Ekwemalor who was reacting to the building collapse where three people were killed said that careful analysis of the site of construction and the nature of building materials used in construction are major causes of building collapse.
Speaking on the collapse, he tasked the state government to do everything possible to reprimand the engineers at sites while compensating the families that lost their loved ones in the collapse.
In a recent incident, a father and two of his children were killed as a three-story building with a penthouse under construction collapsed in Egbu Umuenem, Otolo Nnewi community, Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The building was reported to have collapsed at about 1 a.m. on Sunday while the workers were getting ready to start plastering work on the structure. The victims, who were said to be among those to carry out work on the structure were instantly killed in the incident, while others sustained varying degrees of injuries.
Eyewitness observed that some other people who were also trapped in the rubbles were later rescued during a rescue operation and rushed to St. Felix Hospital, Nnewi for vital sciences to ascertain the level of injuries they sustained.
“The building came down at about 1 am this morning (Sunday) and it came with a thunderous noise. Three people, a man and his two sons, who were also supposed to be part of those to work on the site died in the incident. They came from the Nimo community and were sleeping over so as to begin their work early in the morning before the incident happened,” the eyewitness was reported to have said.
It was also reported that some officials of the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Anambra State chapter, led by the Chairman, Victor Meju, and the Transition Committee Chairman of Nnewi North LGA, Chris Obiora, had visited the scene of the incident.
When they arrived at the scene, manual labourers were seen on a rescue mission as the excavator brought to rescue the victims broke down at the site.
Addressing journalists after the dead bodies were brought out from the debris, Meju explained that “poor foundation, poor concrete mixture, poor quality of materials, poor wearing cost capacity, nonconformity to standards, non-approval from relevant regulatory authorities led to the avoidable tragedy”.
Meju, however, announced the sealing-off of the site, adding that the owner of the building, Chukwunafu Anamanjo, will be invited for questioning and an investigation will be carried out.
The Transition Committee Chairman, Nnewi North LGA, Chris Obiora, while reacting, on the development called on people to always make use of certified engineers and other relevant personnel in the building sector for their construction works. He added that monitoring teams are also important in ensuring that builders stick to stipulated standards.
The Sectoral Head of COREN in charge of Nnewi and environs, Arinze Okwuosa, said his team observed a lot of foul plays in the course of carrying out their job, calling for government intervention to forestall future occurrences.
The bodies of the dead victims have been deposited at a morgue in Nnewi.
However, the state police command spokesman, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, had yet to respond to inquiries when contacted on the development as of the time of filing this report.
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Source: sunnewsonline
