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Tag: Ikoyi building collapse

  • Ikoyi building collapse: 1 more victim identified – Forensic expert

    Ikoyi building collapse: 1 more victim identified – Forensic expert

    A forensic expert, Dr Richard Somiari, has informed an Ikeja Coroner’s Court that one of the five hitherto unidentified victims of the Nov. 1, 2021, 21-storey building collapse at Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, has now been identified.

    Newsmen reports that with this the number of unidentified victims now stands at four.

    Somiari, who is the Director of the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre, said this on Friday while testifying as to the eighth coroner witness at the inquest.

    Newsmen also report that testifying during proceedings on Thursday, the seventh coroner witness who is the acting Chief Medical Examiner of Lagos State, Dr Sokunle Soyemi had told the Coroner’s Court that five of the 50 victims were still unidentified.

    Led in evidence by the counsel to the Lagos State government, Mr Akin George, the forensic expert said he received news on his way to the inquest that a DNA match had been established for one out of the five unidentified deceased.

    “We received 57 unique samples. In disasters, there could be dismemberment and we may not have 57 bodies.

    “We got a total of 102 reference samples from all families that presented and still counting because we might still need some more samples.

    “Using those reference samples, we were previously able to identify 45 bodies.

    “There are three bodies that have generated DNA profiles, but no reference profiles have matched those profiles.

    “In such a situation, we will invite additional family members or use of personal belongings like toothbrushes to establish identity,” Somiari said.

    Throwing light on why four of the deceased are yet to be identified, he revealed that profiles had been generated from the bodies, “but profiles generated from the family references did not match.

    “The claimed biological reference is not what science is showing. We will use other methods like personal effects from any missing person suspected to be in the building collapse.

    “This is the challenge we are facing. In most disasters, you cannot use DNA all the time to complete identification.”

    Somiari, however, said the process of identifying the unknown deceased was ongoing and additional biological material would be used to identify the bodies.

    He noted that the likelihood of a DNA mismatch for all that died in the building collapse was very slim.

    Under cross-examination by the counsel to the African Women Lawyers Association, Mrs Amanda Demechi-Asagba, Somiari revealed some of the challenges faced in identifying some of the deceased.

    “Some families may be unaware that their loved ones are missing.

    “That is why in disasters, all bodies are not always identified. There might be alternative methods that could be explored.

    “That is the limitation of DNA as a reference because you will always need a reference,” he said.

    The Coroner, Mr Oyetade Komolafe, adjourned proceedings until Feb. 25 for the continuation of hearing.

    NAN reports that of the three high-rise buildings (Blocks A, B and C), which were situated on Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, Block B (21-storeys) collapsed, killing 50 persons.

    One of the deceased was Mr Femi Osibona, the Managing Director of Fourscore Heights Ltd., the contractor of the project.

  • Ikoyi building collapse: Osibona threatened our officials with security dogs to prevent entry – LASBCA

    Ikoyi building collapse: Osibona threatened our officials with security dogs to prevent entry – LASBCA

    The Lagos State Building Control Authority (LASBCA) revealed before an Ikeja Coroner’s Court that late Mr Femi Osibona, Managing Director of Fourscore Heights Ltd., prevented its officers from gaining access to the construction site of the collapsed 21-storey building.

    Mrs Oluseun Randle, an Assistant Director in charge of the Inspectorate of Quality Control of LASBCA, made the revelation on Friday.

    She said she was the officer overseeing Eti-Osa, Victoria, Island, Surulere, Yaba, Lagos Mainland and Ikoyi, the area where the collapse the 21-storey building was located.

    The witness noted that one of the duties of LABSCA was identification and possible removal of non-conforming structures in Lagos.

    She made the revelation while being cross-examined by Mr Ola Adeosun, the counsel to Prowess Engineering Nigeria Ltd., the structural engineering consultant to Osibona who withdrew its services over a dispute on how the project was structurally executed.

    The witness said to the best of her knowledge, LASBCA had visited the site of the building collapse to check the level of compliance on three occasions.

    “An officer first visited on Feb. 13, 2019, he peered through a small opening in the gate and observed piling equipment.

    “He moved closer to observe the piling operation and to gain access to the premises. The security operatives manning the premises did not allow him entry.

