18th November, 2013
The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Monday received the report of the Tribunal of Enquiry on incidence of Collapsed buildings in the State, stating that the Tribunal was set up to unravel the reasons behind past collapses in order to avoid future occurrences .
The Governor, who spoke at the Lagos House, Ikeja,western Nigeria, said government takes its responsibility to protect life very seriously and any time there is a threat to the capacity to discharge that responsibility or indeed people have lost their lives, government wants to find out why and ask questions so that it can learn from such unfortunate incidents to avoid a recurrence.
Receiving the report which is in eight volumes from the Chairperson, Architect Abimbola Ajayi, Governor Fashola added that once those in the building industry know that the people are serious and everybody acts as the next person’s policeman, then things will fall into shape.
The Governor also sought to know why buildings are not lasting up to 100 years, asking: “What did we do wrong then when we were building? Did we take full view of the terrain of Lagos Islands and swamps, largely reclaimed, did we put the right foundation of piles in or did we use the wrong foundations for much more solid ground”.
He said the decision to choose a non- judicial officer as the chairperson of the tribunal was deliberate because the building industry of the economy consists of specialized professionals builders, architects, civil engineers, structural engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers all of who have some role or the other to play in the building of a house.
Speaking earlier, the Chairperson of the Tribunal, Architect (Mrs) Abimbola Ajayi said the recommendations of the Tribunal would not only assist in finding lasting solutions to the incidence of building collapse but also provide needed relief for the issues of distressed buildings, unapproved construction, non compliance with construction standards and eradication of unscrupulous activities of unqualified persons, non professional unregistered practitioners and greedy developers.
She added that the provisions of the law regulating the building industry were found to be adequate which if implemented and strictly adhered to will ensure a reduction of the incidence of building collapse to the barest minimum.
She however added that weak implementation by relevant government agencies, flagrant abuses; deliberate flouting by the public, crass indiscipline and gross corruption by all and sundry rendered the laws ineffective.
“The 2010 law empowers the agencies but the system does not because of political, cultural and administrative and other interventions, although there is a provision of summary trial of violators and offenders in the laws examined by the tribunal, there is no record of person prosecuted or sanctioned for incidence of building collapse by the Ministry of Justice, the Nigeria Police or any other known organ”, she emphasized.
She said the tribunal was tasked with finding out the immediate and remote causes of collapsed buildings within the state and to come up with appropriate recommendations on measures that would help in preventing future recurrence.
The Tribunal, she stressed, reviewed 130 cases of collapsed buildings between 2007 and 2013 out of which 10 sites were selected for visits to inspect adding that three buildings collapsed during the tenure of the tribunal while another two occurred after its assignment.
Prominent among those who witnessed the event were the Deputy Governor, Hon (Mrs) Adejoke Orelope- Adefulire, the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Mr Ade Ipaiye, the Secretary to the State Government, Dr (Mrs) Ranti Adebule, Commissioners for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Town Planner Olutoyin Ayinde, Housing, Mr Bosun Jeje and Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Prince Ademorin Kuye and members of the Tribunal of Enquiry that included Engineer Debo Adewale, Engineer Segun Adedeji, Architect Biodun Rufai, Town planner Moses Ogunleye and Secretary of the Tribunal, Mr Kehinde David.