LAGOS, which the state government considers as a work in progress mega-city, is not new to buildings collapse having recorded several tragedies in that regard in the past few years. Indeed Lagos has once again been in the news since Tuesday following the collapse of a five-storey building in the Lekki area of the state that claimed over 30 lives. As with past building collapse tragedies, this recent chapter has expectedly elicited reactions bordering on grief, outrage and condemnations by members of the public while the state government had responded with punitive action by sanctioning the contractor which handled the building construction on behalf of Lekki Gardens, the property owners. Scenes from the scene of the collapsed building at Kusenla road, Ikate, Elegushi, Lekki, Lagos, yesterday. Scenes from the collapsed building at Kusenla road, Ikate, Elegushi, Lekki, Lagos. Obviously outraged at the high toll in lives lost, the Lagos State government had vowed to bring all those responsible for the tragedy to book. Meantime, built environment professionals have reacted to the tragic development by saying that lack of due process, due diligence as well as usage of sub-standard building materials could have been responsible for the collapse. Stable structure Indeed, the professionals believed the tragedy could have been avoided as the building had been sealed earlier by the Lagos State Building Control Agency. The vice chairman, Nigerian Institute of Building, Lagos chapter, Adelaja Adekanbi blamed the owners of the collapsed Lekki building who he accused as having unprofessionally added the last two floors of the building. According to the professional builder, the builders failed to put up a stable structure. “All the work that has been done here is nothing to write home about; it is work that was done under no supervision, under no professional engineer or builder. “Let them bring the engineer or builder that is involved in the construction. The first two building here, I was involved in it; I taught them what to do. They wanted to raise two floors and they did a piling of six metres for this kind of structure so the structural stability is failure and where we are standing, if you don’t know, was purely water two years ago. “Imagine someone building on water and doing a piling of six metres for a seven-storeyed building. I recommend to Lagos state government that every building here painted or not, should be tested. This house we are looking at should also be pulled down in a week. If not, we are looking for another trouble. At this point, I recommend that every house here should be tested to ascertain the structural stability because I don’t think they are habitable”, Adekanbi said
Related posts:
Abia Warriors have avoided relegation
Lagos building collapse : State govt. arraigns Lekki gardens boss, others
Experts commence work into cause of building collapse
2 Dead 6 Trapped in Lekki Collapsed Building
4 more bodies recovered from Lekki Collapsed Building Site
Experts Raise Supply Chain Fears Over Baltimore Bridge Collapse
Lagos State Government moves against quacks to prevent building collapse
Lagos State Govt. Moves Against Building Collapse, Others