    “He was only asked to wait outside of the gate for the developer (Osibona). After some minutes, the developer came and the officer told him he wanted to serve a notice.

    “He (Osibona) told him that he could not go in and if tried to forcefully gain entry he would tell the security to release dogs.

    “The monitoring officer served a Contravention Notice and Stop Work Order dated Feb. 13, 2019 on the structure. The notice and order is to be complied with within 48-hours,” she said.

    The witness said the LASBCA officer returned to the site for the second time on Feb. 21, 2019 and pasted and Seal Up Notice on the fence and left.

    On the second visit, she said the monitoring officer did not observe any construction work on the site except for the locked gate.

    Randle said sometime in June 2019, LASBCA received a notification from a sister agency, the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPPA), over a permit given to Fourscore Heights Ltd.

    “The approval drawing was for three blocks of 15-floors. With that (the permit) LASBCA had a reprieve over the matter,” she said.

    The LASBCA Assistant Director noted that for the rest of 2019, officers of the agency did not observe any construction work at the site except for the locked gate.

    She said she did not know if it was possible for an individual to forge a LASBCA approval document. She also could not recall if a developer had ever forged LASBCA documents.

    Questioning Randle further, Adeosun said “As at February 2020, two 15-storey structures were already standing on the site before the Covid-19 lockdown.

    “The construction of the third building which was the one that collapsed was already at the third floor stage. Would you be surprised?”

    Responding, she said “I will be surprised.”

    While being cross-examined by Mr Ahmed Gbadamosi, a counsel to the family of Mr Samuel Iwelu, one of the victims of the building collapse, the witness revealed that Osibona was arrested on June 10, 2020.

    “He was arrested alongside his wife and staff for contravening certification and planning laws.

    “They were arrested by a joint enforcement team of LASCA and LASPPPA. The security men at the gate put up an attitude by resisting the team’s access to the property.

    “He was found to be in contravention of the law,” she said.

    On his enquiry about events that transpired after Osibona’s arrest, Randle told Gbadamosi to make his enquiry via correspondence to the General Manager of LABSCA.

    Gbadamosi noted that in Paragraph 27 of Randle’s Statement on Oath to the Coroner’s Court, she said Osibona had continued construction on the property until it collapsed on Nov. 1, 2021.

    “Was this particular developer beyond the control of your agency, why was the developer who was arrested by the taskforce, taken to an unknown location by the police only to go back to continue developing the property? he asked.

    Randle responded saying, “No developer is beyond LASBCA. The agency was not aware that he went back to the site.

    “It was the report of the collapse of the 21-storey building that gave us an insight on the height and type of the structure at the time of the collapse.”

    Responding to questions from Mr Yusuf Lawan, the counsel to the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Randle said LABSCA was unaware that Osibona had returned to the construction site after his arrest.

    “The monitoring officers were not going to the site because of the COVID-19 lockdown, then #EndSARS occured.

    “All our monitoring officers fell under the category of those asked to stay at home,” Randle stated.

    The three high-rise buildings (Blocks A, B and C) which were situated on Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, Block B (21-storeys) collapsed on Nov. 1 killing 46 persons while 15 persons were rescued alive.

    One of the deceased was Mr Femi Osibona, the Managing Director of Fourscore Heights Ltd., the contractor to the project.

  • Ikoyi building collapse: All victims died before rescue operations began – LASEMA

    Ikoyi building collapse: All victims died before rescue operations began – LASEMA

    Evidence proved that all victims of the 21-storey building collapse on Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, died before rescue operations began, an official said on Thursday.

    The Director-General of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Oluwafemi Oke-Osayintolu, made the disclosure during a coroner’s inquest into the Nov. 1, 2021 building collapse which killed 46 people.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Oke-Osayintolu was led in evidence by Mr A.S. Odugbemi, counsel to Lagos State Building Control Agency.

    He testified that rescue operations were carried out by both professionals and non-professionals who assisted with equipment.

    The official said that LASEMA was confronted with a “classical national emergency” and that as the Incident Commander mandated by Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, he gave instructions to the rescue team.

    The director-general said that the rescue team moved into the scene following a primary assessment, adding that the team partitioned the ‘building’ into Quadrums 1 to 4 and employed heavy and life-saving equipment.

