Building in Nigeria Had ‘Abnormalities’ Before Collapse

Building in Nigeria Had ‘Abnormalities’ Before Collapse

New York Times

LAGOS, Nigeria —Construction on a high-rise building that collapsed Monday in Lagos, killing at least 20 people, had been ordered halted earlier this year after inspectors found “abnormalities,” the authorities said Tuesday.

The 21-story structure was cordoned off in June after it had failed to meet structural specifications, said the Lagos State deputy governor, Obafemi Hamzat.

Workers were recently allowed to resume the job on the high-rise, Mr. Hamzat said, but on Tuesday it was no longer a construction site but a frantic rescue scene. A day earlier, the building had pancaked into a heap of concrete.

With scores still missing, government officials, security forces and volunteers descended on the area, as families crying and huddling nearby awaited news of their loved ones.

Mr. Hamzat did not specify what problems the inspectors found that had led them to order construction halted. “They saw some abnormalities,” he said, “so they shut it down for those things to be corrected.”

But the head of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, Gbolahan Oki, said the developer had used inferior material in the construction. “The materials he used, the reinforcement, are so terrible,” Mr. Oki told journalists.

The high-rise was one of three that were being put up by Fourscore Homes, a Lagos-based real estate firm. Repeated attempts to reach the company’s managing director, Femi Osibona, for comment were unsuccessful. And callers to a Fourscore phone line were told it was “no longer in service.”

The structure that collapsed was being built on Gerrard Road in the upscale Ikoyi neighborhood of Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria. High-rise apartments and upscale duplexes form part of the landscape.

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