PUNCH
In this report, Victor Ayeni, writes on how weak laws, unenforced regulations and corruptions enable developers and engineers escape punishment as many continue to die in collapse buildings in the country…
The morning of Thursday, February 2, started out as a normal day for most people. But residents of the Gwarinpa area in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, were not prepared for the coming disaster.
Around 11am, a two-storey building that had been under construction along 7th Avenue suddenly came crashing down with dozens of labourers trapped beneath the piles.
After some hours of rescue efforts by residents, emergency aid workers, and security agents, 21 people were rescued but two persons – a gateman, identified only as Mr Abdullahi, and his visitor, Mr Bolaji – lost their lives.
Following that incident, the building was cordoned off by officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency and the police.
While the Abuja tragedy was blamed on an unapproved additional floor being mounted on the structure, preliminary investigation indicated that the building in Rivers crumbled due to substandard materials.
531 dead in 10 years
A report by the Building Collapse Prevention Guild indicated that no fewer than 61 buildings collapsed in various states across the country in 2022.
Lagos recorded 20 incidents, which represented 48.7 per cent of all the cases in the year.
Highlighting the recurring decimal of structural failures across the country, the report also noted that at least 271 collapse incidents were recorded and more than 531 persons died in last 10 years.
In a 2020 report, the Building Collapse Prevention Guild revealed that over 43 structures collapsed in the country in 2019.
In what could now be termed as a foreboding of tragedy, the report added that 36,000 buildings in Lagos State were on the verge of collapsing.