    He said that drones and delsa equipment (used for detection of life) enabled both primary and secondary emergency responders to determine that there was no life in the debris before work began.

    Oke-Osayintolu was asked by Mr Ola Adeosun counsel to Prowess Engineering Nig. Ltd., whether his agency’s actions in the course of the rescue operation led to death of some trapped people.

    “My lord, with my medical background, I have attended to a lot of emergencies within the state and federal, I would say, ‘No’.

    “Where we put the excavator is the first quadrum. We use the delsa to detect if there is someone alive, and I say this type of collapse building was unique.

    “When it piled on one another, there would not be air going in, it would compress the victims, and the way our response was operated, we divided the place into quadrums.

    “We used a delsa and drone, I can say that probability is close to zero,” the direct-general said.

    Adeosun further asked, “Are you telling this court that before moving your equipment, you must have confirmed that there was no person alive?”

    Responding, the LASEMA boss said, “Hundred per cent yes, my lord, there was nobody that died in the course of our intervention, to the best of my knowledge.”

    Earlier, Mr Muritala Olawale, a structural engineer and Managing Director of Prowess Engineering Nig. Ltd., tendered a document on soil test conducted at the building site.

    The document was admitted in evidence and marked Exhibit T by the Coroner, Mr Alexander Komolafe.

    The inquest was adjourned until Feb. 4.

  • JUST IN: Power outage stalls Coroner Inquest into cause of Ikoyi building collapse

    JUST IN: Power outage stalls Coroner Inquest into cause of Ikoyi building collapse

    Proceedings were stalled today at the coroner inquest sitting in Ikeja to investigate the circumstances which led to the Nov.1 collapse of a 21-storey high-rise building located at Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

    A power outage did not allow the proceedings to go on.

    The building collapse was said to have resulted in the death of 46 persons one of whom was the MD of Fourscore Heights Ltd, Mr Femi Osibona.

    A structural engineer and Managing Director of Prowess Engineering Nigeria Ltd, Mr Muritala Olawale was scheduled to continue with his testimony at the inquest but when the proceedings commenced, the Coroner Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe suggested that proceedings should be stood down to a later time during the day or adjourned till another date.

    The coroner said that the microphones in the courtroom and the equipment used to record the proceedings were not working due to a lack of electricity.

    “You will not be able to hear me and we will also be unable to hear the witness,” Komolafe said.

    The counsel for all interested parties and the coroner came to an agreement that proceedings should be adjourned until Jan. 12 and 13, 2022 for the continuation of Mr Olawale’s evidence.

    At the proceedings on Wednesday, the 15th of Dec., Olawale had told the coroner that he rendered structural consultancy services to the contractor of the project, the late MD of Fourscore Heights Ltd, Mr Femi Osibona.

    Olawale said the initial brief his firm received was for three blocks of four-storey buildings.

    He said that Osibona kept revising the brief by adding more floors to the buildings and that his team were only responsible for the first four floors of the 21-storey Block B which collapsed.

    Olawale told the inquest that Osibona was the contractor/builder of the project and was also in charge of getting all government approvals for the high-rises.

    “I never saw the approved architectural drawings, mechanical drawings, and electronic drawings for the project,” he said.

    The structural engineer noted that when he realised that standard construction procedures were not being observed on the site, his company withdrew its services to Osibona via a letter dated Feb. 20, 2020.

