A 3 storey building collapse was reported in Ebute-Metta, Lagos on Sunday May 1st, 2022.
According to a reliable source as at the time of filing this report, 5 persons were confirmed dead while over 20 including children and adults were rescued and taken to nearby hospital for treatment. The source also had it that rescue operation is still ongoing.
According to a Lagos State relevant source, two buildings close to the unfortunate incident have been noticed to be very weak and marked for demolition to avoid a re-occurrence of the numerous building collapses in Lagos.
Building collapse in Lagos has indeed become a frequent occurrence. Most buildings have become so weak and unfit to habour people especially in Oyigbo, Ebute-Metta and others in Lagos because they have become so weak owing to their long years of existence. Some have even argued that some of these buildings are as old as Lagos State, which are not strong enough to stand the test of time.
Again, some unscrupulous Landlords hurriedly rush to add to building even when such structure is not strong enough to accommodate further expansion after ten or twenty years of existence.
The Lagos State relevant authority revealed that efforts have been made to relocate occupants of the buildings marked for demolition to the state IDP areas in two specific areas in Lagos, stating that the state is making concerted efforts to ensure that this order is obeyed without further delay.
It is important to note that while we urged the affected people to comply and leave the weak buildings without further delay, we are not unaware of the difficulty involved to leave our long places of abode for years. To avoid death, it is advisable to play safe before tragedy struck.
While we commiserate with the families of those who lost their lives in the unfortunate incident, we urge the Lagos State government to please intensify efforts to bring down the affected and spotted buildings in various areas speedily to avoid the one too many of building collapse in Lagos State.