…LASEMA Urges Owner Of Building To Show Up
…No Sleeping In Building Under Construction, LASBCA Warns
Tragedy struck in Lagos State on Thursday as five site workers lost their lives after a building under construction collapsed at Arowojobe Estate in Maryland.
The incident happened at No 13, Wilson Mba Street, Arowojobe Estate.
According to the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the agency received a distress call regarding the collapsed building at about 3.49 am.
“This prompted the immediate activation of the agency’s response team to the incident scene at 3.58am.
“It was discovered that a set of three terraces under construction had collapsed.
“Search and rescue operations began immediately and three adult males were recovered dead, two male adults were rescued alive and one adult male trapped under the rubble was rescued,” he said in a statement in the early hours of Thursday.
The rescue operations were carried out through the efforts of LASEMA, the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, and Nigeria Police Force
“All the six men were site workers.
“They are receiving pre-hospital care on location while the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit has been contacted for the remains of the three fatalities.
“A combined team of agency personnel, fire service and Nigeria Police are working at the scene.
“LASEMA’s excavator has been deployed to accelerate the search and rescue operations,” the LASEMA boss added.
NewsNGR correspondent was at the site and reports that five deaths have been recorded so far while another five were rescued alive.
Oladoke Samuel works as a labourer at a nearby building construction site. He is currently devastated by the news of the death of his friends. According to him, the victims were like his brothers, adding that they were very close.
“I was at work today. But to work, I’m even scared,” Samuel said with a dejected tone.
“This is shocking! I know we can die anytime, and there’re some deaths that are natural, but this is very sad.”
Continuing, Samuel said “I’m weak. These are people that are close to me.”
He blamed the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), alleging that some officials of the agency only collect ‘bribe’ and fail to do their job.
NewsNGR gathered that the construction of the building started last year and it was roofed last week. There are insinuations that the collapse could have been caused by the swampy nature of the terrain where the building is located.
However, a cursory look at the rubble of the collapsed building shows that low-quality materials could also be responsible for the collapse.
A resident of the area whose house shares fence with the collapsed building said she was woken up by the noise of a neighbour.
The lady who identified herself as Jumoke said: “I heard the noise of a neighbour shouting, lamp! lamp! lamp! That was when I woke up. So when I came out, I saw that the building had already collapsed.”
She said that before the emergency responders arrived, a medical doctor living in the neighborhood attended to those rescued alive.
A security guard in the estate, who did not want his name mentioned, said the site workers turned the building to their home. According to him, they usually arrest them, but the workers would always plead that they do not have anywhere to go.
“For security reasons, we don’t allow workers stay at a construction site beyond 7:00pm. These people (victims) usually sleep in the building. We’ve arrested them severally, but they’ll keep begging you. Now, look at what happened today,” he told NewsNGR.
However, Samuel said that the reason they usually stay at a construction site is to save money that would have been spent on transportation.
“The cost of transportation is very high,” he said, adding that they would not save anything if they were to transport to and fro site regularly from home.
LASEMA Urges Owner Of Building To Show Up
LASEMA has called on the owner of the collapsed building to show up.
Addressing journalists, Director – Operations, LASEMA, Engr. Olatunde Akinsanya, said nobody has come to claim the building.
“So far, so good nobody has come forward to say he or she owns this property. But we’re still appealing to the owner to please come forward. Because you can’t at this point be at large,” he said.
On the cause of the collapse, Akinsanya said it is yet to be ascertained, adding that material testing will be carried out to determine the actual cause.
No Sleeping In Building Under Construction
The General Manager of LASBCA, Gbolahan Oki, has ban sleeping in building under construction after close of work, especially at night. He noted that officials of the agency will be inspecting construction sites across the state especially at night, to ensure compliance.
Oki disclosed that construction period in the state remains from 7am to 7pm – Monday to Saturday excluding Sundays. He warned that henceforth, any property developer or owners who engage workers to carry out construction work on Sundays and beyond 7pm on Monday to Saturday will have his or her property sealed indefinitely.
The General Manager further directed that all buildings under construction in the last seven months in the state must be re-certified by LASBCA to ascertain their structural stability.
“The Lagos state Government, through the Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA, has directed that property owners and developers all over the State must ensure that all relevant professionals such as Structural/Civil, Mechanical, Electrical Engineers and Architects in the built environment are fully engaged in any building projects in the State.
“The General Manager of Lagos State Building Control Agency, (LASBCA) Arc. Gbolahan Owodunni Oki (FNIA) who gave the directive today (Thursday) in his office stated that any building project site that flout this directive to engage building professionals who specialize in the design, construction, maintenance and management in their construction projects will have such site sealed and possibly removed.
“Arc. Oki added that the directive becomes necessary to safeguard the building construction industry and ensure that buildings in the State are safe, secure and fit for habilitation,” a statement by the agency’s Director, Public Affairs Unit, Olaoye Olusegun, said.