Lagos buildings demolition: Traders lament increase in rent

By Funmilola Olukomaiya

Wednesday 13 March 2019, is a day a lot of Lagosians, especially parents, residents of Massey Street, Ita-Faaji won’t forget in a hurry as activities in the ever busy and often crowded street was disrupted by the tragic collapse of a three-storey building housing a nursery and primary school.

The building which was located on the cramped street characterized by old buildings, went down at about 10am when pupils of the school, which occupied the third floor, were settling into the day’s activities with other residents going about their businesses.

Following the unfortunate incident, officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LABSCA) have since moved swiftly to demolish other distressed houses in Lagos Island.

Speaking to PM News on the development, a LABSCA official, who gave his name simply as Mr Yemi, found at 6-9 Sanusi Olusi Street, Oke Arin, Lagos Island, where a distressed building is being demolished, told PM News: “We are demolishing dilapidated and distressed buildings, some of which have been marked on Smith, Freeman, Massey, Ita-Faaji, Oshodi streets and a host of other streets all within Lagos Island.

“Where ever you see us carrying out this assignment, it is for the benefit of the residents because a lot of houses here are distressed. LABSCA wouldn’t go to a building that has passed the fitness test to demolish, rather, only buildings that fail the tests carried out on them, out of which we found out that a lot of them failed.

Referring to one of such houses on No 10, Sanusi Olusi street, Oke Arin, the official pointed to the remains of a building that collapsed some days after the Ita-Faaji mishap: “without doing anything to this building, it suddenly went down itself some few days after the main incident at Ita-Faaji, but no casualties were recorded.”

He further stressed that occupants/owners of such distressed houses were duly informed by the state government and were served notices with such structures marked, thereby giving the occupants time to vacate such buildings.

“The demolition of distressed buildings has been stepped up since the unfortunate incident last week. Apart from losing lives, the most painful part of it is that some of the victims were children. It was so touching because we lost innocent school children. We didn’t have a choice but to fast track the demolition exercise.

“With the latest development, some of the occupants of the structures we are working on now were given 48 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks, to ensure that no other lives are lost.”

Mrs Simbi Bamgbose, a trader whose store was affected by the ongoing demolition on Oke Arin has mixed reactions over the whole incident.

She is happy that the demolition is going on. “It is for the benefit of everyone. Before LABSCA officials came to mark this building on Sunday, because some of us open our stalls even on Sundays, I lost a lot of goods; I sell envelopes, batteries and some other stationeries. The goods got damaged because they usually became wet as a result of the humidity in the store. In fact, one of my daughters used to say to me that she’s scared of this place as it looked like the house was not standing well and that she hoped it won’t come down on us one of these days.”

On the other hand, Mrs Bamgbose is unhappy as she’s been unable to sell and make profit because of the lack of shop. She lamented the increase in the rent adding that there has been an unreasonable increase in house, shop rents since the demolition exercise began in Lagos Island.

“I have checked a few shops in the neighbourhood where I can use as a store for my goods and I don’t know where or how I am supposed to get N200,000 or N500,000 from. Please let the state government come to our aid as the demolition has brought with it hardship for traders.”

Some of the residents who spoke with PM News correspondents are pleading with the state government not to stop the demolition process as they don’t want a repeat of the sad incident.

At the site of the collapsed building at Ita-Faaji, our correspondent had a chat with Mr Olumide David of House of Prayer, a faith-based NGO.

David, a parent who was fortunate to see her daughter alive is also the coordinator of the shelter arranged for victims and IDPs from the incident.

“We are coordinating all the collaborations which have seen a positive turnout from a lot of NGOs. A lot of Nigerians have come around and they’ve been making donations in cash and relief items. We have the victims and displaced people sheltered in a two-storey building in the area. The Local government gave us a sister building and we did a little renovation on it and made it a little habitable with mattresses and also feed the people there twice a day.

“Beyond all these we are doing, people have made donations of about N2,000,000, and we are spending so much because currently, we have expended over N900,000 and the expenditures continue. Beyond what we are doing,  as a temporary measure, we are looking at something more lasting like the children getting back to school where organisations would sponsor the children’s education. We have gone around to look at good schools that we have in the area so we could get children back to school.

“Another thing that we could do would be renting houses for victims as we have gone to identify some newly built houses around and we could adopt a family and pay rent because these are some of the things we are still soliciting for because we do not want to leave this place yet as we are going to be here for up to a month. We don’t want to leave these guys, we don’t want to go and they would be left to go back to the streets or something. We want to do something concrete.”

When asked about rehabilitation of parents, guardians and victims of the incident, Mr David said, “So far, a team of medical professionals, over 50 of them have come together, some of which include clinical psychologists, counsellors, social workers are on ground working with us and they have been having consultations with the victims to deal with trauma, and they have been doing some brief counsellings as well and they are still on ground.

“Today as well, another team came from the Federal Ministry of Health, from the Federal Neuro psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, and they promised to be on ground not just for the victims but for the community; because some people that witnessed the collapse are still traumatic.

