No end in sight to Lagos building collapse incidence

According to a study published in the International Knowledge Sharing Platform revealed that the major causes of building failures are bad design, faulty construction, over loading, non-possession of approved drawings, possession of approved drawings but non-compliance and the use of quacks. In the two-case studies considered, the total direct loss to the building owners was […]

According to a study published in the International Knowledge Sharing Platform revealed that the major causes of building failures are bad design, faulty construction, over loading, non-possession of approved drawings, possession of approved drawings but non-compliance and the use of quacks.
In the two-case studies considered, the total direct loss to the building owners was N38,385,721 which is equivalent to about $194,851 when converted at N197 to one US dollar, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) exchange rate as at 14th March, 2015.
The incident that attracted so much attention and controversy was the September 12, 2014 collapse of a six-storey guesthouse at the headquarters of the Synagogue Church of All Nations in the Ikotun area of Lagos.
The Synagogue collapse is significant because it recorded the highest casualty figure in the state’s 48-year history with more than 100 people, mostly South Africans, losing their lives in the incident.
The coroner’s inquest has cited criminal negligence. It consequently, called for the arrest and prosecution of the contractor, Akinbela Fatiregun and structural engineer, Oladele Ogundeji.
Then came the collapse of a three-storey residential building located at Swamp Street, Odunfa, Lagos Island, on Wednesday morning, October 21st, 2015 with some residents trapped.
The then General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) Engr. Adeigbe Olushola, who was last week sacked by Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for negligence said the collapsed building had been served notice to undergo a non-destructive integrity test.
Mr. Adeigbe said, “The test was to ascertain the structural stability of the building in order to know if it could be renovated or re-engineered. We gave an ultimatum for the test which had expired before today; they responded by saying they would do the test but unfortunately the incident just occurred.”
The most interesting statement by LASBCA however was the revelation that in 2015, it sealed about 1,104 buildings between June and December 2015 due to defective or illegal construction.
Beside marking these building as being Defective, no other action seem to have been taken by the Lagos State ministry of physical planning with regards to enforcing integrity test.
The collapse of a five-storey building under construction on Kushenla Road, Ikate Elegushi, Lekki which has led to the death of over 30 persons is the latest in this series of never ending tragedy.
The Lagos State Government in the wake of the building collapse, revealed that preliminary investigations showed  that the collapsed building was served contravention notice for exceeding the approved floors and thereafter sealed by the LASBCA.
The police penultimate Thursday said Richard Nyong, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lekki Gardens, the construction company that did the collapsed building was detained at Panti Police Station. Police Public Relations Officer in Lagos, Mrs. Dolapo Badmos who confirmed Nyong’s arrest said he would be charged to court as soon as investigations were completed.
A source close to the management of Lekki Gardens who spoke on conditions of anonymity said, “The position of the government is strange because if you have been to that site, if you look at the model of the buildings on the site, except the duplexes, they are all five floors.
“If the government said they should not do five, they would not have gone five and since the government claimed to have noticed a violation of its instruction, why were they not sanctioned,” he queried.
The source disclosed that Lekki Gardens detected the failure since November, 2015 and invited a structural engineer to come and evaluate the structure which he finished in January 2016.
“The people that supposedly died in the building were said to be squatters and jobber men who have been pitching there because they felt the building had been abandoned,” the source said.
The president of the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) Builder Kunle Awobodu laid blame of the incident on the failure of supervision from the Lagos Ministry of Physical Planning noting that more buildings are showing signs of failure around the Lekki area.
He said, “Around that Lekki Gardens, structures are showing signs of distress, even those that are already occupied. There is need for urgent evacuation of people from there so that the building are subjected to integrity test and once they don’t pass, they should be demolished immediately.”
He expressed regret that there are buildings that were marked for demolition several  years and were never demolished and the buildings ended up collapsing on people.
He said, “This building that collapsed was a preventable incident. If developers were properly monitored, they would not have had the audacity to do what they are doing. To have constructed from ground floor to fifth storey when they had approval for just three storeys.
“That is why we came out with framework for building collapse prevention guild, where we professionals in the brick environment are forming cells all over to pay attention to construction within our environment. It is a structure that can really assist the government to attend to this problem,” he added.
He said BCPG gets early information about shoddy work and sharp practices on site but when it  communicates to those in government, they don’t respond early and “that is quite frustrating and discouraging”.
He suggested, “What should be done is to see how government can outsource professionals to help them monitor their sites and to have a department that can focus only on developers because they are constructing everywhere…”