The Lagos State government commenced the demolition of a partially collapsed building at No. 70, Adetola Street, Aguda Surulere, Lagos, yesterday.
The two-story building, which housed six flats and eight shops, partially collapsed on Wednesday.
When The Guardian visited the scene, it found that the building, constructed under high tension cables, had been marked for removal by both the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and the Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory (LSMTL).
Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), stated that the owner of the building had been given ample time to rectify defects before the collapse. He said: “We are bringing down the building to save lives.
The building has been marked by LASBCA, Safety Commission, and LSMTL. So, we have to bring it down to ground zero to avoid a secondary incident.”
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Regarding other buildings under high tension cables in the area, he added: “We will look at other buildings in the area holistically because our government is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We must have empathy in anything we are doing. We will do a lot of sensitisation and look at the intricate factors before we take our decision.”
Meanwhile, in Niger State, the government is considering prosecuting owners of collapsed buildings. This decision follows the recent collapse of a two-story building in the Sabon Gwari area of Minna, the state capital. The State Urban Development Board (NUDB), in collaboration with the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), coordinated the demolition of the remaining structure.
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Abdullahi Jimada Gana Mohammed, Director General of NUDB, stated that the board had invited the building owner for discussions and may prosecute him for failing to comply with regulations. “In recent days, the board has pulled down between three and five houses that fell below the building standard in Minna city and will continue in other parts of the state,” he said.