Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, on Thursday said his administration will enforce the verdict of the Coroner’s inquest on the September 12, 2014, Synagogue church building collapse in consonance with the rule of law.
The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Habib Aruna, said his government would uphold and enforce the sanctity of the law in the state, urging the state residents to also respect the rule of Law.
“His Excellency hereby reiterates his government’s commitment to uphold and enforce the sanctity of the law in the state and calls on all Lagos residents to respect the rule of law,” the statement added.
Ambode said the Coroner’s verdict of July 7, 2015, made a number of recommendations which the state government would act upon accordingly.
The governor explained that one of the provisions of the Coroner Law 2007 empowers a Coroner to commence an inquest to find out the cause and manner of death, which occurred in an unusual manner.
He said consequent upon the collapse of the guest house at the premises of Synagogue Church, the state government applied that a coroner’s inquest be commenced into the cause of the tragic deaths.
The governor stated the government “will cause the prosecution of the contractor, Akinbela Fatiregun of Hardrock Engineering Company Limited and Structural Engineer, Oladele Ogundeji, who constructed and supervised the collapsed building respectively at the Synagogue Church of All Nations for professional negligence.”
Ambode added that the state government would also prosecute the Synagogue Church of All Nations for neglecting to obtain building approval before commencing the building, contrary to the provisions of the Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law, 2010.
He therefore appealed to residents of the state to always allow emergency responders to perform their duties as they were trained for this purpose.
The governor called on land owners in the state, who intend to embark on construction, to employ the services of qualified and competent engineers, who must obtain building permit before construction. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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On the aspect of obtaining documentation and approval to build, it is important to state this: Nigerians should stop seeing the process of obtaining documentation approval as an academic exercise for government to obtain money. Engineers and regulators are actually working, and it's a statutory requirement that could have exonerated SCOAN.
ReplyDeleteBuildings have been known to fail even with approved documentation, but that would've been attributed to something else and not to SCOAN if approval was obtained.