Again, two-storey building collapses in Lagos

• Death toll rises to four in Ilasamaja incident
• Architects task on new building code

Barely three days after a three-storey building collapsed at Ilasamaja area of Lagos State, another two-storey building collapsed on Saturday at Ebute-Meta area.

The building, located at Cole Street in Ebute-Meta was under renovation when it collapsed during the heavy downpour of at 2:00 p.m. A woman was said to have escaped death as the building caved in.

“She was rescued and treated,” a source said.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman for South-West, Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed the incident, saying the building was under renovation.

He said only one person was affected and that the woman was rescued after she sustained injuries, adding that no life was lost.

Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe, added that the building was under renovation when it collapsed.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Wednesday’s three-storey building collapse at Ilasamaja has risen to four.

It was gathered that another unidentified body was recovered at the weekend during the post-disaster clearing of the site and had been deposited by the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU) at the Mainland Hospital Mortuary.

In another development, Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) has urged the Lagos State Government to develop its building code to mitigate incessant cases of building collapse in the state.

The code, the institute said, should include the sourcing and standardisation of building components based on technology transfer from developed and emergent economies.

The NIA’s recommendation was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of Lagos Architects Forum 2017 organised by the Lagos State Chapter of the institute and released to The Guardian yesterday.

In the communiqué signed by Lagos Branch Chairman, Fitzgerald Umah and General Secretary, Samson Akinyosoye, the body noted with dismay the reoccurrence of building collapses in the state despite several efforts.

They stressed the need for an efficient government development control systems for vetting, processing and approval of design drawings.

According to the body, the state government must ensure that well-trained qualified and registered relevant professionals, architects, engineers and planners were deployed for the task.

Besides, the Lagos State Government was also urged to develop a robust data base of her citizens, with a view to determining their real housing needs, empirically and scientifically, as against contrived demands.

The Practice Chairman of the institute in Lagos, Mrs. Ifeoma George-Ufot, said government should tighten its rules and do a lot more to check the recurring incident.

She stressed that building collapse was dire to the heart of architects in Lagos because when it happens, it affects the integrity of professionals in building industry.