Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos State, has announced that his government has set aside some funds to support families of victims of the Ikoyi building collapse currently keeping state emergency officers busy.
The governor, however, did not disclose the exact amount set aside for the families nor did he disclose the amount each family will be getting.
“In order to help survivors and families of the victims cushion the effect of the loss of their daily bread and the loss of their loved ones, we have set aside some money to assist in the burial arrangements, and for survivors to settle in and cope with challenges of feeding in the aftermath of the incident,” he said.
He said this on his social media handle after a visit to the site on Saturday, together with the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state.
Sanwo-Olu who went back to the site to assess the level of work done, and to get updated on the search, recovery and evacuation of the victims of the unfortunate incident, noted that 49 families have filled a missing persons register as of Saturday morning.
The register, he said, has helped the team reconcile the details of victims rescued alive and also medically account for bodies recovered. Identification of bodies by relatives has also commenced, and DNA examinations are being undertaken on some of the bodies difficult to be identified by families.
The governor noted that an additional six people were discovered to have been rescued alive on the first day by first responders and taken to the police hospital before the arrival of LASEMA. This bumped up the number of people rescued alive to a total of 15, while they have recovered 42 bodies so far.
However, by Sunday, the number had increased to 43 after one dead victim was recovered as confirmed by the commissioner of information.
Read also: Ikoyi building collapse: Corpses ready for families to identify – Lagos govt
“Though so much progress has been made on the site, and the heap has reduced significantly, search and recovery operations are still ongoing, and I assure you we won’t relent on our efforts until all missing persons have been accounted for,” he said.
Meanwhile, BusinessDay has further learnt that the state is receiving additional support from The Nigerian Army Corp who joined work on the site on Monday morning.
The Federal Government directed the Army Corp of Engineers to assist in the operation. The head of Army Corp of Engineers, Joseph Omali, on arrival was received by the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA) who introduced the team to Lagos State commissioners of Special Duties and Physical Planning.
The Corps Engineers’ team explained that a directive from Abuja directed the engineers to deploy equipment to assist in carting away the rubble.
BusineDay learnt that the Corps in a meeting with Lagos State Officials and NEMA, yesterday, delivered the directive of the Federal Government for the Corps to assist the State in carting away the rubble from the site.
The state, considering the progress made on the level of job, expressed gratitude for the intervention and told the Corp that their deployment would not be necessary for their deployment.
However, yesternight, the state permitted the Corp to mobilise to the site for the assistance.
Confirming this, Ibrahim Farinloye, South West Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, said the engineers will be helping with removing rubbles from the site.
“Just to assist in carting away the rubbles.” he told our correspondent.
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