  • Ikoyi Building Collapse Due To Regulatory Failure – Emeka Ezeh

    Ikoyi Building Collapse Due To Regulatory Failure – Emeka Ezeh

    A former President of The Nigerian Society of Engineers,NSE and Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement BPP, Engr Emeka Ezeh has said that Ikoyi building collapse was due to regulatory failure.
    Eze said that nobody will invest such huge amount of money in that type of building and expect it to fail.
    He said that Nigerians Engineers are qualified to do the designs and construction of any modern building, what they don’t have is equipment.
    “Yes, we have good engineers to build modern houses but they don’t have the equipment. They either buy or lease the equipment. But unfortunately, there are no equipment leasing companies in Nigeria.”
    Eze said one can not conclude on what led to the collapse of the high rise until after the ongoing findings is concluded.
    “That is when we can say exactly what led to the collapse of the building.”
    According to him what happened is just one collapse out of many of such high rise buildings în Ikoyi or Victoria Island.
    “It is a lesson for the the regulatory agencies to step up their efforts and do the needful to prevent future occurrence.”
    He added that the NSE did not have the power to stop work going on at site. It is only when a member of the NSE is involved in building collapse that the NSE can sanction such a person.
    “Not until recently COREN did not have such power either. Building collapse can happen in any parts of the world but I don’t think we are ripe for condo buildings yet.”
    He said that we are running a market economy and it is the market that determines the price of building materials.
    “So there is nothing the government can do to control the price of building materials. Price control cannot even work. How do you think that the government can control the price of cement? It is being controlled by market forces”, he said.
    He added that the deficit in the housing sector did not affect the elite who have money to live in Victorial Island or Banana Island. “It is the poor masses that are affected.
    “We are talking about the ordinary Nigerians who have many children. What the government can do for them is to build social housing for them,’ he said.

  • Ikoyi building collapse: Two more bodies recovered, death toll hits 45

    Ikoyi building collapse: Two more bodies recovered, death toll hits 45

    Emergency workers have recovered two more bodies from the site of the collapsed 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos State.

    The Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos, Gbenga Omotoso, who confirmed this in a statement on Wednesday disclosed that the death toll from the incident has risen to 45.

    “Two more bodies were recovered from the site today (Wednesday),” he said. “The recovery of the two bodies has brought to 45 the number of bodies retrieved from the site.

    “The identification of bodies of the victims of the incident has continued at IDH, Yaba, Lagos Mainland. Thirty-two families have come forward to submit samples for DNA to identify bodies that they wish to claim.

    “In cases where identification is clear and there are no arguments, the bodies will be released to the families.”

    Omotoso stated that a committee to supervise the identification and release of the bodies – comprising senior officials of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice – has begun work.

    He stressed that the state government has not given any directive for the demolition of the two high-rise buildings standing at the site of the collapsed high-rise.

    According to the commissioner, the Panel of Inquiry instituted to establish issues surrounding the collapse of the building has continued to sit and an integrity test is yet to be conducted on the buildings.

    “It is, therefore, wrong to assert or speculate that the buildings will be demolished. The operation at the site of the collapsed building continues.

    “Vehicular movement around the site has been smooth, following the reopening of the road,” he said.

    The building – a high-rise under construction located along Gerrard Road in the nation’s commercial hub – collapsed on Monday last week.

    While some of the victims have since been rescued and those injured treated, it remains unclear the total number of people in the building at the time of the collapse.

    Witnesses, however, believe dozens may have been trapped.

  • How Ikoyi building collapse, other avoidable disasters expose level of corruption, greed in Nigeria – Adeboye

    How Ikoyi building collapse, other avoidable disasters expose level of corruption, greed in Nigeria – Adeboye

    The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Worldwide, Pastor Enoch Adeboye has said some avoidable disasters happening in the country is a pointer to the level of greed and corruption.

    The respected cleric explained that Nigeria will attain greater heights when the government stops selective punishment for corrupt officials and jail those found to have corrupted their positions, irrespective of their status in the society.

    He advised the government also needs to take back the loot such officials stole and confiscate their property to serve as a deterrent to others.

    The General Overseer spoke on Sunday during the month-end thanksgiving service with the theme: Great Expectations, at the RCCG headquarters’ Throne of Grace in Ebute-Metta, Lagos.

    The cleric, who spoke through the Assistant General Overseer (Admin and Personnel), who doubles as the Continental Overseer for the Middle East, decried the level of corruption in the country due to greed.

    “Corrupt Nigerians have made the country to look like a rotten sepulcher but decorated outside. Many evils, including the recent collapsed building (in Ikoyi, Lagos State), which claimed many lives, only exposed the level of corruption and greed in the country. Those involved in the building knew what to do, but because of the love of money deliberately did not. What a grave consequence of their inaction!” he said.

    Adeboye also frowned at lawmakers who legislate on education and health but delight in sending their children abroad while they too take delight in medical tourism overseas.

    The eminent cleric noted that such public officials do not believe in what they are doing or have an ulterior motive.

    He decried the high-level hypocrisy among government officials who refuse to obey the policies they make.

    Meanwhile, he also prayed for landlords, land owners, tenants and others, saying God is always ready to turn things around whenever people seek His grace and prepare to do what is right.