The recurring cases of building collapse in Nigeria’s urban centres have posed a serious threat to human lives as several people are trapped and killed in between the debris of iron rods and concrete slabs. However, while this reporter discovered that a few of these unfortunate incidents were unprecedented, many could be attributed to the negligence of the state governments, which could have been averted.
Within the last two weeks, the country recorded two cases of collapse in Lagos island of Lagos state and one in Ibadan, Oyo state capital. These cases account for over 15 deaths recorded in the previous week. Last Wednesday, a three-storey building collapsed in Ita Faji area of Lagos Island. Although the official casualty was not announced, an official involved in the rescue operation told Premium Times correspondent that 16 people have died while 41 were rescued alive.
Of the 16 dead people, were pupils of a school on the third floor of the building with some receiving treatments in a government-owned hospital. Thereafter, the Lagos state governor, Akinwumi Ambode, ordered the demolition of over 80 buildings earlier marked to be brought down through the State Building Control Agency.
Meanwhile, after the instruction of demolition, on Monday, March 18, another building at Oke-Arin area of Lagos Island, collapsed with four men trapped under the rubble buy were eventually rescued and taken to the hospital. Speaking with newsmen after the incident, the chairman of the Community Development Committee in Lagos Island LGA, Buhari Maleek, confirmed the health status of the four victims and added that; “The affected building was marked for demolition in 2016, but it was not demolished.
However, in Ibadan, just two days after the first incident occured in Lagos, a two-storey building collapsed in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital with two occupants trapped. The Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Toye Arulogun, through a statement, stated that the multi-agency rescue operation Team set up by the Governor was able to achieve the evacuation of all victims from the collapsed building which was under construction as at the time of the
incident.
While admonishing building construction practitioners to desist from cutting corners and using cheap materials, the spokesperson further stated that an investigation into the incident will be carried out by the relevant agencies. Reacting to the series of bad occurrences, Amos Alao, an architect and National Secretary of Landscape Architects of Nigeria SLAN, told Vanguard newspaper that the strict enforcement of the Nigerian Building code will avert the recurring building collapse in Nigeria.
“There have been so many perspectives to Building collapse in Nigeria. Some have talked about the structural analysis, architecture or engineering failure, but little is said about the land on which
the buildings are standing on,” The landscape expert said, calling on the government to enforce the national building code and maintain the ideal architectural masterplan.buildings are standing on,” The landscape expert said, calling on the government to enforce the national building code and maintain the ideal
architectural masterplan.
Link To Article: https://youth-journal.org/trend-of-building-collapse-poses-threat-to-living-in-nigeria
