
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