As Nigerians continue to mourn the victims of Ikoyi building collapse, a divergent angle has emerged revealing that some of the workers really were aware that the building had critical default. According to one of the survivors, who pleaded anonymity to avoid victimisation, they were working on a cracked pillar on the first floor of the skyscraper when the building crumbled.
According to him, “We were working with my other colleague on that fateful day. That day, we were working on the first floor, Engineer Kola and Engineer Ola told us there is one pillar on the first floor, the pillar has cracked, the engineers told us to break the pillar so that they could fix another pillar there because the pillar is very big, they have confidence that nothing would happen to the pillar if they set another one,” he said.
“Suddenly, we heard a noise, the thing (pillar) started to shake, I and my colleague ran when we saw that the pillar started to shake. When I was running, I fell down I was struggling to come out.
“When I ran outside, the gateman saw me and now called a bike man. I ran out before the rescue operatives came in. The owner of the house, Femi Osibona knew about the pillar, that it has cracked. He told the two engineers to ask us to break it. He was aware, he saw us, he even gave us money for breakfast. He saw us there when we were working on it,” he said.
While reacting on the incident, the immediate Past President of the Nigeria Institute of Builders (NIOB), Mr. Kunle Awobodu, has said that the problem of building collapse in the country has remained the quacks who pose as professionals and collect jobs they cannot handle.
Awobodu, who was reacting on the colossal loss as a result of the incident, said that it is a problem of quacks because when the architects’ structural drawings are vetted, ascertained that they are produced by competent or registered architects and structural engineers, it takes another qualified professional to understand it.
He opined that the ability of the quacks to understand the drawings is the problem. “The builders, when engaged, will read and understand what the architect or the engineer put down. “It is already existing in the laws of Lagos State that, in any building construction, there must be a builder. So, as usual, uncertainty in the built environment contributes in the collapse of buildings,” he said.
He noted that building collapse in highbrow environments like Ikoyi in Lagos creates a lot of panic among the residents. Investigation will begin. It might be the same problem of quackery we have been talking about. Look at the approval for 15 floors and they went on to make it 21 floors.
“If the building of that nature collapses, the question is always about the competence of the engineers on site, the availability of competent professionals who are involved in the construction. Ability to assemble complete building materials and the measurement used for the materials. Again, the adherence to rules and regulations in the approval document giving the authorisation. It really depends also on who and who are involved in the construction of the building. It questions the responsibility, performance of Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA). It might also question the performance of building plans approval, land permit,”he said.
On what advice to give government in the direction of stopping building collapse in the country, Awobodu said: “Government needs to pay more attention to construction field to ensure that the right professionals are the ones in charge of the construction”.
However, the story took a new dimension with the increase in casualties. With the casualties getting to 44, while survivors were 15 and missing persons were less than 40, many families are being affected. Some were directly affected while some were indirectly affected. As at yesterday, Thursday, some of the corpses deposited at General Hospital, Idi Araba, could not be identified. Cross-examination and identification by relatives who lost loved ones in the incident at this point in time became an issue of guesswork.
This informed the decision of Lagos State government to constitute a Committee to see for the identification of bodies before they are released to relatives. The state Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, on Wednesday said 29 families have come forward to submit samples for DNA to identify bodies that they wish to claim. Omotoso said in cases where identification is clear and there are no arguments, the bodies will be released to the families as from this week. He added that at the scene of the collapse, rescue operation would go on until the site is cleared and nobody is left in the rubble of the collapsed 21-storey edifice.
In his reaction, the Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Architects, Lagos State Chapter, Mr. David Majekodunmi, who felt pained by the incident, commiserated with families of the victims, calling on the authorities to step up measures to prevent a reccurrence.
His comment was coming two days after the high-rise building caved in, killing no fewer than 44 persons and counting with rescue operations still ongoing with survivors counting to 15 while missing persons as at filing this report were less than 40. According to him, “the Federal Government should create an enabling law to strengthen the National Building Code (NBC), a mandatory document adopted by development authorities to formulate building by-laws”.
During an interview with the press he said there is a code, a National Building Code which everyone should follow. “It is global. Every country has a National Building Code. There has been a lot of work on it. All we just need is that enabling law to make it effective. The building code gives a minimal requirement for materials to be used, the quality of materials, the labour and the standard,” he said.
