There is need to enforce the nation’s building codes
Last Wednesday, a three-storey residential building that also had within it a nursery and primary school and a shopping complex, collapsed at Ita Faaji on the Lagos Island. By the last count, according to the Lagos State government, no fewer than 20 persons, mostly school children were killed with dozens of others injured. Barely four days later, another three-storey building also collapsed at Molete in Ibadan, Oyo State, trapping many people in the process. While we await official reports from the authorities in both states, the collapse of these buildings would appear to have resulted from the failure of oversight and criminal negligence.
Unfortunately, this is a recurring tragedy that may yet happen again. In July 2017, for instance, no fewer than eight persons died when a four-storey building collapsed within the same Lagos Island in similar circumstance. The building was initially a bungalow…
