The Lagos State government has said that there is no plan on ground at the moment to demolish the two buildings at the site of the collapsed 21-storey in Ikoyi, Lagos. This counters speculations in some quarters that the two buildings would be demolished by the state government.
The state government, in a statement signed by its commissioner for information and strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, explained that an integrity test, which would determine their health or otherwise, was yet to be conducted on the two buildings.
“It is, therefore, wrong to assert or speculate that the buildings will be demolished,” the commissioner said, disclosing that the Panel of Inquiry instituted into the collapse of the building has continued to sit.
He added that operations at the site of the collapsed building was continuing while vehicular movement around the site has been smooth, following the reopening of the road.
Sadly, however, the commissioner disclosed that two more bodies were recovered from the site on Tuesday, bringing to 45 the number of bodies retrieved from the site so far.
“The identification of bodies of the victims of the incident has continued at IDH, Yaba, Lagos Mainland. Thirty-two families have come forward to submit samples for DNA to identify bodies that they wish to claim. In cases where identification is clear and there are no arguments, the bodies will be released to the families,” Omotosho assured.
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He announced that a committee to supervise the identification and release of the bodies had begun work, adding that the committee comprised senior officials of the Ministries of Health and Justice.
Lagos and its residents, on Monday, November 1, 2021, by 3 pm, witnessed the collapse of a 21-storey building on Gerrad Road, Ikoyi, which was still under construction.
That avoidable incident that has, so far, claimed the lives of 45 innocent residents with several others sustaining varying degrees of injuries, was being developed by Fourscore Heights Limited (FHL).
The collapse of the building has been blamed, largely, on failure or negligence on the part of the regulatory authorities and greed on the part on the developer who got approval to build 15 but ended up building 21 floors that never was.
The incident ranks among three others before it that recoded high casualty figures. These are the Reigners Bible Church, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, a disaster in which about 50 people died; the Lekki Gardens building in March 2016 that claimed about 34 lives, and the 2014 collapse of the Synagogue Church building in which about 116 people, including 84 South Africans, died.