The state government on its part has indicated interest in moving people to various IDP camps within the state through the LASEMA.

Mr David opines that some of the indigenes might not want to go far away from Lagos Island and he called on the government to look into their plights in terms of proximity to their business places.

At the operation camp, PM News spoke with Mrs Toyin Alabi, mother to Miss Farida Alabi, of one the school children rescued alive from the collapsed building.

Recounting her ordeal, she narrated that when she heard of a collapsed school building in Ita-Faaji, that she didn’t know which school because, according to her, ”there are so many schools in Ita-Faaji.”

Mrs Alabi said, “Initially I didn’t believe that the school my daughter is attending had collapsed. On a second thought, I decided to come and check and on getting here and couldn’t find the school, I can’t begin to tell how I felt. May God allow all parents and mothers to reap their rewards over their children.

“I was at home, I had just finished bathing and taking care of my baby and had put her to sleep when one of my husband’s sisters came to hint me that a school had just collapsed in Ita-Faaji. Her dad brought her to school and immediately I called her dad and he confirmed to me that he had dropped her in school and was already in his own place of work. I told him I just learnt of a school building that collapsed at Ita-Faaji but I didn’t believe it. So we came here and the school building was missing, I entered into a state of shock and immediately went numb.

“I began to weep and when my husband got here, he tore his clothes as he couldn’t believe he may have lost his child. Then the search began once I heard some children and others were already rescued, so we went to Lagos Island General Hospital and didn’t find my daughter, then we moved to Massey Children Hospital and she still wasn’t there, so I was taken home because I was already overwhelmed with shock. I couldn’t do anything, I cried and told my sisters-in-law that I won’t eat or do anything until I see my daughter.

“Different people came to console me, assuring me that my daughter was fine and receiving treatment, but I wasn’t buying any of that. At about 5:30 pm, one of my sisters-in-law told me that they found Farida at the General Hospital in Ikeja, she assured me that my daughter was well and that she told the doctors her name; they took pictures of her and showed me, and that was when I became a bit relieved.

“Farida was discharged on Thursday evening and was united with me. I want to use this medium to thank the Lagos State government for their kind efforts, apart from the initial N6,000 that was spent when she got to the hospital, the bill of over N36,000 was paid by the government. I am very grateful to God for sparing my daughter because some children didn’t sustain these much injuries and are dead. I am yet to get over the trauma; I still feel some numbness in my hand even when I eat. I thank my friends and my sisters-in-law for standing by me in my trying moment.

PM News also visited the shelter and spoke with two survivors from the building collapse who were on ground, an elderly man and an occupant of the school building.

Mr Ramon Olayiwola who traded in selling music tapes and videos in a house beside the collapsed building recounted his ordeal.

“I was there when the incident happened because I lived in the house besides the building. I was also in charge of the public toilet and I also sell cassettes, CDs and also play songs to advertise my goods.

“On the fateful day around 10 a.m, suddenly, we just saw the house come down. I lost everything to the incident as no one was expecting something like that to happen. From the site of the collapse building, after I was rescued, I was given a referral letter to the hospital where I was treated free. I call on the government to please come to our aid, especially those of us affected by the incident, I have nowhere to go and also, no business to fall back on. I came to Lagos to trade; my family – wife and children are in Ibadan.

Mr Olayiwola called on the government to help him with accommodation and business to fall back on once he leaves the shelter.

Miss Ibidunni Ayeni while recounting her experience told PM News said that before the incident, she was a tenant alongside her mum and siblings occupying a flat on the 2nd floor of the collapsed building.

“I had just finished cooking for my sick mum and was preparing to take my bath and proceed to work when suddenly, I felt some vibrations and a certain wind blew and in a twinkle, everything went down and I found myself in the midst of broken blocks. I was among the first set of people rescued from the collapsed building. My mother and I came out alive and were rushed to the General Hospital where I was admitted in the Emergency ward and my mum wheeled to the theatre.

“When my mum was rescued, it was discovered that one of her legs was broken and arrangements were being made to transfer her to Ikeja General hospital because of lack of facility at the Island General hospital so her leg can be operated on. It was while at the Ikeja hospital that she gave up the ghost.

“After I was discharged, I learnt that the government provided this shelter, we were given beds, clothes, food; I must commend them for these. They are treating us well. I am happy because we even get free medicines, counselling sessions and they made sure that we are always well attended to – no discrimination or maltreatment of any sort. I feel better now, but find it difficult to sleep especially at night because of what I went through.”

Miss Ayeni commended all the volunteers, most especially, the counsellors. She pleaded with the government to come to their aid with arrangements for proper accommodation because once they leave the shelter; they don’t have any place to call home.

The Lagos State government on Tuesday set up an investigative and advisory committee on the building that collapsed at No.62, Massey Street, Ita-Faaji, Lagos Island. Mr Rotimi Ogunleye, Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, during the inauguration in Alausa, said members were carefully chosen to provide the government with informed advice on the steps to take in respect of the collapsed building.