Latest On The 21-storey building collapses in Ikoyi area of Lagos

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joseph sunday

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Oct 16, 2021
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Up to ten people feared death on Monday when a 21-story building collapsed on Gerard Road in Ikoyi district, Lagos state.

At the time of this report, many people were still trapped in the rubble, including the managing director of Fourscore Heights Limited, Mr Femi Osibona, the owner of the building, as well as some of its customers and engineers.

The building was found to collapse around 2:00 p.m. when workers were on site.

One of the workers who survived the incident, Gabriel Bassey, told one of the correspondents that around 50 people were still trapped in the rubble.

He said the 360-degree project was built by Fourscore Homes Limited. he was there to unplug his phone and it wasn't until five seconds after he left the place, that he saw the building collapse, and ran to safety. As at the time of the interview he confirmed that there were a lot of people trapped in the rubble that needed to be saved.

He also added the When the incident happened six bodies were taken out and there were still about 30 Togolese and Nigerian masons and four engineers and other workers. His boss, Mr. Femi, is still trapped in the building. He was on the 18th floor with some of his customers who were about to buy an apartment complex when the incident happened. "

A local resident, Morris Ashiobi, said the building had shown no sign of collapse before it collapsed.

He said, When the incident happened, I was the first person to go to the top floor of the building and see bodies. I started calling people to come and save others. We recovered six bodies, only saved one, while the others are still under the rubble.

It took an hour for the ambulance to arrive, and we'd pulled out the bodies and rescued one person before they got there. If I'm not mistaken, there were about 40 people there because we were working at the time. Some people came from Abuja today (Monday) to work. I still have a lot of friends trapped in the building.

“When the police arrived, they chased us away and did not allow us to rescue anyone; if they had allowed us, we would have saved more people. "

Eyewitness Blessing Feyijimi, lamenting the lack of equipment for first responders, said more people would have been saved had they been better equipped.

He said, “When the incident happened around 1:36 pm, we started rescuing people, but the security people locked the gate and did not let people in. We protested and forced entry. We recovered four bodies and rescued four injured on the top floor, but some people are still trapped in the rubble.

Lagos State Police Commissioner Hakeem Odumosu confirmed the deaths of five people and added that three more were saved.

However, the National Emergency Management Agency's Southwest Coordinator Ibrahim Farinloye said four bodies were recovered from the building, adding that four had been rescued.

Our correspondents reported that some of the victims' relatives present at the scene wept and refused to speak to journalists.

Local responders included the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, ambulance services, the Lagos State Fire Department, the Federal Road Safety Corps, police, military, and paramedics.

The Lagos State government called for calm among residents in responding to the incident.

State Information and Strategy Commissioner Gbenga Omotosho said in a statement that aid organizations are on hand to rescue people from beneath the rubble.

He added that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had ordered an investigation into the incident and added that a report of the investigation would be released.

The State Ministry for Spatial Planning and Urban Development announced in a statement published on Monday that investigations had been started to clarify the cause of the collapse.

The statement added that the Directors-General of the Lagos State Building Control Agency and the Lagos State Planning Authority were on hand to make a summary assessment of the extent of damage to surrounding buildings if any.

Obafemi State Deputy Governor Hamzat said it was important to cordon off the crime scene to ease the efforts of professional rescuers and limit the number of victims.


“It is likely that some people have deliberately tried to cover it up. We just had the structure in place; it indicates a substructure fault. We have to dig deep.

The President of the Nigerian Building Institute, Professor Yohana Izam, expressed his grief over the incident and the "monumental loss of material resources and death of people".

"There should be a thorough investigation to test the implementation of land-use planning and development laws in Lagos and to ensure those responsible are severely punished," he said.

The company that designed the structure and oversaw construction, Prowess Engineering Limited, said it pulled out of the project in 2020 because it no longer shares the same vision with the owners, Fourscore Heights Limited.

Prowess Engineering Limited's managing director Muritala Olawale said in a letter to Osibona dated February 20, 2020, that his company could not guarantee the integrity of the building from just above the fourth floor.

Olawale, who led two other construction projects for Osibona, said his company is pulling out of the third because of "the way the project is being carried out".

“We can guarantee the integrity of the first two buildings as well as the work we supervise up to the fourth floor of the third building, provided that the specifications regarding the required concrete strengths are met.

We have no influence on this, as we do not yet have the results of the concrete cube tests for each construction phase.

Please also note that we are not responsible for any other design flaws that may have occurred in the project over time, ”the letter says in part.
 

Adewale Stock

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Apr 15, 2020
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The owners if this Ikoyi building that collapsed and killed many people was found dead today.

FEMI FOURSCORE OSIBONA... RIP.

Good night my very dear friend and Brother FEMI FOURSCORE OSIBONA... RIP.B832B272-1FD5-4E3D-A1B2-73EA8EB89CDF.jpeg