More reactions are still pouring on accounts of the continuous collapse of buildings in Lagos metropolis. Some stakeholders who did not want colour their opinions are not happy that due to partisan politics, government authorities have refused to do what their regulatory offices entails.
Some of them believe that because they don’t want to step on the toes of their loyal party members, they refused to bring down some of the buildings marked for demolition until the buildings themselves caved in and surrendered.
According to Ajose Paulinus, some of these buildings that are collapsing now were in the past, marked for demolition but because, probably the officials have personal reasons, they allowed the buildings to stand. “Government is like law that does not see brother, sister or friends. Once a warning is given, the defaulters have no alternative than to face the consequences of law,” he said.
Another respondent, Mr. Osaze Omorodion, an Architect said that unless government authorities execute their responsibilities without fear or favour, the various calamities visiting the nation’s landscape will continue to be with us.
He said,”Government representatives have become selective in their actions. They do their work when they feel their allies are not affected but when they are affected, you see them look the other way. This should not be so because if it is allowed, the level of damage that will have been avoided will now escalate. We need complete change of character in all aspects of life”.
Just last Monday anther building collapsed with two persons reportedly sustaining varying degrees of injuries after a three-storey building collapsed in Lagos Island.
The incident which happened on 50 Kakawa Street, has brought to four the number of buildings that had collapsed in the area since the March 13 disaster that killed no fewer than 18 persons on Massey Street, Itafaaji, while the state government has pulled down 17 defective structures within the same period.
The latest collapsed building had been marked for demolition for a long time but officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LABSCA), was unable to pull it down until it caved on Monday afternoon. Those who sustained injuries, were residents of a nearby building the collapsed structure fell on, while another three-storey building situated on 47/49 Odunlami Street, directly behind the collapsed one was also affected.
An eye witness, Lawal Ahmed, father to Fatimah one of the wounded, who is an Islamic cleric said she was returning from the toilet when the three-storey building collapsed on theirs.
“When the incident happened at about 12: 50pm, majority of us (tenants) in 50A Kakawa street were outside, trying to assist a shop owner at the down floor of the collapsed building