Four persons, including a 15-year-old
hawker identified only as Sukurah, lost their lives on Sunday after a
two-storey building under construction, collapsed in Surulere, Lagos
State.
Our correspondent, who visited the
building on Ishaga Street, learnt that the building collapsed around
10am during the early morning rain.
NE also learnt that three people were rescued and were responding to treatment at different hospitals.
A friend of the 15-year-old victim, Tobi, told newsmen hat she had gone to the building to sell bread to labourers few minutes before the collapse.
She said, “Sukurah and I hawk bread. The
labourers called me saying they wanted to buy bread but I did not have
change so I left. Sukurah entered into the building a few minutes later.
It collapsed almost immediately. Sukurah attempted to run out but she
was not fast enough.”
A resident, Alhaja Bukola Saka, said
immediately after the collapse, youths in the area rescued three people
alive, while two bodies were recovered.
An elderly man at the scene, who identified himself as Abubakar Sule, said the two corpses were those of his relatives.
He said the men were tailors but had only come to the building to help convey building materials to the top floor.
He said, “Two of them were my relatives,
Aliyu and Nuhu. Mukaila is the security guard at the building and Nuhu
stays here with him sometimes. He invited Aliyu to come help them convey
wood to the top floor when the building collapsed. Mukaila and another
person, Farouk, however, survived and have been rushed to hospital.
“Aliyu’s wife was just delivered of a baby two weeks ago; it is a very tragic incident.”
Officials of the Lagos State Emergency
Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the state
fire service, the police, army and other relevant agencies were at the
scene.
As the rescue efforts were on, a man
trapped under part of the rubble made telephone call, directing his
colleagues that he was at the west end of the building. Unfortunately,
as officials attempted to rescue the victim, the remaining part of the
building crashed down.
Chairman, Adeniji/Itire/Ishaga Community
Development Association, Tajudeen Bello, said he had warned the
developer of the building of the imminent collapse.
He said, “When the construction had just
started, I told the developer that inferior materials were being used
for the construction. Some land speculators warned me to leave the
developer alone.”
The General Manager, LASEMA, Dr. Femi
Oke-Osayintolu, said, “The injured victims have been rushed to the Lagos
State University Teaching Hospital and Critical Rescue Centre,
Tollgate.”
A resident, who shares a fence with the collapsed building, urged the state government not to demolish his house.
The resident, Francis Ekpeyong, who
claimed to be a retired air force man, said he had also warned the
developer of the building of an imminent collapse. He said the pillars
supporting the building were too thin.
The spokesperson, NEMA, South-West Zone, Ibrahim Farinloye, told our correspondent at 4pm that rescue efforts were over.
NEMA, LASG clash again
Meanwhile, NEMA and officials of the Lagos State Government clashed again at the scene of the Sunday collapsed building.
The clash comes about a week after the
spokesperson, NEMA, South-West zone, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, was arrested
during a rescue efforts at Ebute Meta by policemen attached to
government’s Rapid Response Squad.
The Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr.
Wale Ahmed, threatened to arrest Farinloye for granting a press
interview at the scene in Ishaga.
After Oke-Osayintolu, had briefed the
press, the commissioner warned state officials not to grant any press
interview again until after the exercise.
However, as Farinloye was briefing newsmen, the commissioner stopped the interview and threatened to pull him out of the scene.
He said, “Will you shut up? That is how
you always do; you gather journalists and you will be briefing them
whereas you are not doing anything here. I asked you not to grant
interview and you did not listen.
“Last week, Odumosu (RRS commander)
arrested you and let you go immediately; this time around, I will make
sure that you are dealt with.”
Farinloye later lamented that Lagos government officials were hostile towards NEMA, which is a Federal Government agency
He said, “It is only in Lagos that we
encounter this sort of problem. NEMA is under the Federal Government and
the commissioner cannot give me orders.”
House marked for demolition – LASBCA
The Public Relations Officer, Lagos
State Building Control Agency, Abe Adunola, said the agency had marked
the building for demolition in May, adding that the developer defied the
warning and continued to work on the building.
She said the collapse was caused by inferior building materials and poor management.
She said, “We did a road show some
months ago and that particular building was marked for demolition.
However, what the developer probably did was that he removed the seal
and continued to do construction on weekends when state officials are
not on duty.
“The iron rods used for the building
were inferior and the labourers used were road-side labourers. There was
no building engineer at the site or any experienced person.”
She said the buildings sharing fences with the collapsed building might be demolished.
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