Building collapse: ‘Building owners, construction firms must comply with safety standards’

The Lagos State government was out again recently with its usual refrain of ensuring that owners of building or construction companies must comply with minimum safety standard, adding that developers who embarked on construction work without development permit or building plan approval would be made to face the full wrath of the law.

This ‘resolve’ was made recently following the partial collapse of a two-storey building still under construction on a small portion of land in Alausa, Ikeja area of the state. This is not an isolated case. The state and relatives are still smarting from the collapse incidents at Lekki Gardens building site and Synagogue Church in which many lives were lost not long ago.

The issue of building collapse has become a recurring decimal in the state and this has raised a lot of questions and concerns not only among social commentators but also sundry residents who are the major victims of what has been described as professional neglect by agencies of government.

Lagos has got a Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and Lagos State (Building) Material Testing Agency, among others. These ministries and agencies are responsible for the physical development of the state by making sure that desperate businessmen do not take undue advantage of the state’s physical environment.

Questions are still begging for answers what these agencies go to do at building sites. “The Ministry (of Physical Planning) in a statement at the weekend noted that the building in question had been variously served with a stop work order and a notice to stop further construction on the site”, reads a press statement from the ministry signed by its Head of Public Affairs, Shina Odunuga, in reaction to the Alausa incident.

But the question observers have asked is what the ministry did next after serving the “stop work order”. Where was the place of LASBCA in this instance and what level of synergy exists between the two agencies?

The statement reads in part: “The statement however, noted that the developer continued work at the site during odd hours, explaining that the state government would leave no stone unturned to ensure the developer was brought to book and made to face the full wrath of the law. The ministry further warned that owners of buildings where construction is on–going without planning and development permit should stop henceforth.

“The statement also commended the quick response of all government agencies including LASEMA, LASBCA, RRS , Lagos State Fire Service as well as officials of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development that ensured there was no casualty during and after the partial collapse”.

Dopemu Olawale, chairman of the Community Development Association of Alausa Village, said the engineer that was in charge of construction of the building refused to stop construction despite being warned by government and the community.

But LASBCA General Manager, Dotun Lasoju, said the building partially collapsed due to failure of a section of the foundation which tilted to the back. He added that the only option left for the government was to engage in a controlled demolition of the entire structure as the building does not have any approval or a development permit. He assured nearby residents that the controlled demolition of the building would not affect other structures in the vicinity.