In 2008, a 22-storey building came down in rubbles in Lagos State, but no life was lost, no injury or damage to surrounding buildings was recorded. That was the Bank of Industry (BoI) building constructed in 1972 and brought down through controlled demolition.
Thirteen years later, November 2021, a 21-storey building under construction collapsed in the Ikoyi area of Lagos, killing more than 36 people (so far) with dozens injured and many others missing.
The two buildings are, so far, the largest structures to have crumbled in Lagos, but also two distinctly contrasting stories behind them. One was safely brought down when authorities thought it had become a risk while the other represented a failure of authorities to ensure the developer kept to standards and approvals.
Evidence from the Lagos State government shows that the developer of the building located at 20 Gerard Road, Ikoyi, flouted building permits. In a letter issued to Fourscore Height Limited on April 5, 2019, with registration number IV/2019/DO/033/67 and permit number DCB/DO/2442IV on April 9, 2019, the structure was originally approved for 15 floors, not 21.
A year before this, Prowess Engineering Limited, the original contractor for the building, in a letter dated February 20, 2020, notified Fourscore Homes Limited that it was withdrawing its services on the now collapsed building.
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Prowess stated in the letter, “We arrived at this decision due to the fact that we no longer share the same vision with you as our client in terms of how the project is being executed.”
In contrast to the Fourscore Homes building, on September 21, 2008, the administration of Babatunde Fashola, the then governor of Lagos State, supervised the demolition of the 22-storey BoI building.
The skyscraper located on 67/71 Broad Street in Ikoyi before being brought to its feet had endured five fire incidents that eroded its quality and contributed to a partial collapse reported on March 22, 2006.
The controlled demolition project that gulped N1.5 billion from the state coffers would be remembered for two feats – the first of its kind in West Africa and the only building that collapsed without any casualty, not even the least damage to surrounding structures.
Broad Street’s tallest building crumbled within 10 seconds without bulldozers or cranes but with around 5,900 explosives planted strategically around the beams of the structure and then detonated through remote devices.
Consequently, the building collapsed on its weight with rumbles and very thick dust that, for more than 10 minutes, covered the surrounding.
Babatunde Fashola, immediately after the exercise, affirmed his government implemented guided demolition as the path of least risk to the residents in the area. He added that though the building had partially collapsed on March 22, 2006, the state government patiently persuaded both the Federal Government and the BoI management to proffer any solution but this proved abortive.
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As a result, the state had no other option than to resolve to exercise the constitutional powers of the governor under Section 28 of the Land Use Act by acquiring the property along Broad Street, within which the BoI building was located.
However, unlike the BoI building demolished with no casualties, the Fourscore Homes 21-storey building that collapsed on November 1, around 3pm has more than 36 persons so far confirmed dead, even as the cause of the collapse is yet to be ascertained.
Approved initially for a 15-storey building, the Fourscore Homes structure was designed as a luxury apartment to be known as 360 Degrees Towers. The collapsed building promised residents the scenic views of the Lagos lagoon, the Atlantic Ocean, neighbouring estates such as Banana Island, Osborne Road, and the Third Mainland Bridge, as well as the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge.
For the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), the high incidence of building collapse in the country could be attributed to poor supervision and the use of inferior materials in the construction of buildings.
It buttresses the position of David Majekodunmi, the state chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, who earlier decried lack of strict building regulations by the government and regulatory bodies, as reasons for the collapse of the Ikoyi building.
Majekodunmi, speaking with the media recently, faulted the Project Board at the construction site of the building, noting that the numbers on the board showed that the same person was the consultant and the architect.
“If the regulatory bodies had seen this board and done the needful, maybe we would be able to know who we are accusing or who to hold responsible for this mayhem,” Majekodunni said.
Okunola Olasunkanmi, a building plan research expert, stated that Nigeria’s commercial hub had witnessed about 155 buildings collapse in a space of 16 years.
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