The General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, Mr Gbolahan Oki, has revealed that the owner of the collapsed Ikoyi building got approval for 15 storey-building and not 21.
His revelation came on the backdrop of an update from the National Emergency Management Agency that
20 people have been confirmed dead in the 21-storey building that collapsed on Monday on Gerrard Road, in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State.
Many others were still trapped in the rubble, including the Managing Director, Fourscore Heights Limited, Mr Femi Osibona, who owned the building.
Speaking during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, Oki noted that inferior materials were used for the construction, saying appropriate actions would be taken.
But the state deputy governor, during a visit to the scene on Tuesday, said the collapsed building was approved for 21-storey building three years ago.
Hamzat disclosed that the building was sealed for four months in 2021 when the state government noticed some anomalies in the construction.
“This particular building that collapsed was approved for 21 floors three years ago not 15 floors, it’s the construction that failed, apparently.”
The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday, ordered the indefinite suspension of the LASBCA GM over the incident.
Sanwo-Olu, in a statement by the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, said the government had also set up a panel to probe the tragedy.
The governor said, “The government will surely find out what went wrong and punish those indicted. The governor, as a first step, has directed that the General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, Mr Gbolahan Oki, an architect, be suspended from work immediately. The suspension is indefinite.”
