The Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has bemoaned the number of collapsed buildings across the country.
The advocacy group also called on state governments, town planning authorities and building-controlled agencies must step up regulatory standards to stop the menacing trend, which has claimed scores of lives, especially in the last one month.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, canvassed the passage of a bill to criminalise use substandard materials by building engineers and builders.
He said: “We would be sending a letter to the hierarchy of the National Assembly and the President to canvass passage of a bill to make collapsed buildings due to engineering lapses and corruption offences punishable by death penalty.
“We ask state governments and regulatory agencies to go beyond issuing condolence statements after building collapses were avoidable if they were diligent in the enforcement of building standards and protocols.
“Particularly we ask Lagos State House of Assembly and the Governor to declare a state of emergency on building collapses in the state as well as take concrete punitive measures against her officials that connive with land speculators to erect substandard structures that have collapsed in quick succession in the state.
“We expressed concerns at the quick succession of building collapses in the months of August and September. From Lagos to Abuja, Kano and Akwa-Ibom, the spate of wreckages in the last four weeks cut across the country.”
