Hope James
THE Coroner, Chief Magistrate O.A. Komolafe, yesterday, stated that the agencies in charge of approving and supervising of buildings in Lagos are compromised, which led to the collapse of the 21-storey building on Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State.
Komolafe gave the verdict on an inquest into the building collapse, which occurred on November 1, 2021, killing many people.
The inquest was to unravel the circumstances that led to the collapse of the building at No. 44, Gerard Road, Ikoyi.
Chief Magistrate Komolafe maintained that the building’s density and setback on the site showed gross violation of the Lagos State Building Regulations, and that this highlighted the negligence of the agencies responsible for approval and supervision of the building project.
He held that the project board which should have boldly shown the sensitive and important information, including the names and addresses of the professionals who carried out the project, was deliberately not provided.
According to him, this act shows that the approving and supervising agencies did not sanction the offender, suggesting that they were compromised. He said that the structure failure was due to design errors.
Komolafe also said that there was lack of quality assurance/control and poor management of the project.
He, therefore, adopted the recommendation contained in the Council for the Regulations of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, Report on the matter.
He urged the authorities concerned with implementation of the recommendations to act accordingly.