Lagos govt did nothing to prevent building collapse – Residents Residents of Oloto Street, Ebute-Meta, Lagos, where a three-storey building collapsed on Thursday, killing seven and injuring many others, have alleged that the state government did nothing before the mishap. The collapse has led to a hurried effort by the state building control agency to mark many buildings in the area as “distressed.” Our correspondent visited the scene of the collapse on Friday and noticed a red big X mark under which the word, “distressed” was inscribed on many buildings on the street. Like the three-storey building that went down, all the buildings marked are large, accommodating hundreds of tenants. While many were trying to move out of some of the buildings, some said they would stay put, for now. In No 29, one of the three-storey houses, sharing a fence with the collapsed building, a tenant, Sylvester John, said he was moving out his family. On his building is pasted some notices by the LASBCA, which states, “This building has been declared distressed and injurious for occupation. Owners/developers/occupiers are hereby warned to keep off from within and around the premises from henceforth.” He said, “I am not particularly moving out of this building because the government has decided to paste some notice for us to evacuate, which is a belated effort by the way. I am moving out for the safety of my family. “Before the collapse of that building behind us, a lot of things have happened that showed that the building had a problem. Sometime ago, a concrete the size of two fists fell from the cracking second floor deck. If it fell on someone that day, it would have been a tragedy. “This building is clearly distressed. I have been planning to move out before today. But these people in government never did anything to warn occupants of the houses marked for demolition.” The building he was leaving was clearly distressed. Our correspondent noticed cracks on the walls and the deck of each floor. A tenant of another building marked on the street, Omoke May, has decided to follow suit and move out with her family. May, who said she had been living in her building for about 13 years, explained that she and her family had to move out before the government threw them out. “It is sad some people have to die before the state government cares about those living here. We are not saying we are not responsible for our own safety but what about the responsibility of the government of certifying whether a building is safe or not?”
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 12:01:37 +0000
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